At Issue: Five Fair Housing Developments to Keep an Eye On in 2020

First in a series of articles about issues facing multifamily Living in an apartment has transitioned from a necessity to a preferred lifestyle, which has ushered an effort to embrace the renter life cycle. For operators, technology has opened new and more efficient ways of marketing and operating apartments. And for residents, cultural changes have put more focus on urban living and dictated new lifestyles, routines, and priorities. The rental housing industry has become a multi-trillion-dollar business that has emerged from dark neighborhoods to some of the most prized pieces of real estate worldwide. Many of the Fair Housing Act’s principles signed into law in 1968 and designed to achieve justice and equity and avoid discriminatory practices remain, and they are more important than ever. Nicole Upano, director of public policy for the National Apartment Association, says Fair Housing administration is perhaps at the pinnacle of its existence. As more operators and residents have populated the industry, the eyes of governance have sharpened. “It’s more important than it’s ever been,” she said. “We’re seeing an increase in enforcement for whatever reason in recent years and we’re closely watching it, both on the legal compliance side and legislative side as well.” At NAA’s Legal Symposium in Dallas last fall, Upano highlighted five areas in Fair Housing that require close attention in 2020. “Some of the biggest things that we're seeing is a lot of enforcement on website accessibility and criminal screening blanket bans,” Upano said. Website Accessibility This is the latest accessibility issue that’s ripe for “drive-by” or “surf-by” lawsuits in the rental housing industry. While it wasn’t much of a topic in 1990 when the ADA was enacted, website accessibility has become more relevant because of the development of e-Commerce. There have yet to be any...