COACH's Pop Quiz!

Q: Although your community has a policy of providing unassigned parking, an applicant says he wants an assigned parking space near to the building entrance because of a disability. He doesn’t use a cane or appear to have any difficulty walking, but you could trigger fair housing trouble if you ignore his request. True or false?

A: True. You can’t ignore the applicant’s request for an assigned parking space close to the building simply because he doesn’t display any outward appearance of a disability. Treat the request as a request for a reasonable accommodation and follow up by requesting verification of his disability in accordance with fair housing rules regarding disability-related inquiries. 

This question was featured in the Coach’s year-end Special Issue reviewing all this year’s lessons, including our February lesson on disability-related requests for parking accommodations. Fair housing law bans discrimination based on disability, including refusal to grant reasonable accommodation requests by individuals with disabilities who need an exception to your parking policies so they may use and enjoy their housing at the community.

For more information, see the Coach’s Special Issue, “Year in Review: Highlights from the 2016 Lessons” available to our subscribers here.