LECTURE NOTES

Senior housing typically allows younger visitors for overnight stays.
The duration of these visits depends on the specific covenant conditions, restrictions, rules, and regulations.
Examples include visits lasting two weeks or even a month.

The ADA is not a housing law but has a significant impact on the real estate industry.
ADA Definition: American with Disabilities Act.
It mandates reasonable accommodations in employment and access to goods, services, and public buildings.
Requires accessibility.
Real estate professionals are often employers and their offices serve as public spaces, making them subject to ADA regulations.

To integrate individuals with disabilities into the economic and social mainstream of society.

Requires employers, including real estate professionals, to make reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.
Reasonable accommodations include:
- Making the workplace accessible.
- Restructuring jobs.
- Providing part-time or flexible work schedules.
- Modifying equipment.
Applies to employers with 15 or more employees.

A legally deaf administrative assistant used a TTY machine to type and read messages, along with a flashing light to indicate phone calls.
A legally blind data entry clerk was provided with a computer featuring a large screen and font.

Requires that individuals with disabilities have full accessibility to businesses, goods, and public services.
Building owners and managers of commercial spaces must ensure that obstacles are removed.

Provide detailed specifications for designing:
- Parking spaces
- Curbed ramps
- Elevators
- Drinking fountains
- Toilet facilities
- Directional signs
Real estate professionals should advise commercial clients to seek services of an attorney, an architect, or consultant who specialize in ADA compliance.

ADA exempts properties already covered by the Fair Housing Act (which prohibits discrimination based on disability).
Exemptions also apply to properties exempt from the Fair Housing Act, such as those for age 55 or older.
Some properties are subject to both laws.
Example: In an apartment complex, the rental office is a place of accommodation covered by ADA, requiring accessibility at the owner's expense.
Individual rental units are covered by the Fair Housing Act; tenants who wish to modify their units for accessibility are responsible for the costs.

Malls
Grocery stores
Hotels
Restaurants
These businesses must be accessible to individuals with disabilities at the building owners' or managers' expense.
People living in their own houses are responsible for accessibility accommodations at their own expense.

Issues of housing and disability discrimination are often litigated in courts.
Wells versus the state manufactured home (2005): The court ruled there was no ADA or Fair Housing Act violation because the plaintiff failed to prove her mental impairment substantially limited a major life activity.

Individuals claiming the need for an emotional support animal must provide a doctor's letter as proof of their disability-related need.

Maryland has additional protected classes beyond the seven federal categories: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability.
Maryland's additional protected classes:
- Marital status
- Sexual orientation
- Gender identity
Owner-occupants can discriminate on these three categories if they are living there.

Administers fair housing violation cases in Maryland.
Composed of nine members appointed by the governor for six-year terms.
Members choose their own chairperson.
Overseen by an executive director and a deputy director.
The executive director appoints an attorney to serve as the commission's general counsel.
Meetings are held every second Tuesday of the month, and the meetings are posted on the website.
Works to reduce discrimination in employment and public accommodation.
Follows up on complaints from the public and can initiate complaints with agreement of at least three members.
Subject to the same laws it enforces and must not show partiality or favoritism in staffing and personnel policies.

Must be made within one year of the alleged discriminatory action.
Must be in writing and under oath.
The executive director reviews complaints and refers them to staff for investigation.
Copies of the staff report are sent to both the complainant and the respondent.
If the respondent is a real estate licensee, a copy of the report is sent to the Maryland Real Estate Commission.
If the report concludes that a discriminatory act probably occurred, staff members seek to resolve the matter through conference, conciliation, and persuasion.

A dispute resolution process where a conciliator meets with each party separately to help them settle their differences voluntarily, avoiding a hearing or trial.
Terms are made public unless the parties request confidentiality, and the commission determines that disclosure would not serve the purpose of the law.
All proceedings are nonpublic and held in strict confidence before this point.
Violating confidentiality can result in a fine of up to 1,000.