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How a reasonable accommodation request can help with housing

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Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and Housing Discrimination Testing Program at Suffolk University Law School
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Here are some of the ways that reasonable accommodations can help when you are applying to, or living in, public and subsidized housing in Massachusetts.

To learn what a reasonable accommodation is and what is considered a disability, see Reasonable Accommodations and Housing.

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applying
How can a reasonable accommodation help me when I am applying for housing?

If you are applying for public or subsidized housing, you may have the right to ask for (request) a reasonable accommodation. Here are some examples.

Application process

A housing authority office should be physically accessible to people with limited mobility and other disabilities.

If you are not able to get to a housing authority office because of a disability, the agency should mail the application to you; or the housing authority should do the interview at your home, online or in some other place that is accessible to you.

You are also entitled to have the housing authority help you fill out an application if you are unable to do this on your own.28

Eligibility

If you might be considered ineligible for public or multifamily subsidized housing because of behavior related to your disability, but you could meet your basic obligations as a tenant if a reasonable accommodation were made, then you should be eligible.

The concept of reasonable accommodation is broad and flexible, so you can be creative. Here are examples of reasonable accommodations that could let applicants with disabilities be considered eligible for housing:

  • A person with learning disabilities and a poor rent-paying history should be found eligible if she is willing to get a representative payee to pay her rent directly to the housing authority.29
  • A person with a disability with a poor housekeeping history should be found eligible if he has accessed housekeeping services through the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission or elsewhere.
  • A person with a disability who has a history of fights with former neighbors but is now in treatment, successfully medicated, in control of his anger, and not likely to be involved in future altercations, should be found eligible for housing.30
  • A person with a disability who needs an assistance animal for reasons relating to their disability should be allowed to have an assistance animal even if they would otherwise not be allowed to have a pet in a particular type of public housing.

Waiting lists

If your name has been removed from a waiting list because you failed to respond to a request for information and the reason you were unable to respond was related to your disability, ask to be put back on the waiting list. This type of accommodation is required in the Section 8 program and should also be considered reasonable in public and other subsidized housing programs.31

search
If I have a Section 8 voucher, can a reasonable accommodation help me find housing?

If you have a disability, certain rules can assist you in leasing up an appropriate apartment with a Section 8 voucher.

Facing discrimination

If a private landlord refuses to rent to you and you believe that you are being discriminated against because of your disability:

  • Tell the housing authority or regional nonprofit housing agency that gave you your voucher. 
  • In response to your report, the housing authority staff must give you information about how to file a discrimination complaint against this landlord.32
  • Some housing authorities will freeze the search time for the Section 8 voucher while a discrimination complaint is pending.33 You need to look at a housing authority’s Section 8 Administrative Plan or ask the housing authority to find out if they will freeze Section 8 search time.

Facing high rents

If you have a disability and have been unable to find an apartment that is affordable with your Section 8 voucher because you have special housing needs related to your disability, you can ask a housing authority or regional nonprofit housing agency to make the amount of your voucher higher. This lets the housing authority allow a landlord to receive a higher rent (payment standard) without making your portion of the rent unaffordable.34

Some examples of when a higher rent might be appropriate as a reasonable accommodation are: 

  • if you need a particular type of heating source due to your disability (i.e., electric and not gas heat); 
  • if you need to be on a first floor; or 
  • if you must live in a particular area to be near treatment providers.

Search time

Housing authorities must give all people who receive a Section 8 voucher at least 60 days search time to find an affordable and decent apartment. If you have a disability and are unable to lease up within this time for reasons related to your disability, the housing authority must extend the voucher search time to what is reasonably required for you to find an apartment.35 This standard is very flexible and allows housing authorities to give long extensions when people need them.

For example, a housing authority can put a hold or freeze on your Section 8 voucher if:

  • you are hospitalized or 
  • in rehabilitation in a substance abuse program or
  • you are having a hard time finding an apartment that is wheelchair accessible.

