A “reasonable accommodation” is a requirement both under the Federal Fair Housing Act (FFHA) and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). FEHA provides greater protections against housing discrimination than those found in federal statutes such as the FFHA and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“Reasonable Accommodation” Defined
HOAs are required to make “reasonable accommodations” in their rules and policies as necessary to afford a disabled person the ability to use and enjoy their their dwelling. A “reasonable accommodation” has been held to mean “a moderate adjustment to a challenged [HOA] policy, not a fundamental change in the policy.” (See Davis v. Echo Valley Condominium Assn. (2019) 945 F.3d 483, 490).  In a situation where a disabled individual’s requested change to an HOA’s policy would serve as a “fundamental alteration” to the policy, or would otherwise intrude on the rights of third parties, the requested change may not necessarily constitute a “reasonable accommodation” which the HOA is required to make:

“[The Plaintiff’s] proposed smoking ban amounts to a ‘fundamental alteration’ of the Association’s smoking policy…No one would describe a change from a smoking-permitted policy to a smoking-prohibited policy as an ‘accommodation’ in the policy. It is more rewrite than adjustment…Not only that, [the Plaintiff’s] proposal would intrude on the rights of third parties. Neighbors who smoke may well have bought their condos because of the Association’s policy permitting smoking. So, unlike the blind applicant asking to keep a seeing eye dog in an apartment building that bans pets, [the Plaintiff] is like the person with allergies seeking to expel all dogs from a building that allows pets. Here…a third party’s “rights [do] not have to be sacrificed on the altar of reasonable accommodation.” (Davis, at 492 (internal citations omitted).)

Verification of a Claimed Disability
When a disabled person makes a request for reasonable accommodation and the person’s disability is obvious, an HOA cannot request additional information to verify the existence of the claimed disability. When the disability is not obvious, an HOA can request information verifying:

1. That the person is disabled;
2. That there is a need for the requested accommodation; and
3. Information verifying the relationship between the claimed disability and the requested accommodation.

An “Interactive Process”
When a request for reasonable accommodation is made, the HOA must engage in an “interactive process” with the person making the request. The interactive process serves to clarify what the individual needs, and to implement the appropriate accommodation.

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