Avoiding Legal Trouble When Renting to Immigrants and Noncitizens

April 5, 2017    
This month, we’re going to focus on avoiding fair housing trouble when dealing with immigrants and noncitizens. The national debate over immigration reform has been raging for many years now, but it’s taken on a new—and more politically divisive—tone since last fall’s...

Fair Housing 101: How to Comply with Fair Housing Law

March 9, 2017    
In honor of Fair Housing Month, the Coach is getting back to basics with an overview of fair housing law. There’s a lot going on in Washington, with many anticipating changes on the horizon for fair housing regulatory requirements adopted in the waning days of the previous administration.

Avoid the 7 Biggest Mistakes When Verifying Disability

February 8, 2017    
This month, the Coach focuses on the rules limiting when and how you can ask for disability-related information. It can come up anytime an applicant or resident requests a reasonable accommodation. It’s a particularly big issue when dealing with requests for emotional support animals, given...

From the Courts: Lessons Learned on Fair Housing Law

January 12, 2017    
For this month’s lesson, the Coach gathered recent court decisions on fair housing law. Keeping abreast of what’s happening in the courts can help you learn from the experiences of other communities to better prevent—or respond—to fair housing complaints. 

How to Ensure Fair Housing Compliance When Considering a Smoke-Free Policy

December 20, 2016    
In this lesson, the Coach reviews how fair housing rules may affect your ability to regulate smoking at your community. There has been a trend toward smoke-free housing policies, which recently got a big boost when HUD ordered all public housing agencies to go smoke-free by 2018. The new rule,...

Year in Review: Highlights from the 2016 Lessons

December 6, 2016    
In this Special Issue, the Coach wraps up 2016 with a review of this year’s lessons. Keep it handy—it’s a quick refresher on top fair housing concerns we covered this year. It’s also a helpful index to the full lessons, all of which are available to review or download from...

Fair Housing Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of Fair Housing Law

November 7, 2016    
This month, the Coach offers a fair housing quiz designed to help you test your knowledge of fair housing law. The rules forbidding housing discrimination can get complicated, so it’s important that everyone working at your community understands fair housing—and knows how to apply it in...

Take a Fresh Look at Your Occupancy Standards

October 14, 2016    
In this month’s lesson, Fair Housing Coach focuses on occupancy standards, an increasing concern for housing communities. Occupancy standards can be a problem because they can restrict the housing choices of families with children. As a general rule, fair housing law doesn’t prevent...

10 Things You Can Do Right Now to Avoid Fair Housing Trouble

September 16, 2016    
This month, the Coach zeroes in on the 10 things you can do right now to avoid fair housing trouble. Often, we’re focused on the big picture—and things that take time to put into practice. But for this lesson, we’re focusing on small, immediate steps that you could take right away...

Legal Update: Highlights from Recent Fair Housing Cases

August 29, 2016    
In this month’s lesson, the Coach offers highlights from recent court rulings on fair housing law. For each case, we’ll review what happened and how it landed in court. Then, we’ll explain the fair housing issues involved, and what the court decided and why—so you can...