Fair Housing and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Presented by Debbie Piltch, Esq., Piltch Associates Our obligations under Federal, State and local Fair Housing laws haven’t changed during the COVID-19 Pandemic. So why focus on Fair Housing? During the COVID-19 Pandemic: · Our country has seen a dramatic increase in discriminatory incidents and harassment based on national origin, which raises significant concern regarding how we effectively address such complaints given that some of the tools we would standardly use may not be available to us. · The number of incidents of domestic violence have increased, while our capacity to make external emergency transfers may have decreased. · We have had to significantly change our business operations in order to maintain the health and safety of staff and residents and comply with required and recommended social distancing initiatives leaving us potentially vulnerable to allegations of discriminatory treatment. · People impacted by the virus are requesting reasonable accommodations, raising questions about whether they meet the definition…