Prepared by Karen Nissen, Esq.
On January 28, 2020 HUD issued a guidance providing direction on how housing providers, including but not limited to, condominium associations, homeowners’ associations and the like should respond to requests for accommodation for assistance animals in order to be compliant with the Fair Housing Act (FHA). Please note within the guidance are references to and use of definitions in keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The guidance provides the “best practices” for a housing provider to use in order to be FHA complaint when considering requests for accommodations concerning animals. HUD defines two categories of assistance animals (1) service animals and (2) support animals.
The guidance essentially provides a road map for housing providers concerning how to respond to requests from a person for an accommodation to have an assistance animal reside in their dwelling. Included in the guidance are questions the housing provider may ask the person requesting an accommodation as well as documentation that the housing provider may ask the person to provide. Please note, HUD’s guidance includes the statement that a resident may ask for an accommodation either before or after the animal is brought into the dwelling. We recommend that all housing providers carefully review this new HUD guidance in order to be FHA compliant regarding requests for accommodations for assistance animals.