San Diego Community to Pay $17K to Resolve Parking Dispute

HUD recently announced that the owners and managers of a San Diego apartment complex have agreed to pay $17,000 to resolve allegations that they refused to grant a disabled resident’s request for a designated parking space close to the building.

The Fair Housing Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibit housing providers from denying or limiting housing to persons with disabilities and from refusing to make reasonable accommodations in policies or practices.

The case came to HUD’s attention when the resident, who uses a wheelchair, filed a complaint alleging that his request for an assigned parking space in the development’s garage had been denied. The resident claimed that the owners and manager subsequently allowed him to park in non-assigned accessible spaces in the garage, but they denied him the key that’s necessary to enter the garage and to use the elevator. As a result, each time the resident wanted to enter the garage, he allegedly had to wait for another resident to open the gate, then follow that person in so he could use the elevator. The housing providers denied that they discriminated against the resident.

“To a person with mobility limitations, a designated parking space can mean the difference between merely living in a development and truly being able to call a place home,” Anna María Farías, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, said in a statement. “HUD will continue working to ensure that housing providers meet their obligation to grant the reasonable accommodations persons with disabilities need and are entitled to under the law.”