Utility allowances

Housing authorities must approve a higher utility allowance than the standard if needed as a reasonable accommodation ― for example, if you have a disability and need extra electricity to run medical equipment.36

Number of bedrooms

A person with a disability may receive a voucher for an apartment with more bedrooms than would normally be given to a family without a person with a disability, if more bedrooms are needed as an accommodation to the person’s disability.37 For example, if you or your partner need to sleep in a hospital bed and cannot, therefore, share one bed in one room, you could be entitled to a second bedroom. Likewise, if you have two children who cannot share a room due to emotional or behavioral problems related to disability, you could be entitled to separate bedrooms for your children.

Housing search assistance

Some types of Section 8 housing programs are geared toward people with disabilities. If you have Section 8 through one of these programs, a housing authority usually has to help you with your housing search. For more about different programs for people with disabilities, see Chapter 1: Housing Programs in Massachusetts.

Lists of accessible units

If you need a modified apartment due to your disability, a housing authority must give you a list of any available apartments that are accessible.

Also, a free online resource for accessible and affordable apartments for people with disabilities is available through Housing Navigator Massachusetts which functions as the Mass Accessible Housing Registry (Mass Access). Housing Navigator MA has information about accessible and adaptable housing for rent. 

There is a similar site called MyMassHome for homeownership options.

Ability to rent from relatives

Under federal law, if you are a Section 8 tenant, you are normally not allowed to rent an apartment owned by your parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, sisters, or brothers. However, where a particular apartment owned by a family member is needed as a reasonable accommodation, the housing authority may choose not to follow ("waive") this rule.38

who-pays
Who pays for a physical modification?

If you have a disability, landlords may have to make reasonable modifications or changes to the physical structure of an apartment so that you can have full use of your home. You can request a physical modification before moving into an apartment or during your tenancy.39 You should do this in writing. If you request a physical modification, you must show how the modification will help give you full access to use and enjoy your unit.40

In public or subsidized housing and in buildings with 10 or more apartments, the housing provider must pay for reasonable physical modifications.41 The exception to this rule is if the housing provider can show that making the modification would cause undue hardship. Even where a housing provider does not have to pay for a modification, the housing provider must allow the tenant to make the modification at their own expense.42

Note 

If you cannot afford to make the changes yourself, there may be some money available to help you make reasonable modifications through:

 

After you make a written request for the modification, if a public housing authority or owner of a building with 10 or more units refuses to make and pay for the accommodation, you can consider filing a discrimination complaint. If the housing provider is not required to make a physical modification and refuses to allow you to make the modifications at your expense, this also may be discrimination.

assistance-animal
Can I have an animal if I have a disability?

In general, if you wish to own a pet in public or subsidized housing you should ask for a copy of the pet policy and lease to see what the policies are about pets. But you may be able to have an animal, even if the rules would otherwise prevent you from having a pet, if you need that animal for assistance related to your disability.

An animal that does work, performs tasks, assists, and/or provides emotional support for individuals with disabilities is referred to as an assistance animal.43 There are 2 types of assistance animals. 

  • A service animal is generally a dog that is specially trained to perform a specific disability-related task. 
  • A support animal is any animal that provides assistance and/or therapeutic emotional support to a person with a disability.

Assistance animals can do many things, including: 

  • Guiding people who are blind or have low vision
  • Alerting people who are hearing impaired
  • Providing rescue assistance or minimal protection
  • Pulling a wheelchair
  • Fetching items
  • Alerting people to seizures that someone is about to get
  • Providing emotional support44

State public housing

A service animal that is specially trained to help a person with a disability with activities of daily living is not considered a "pet."

If you have a service animal, you do not need permission to keep the animal in your apartment, as long as it is safe and sanitary.45 Even though you do not need to get permission, you should still tell the housing authority, in writing, that you have a service animal.

If you have a support animal, you should make a reasonable accommodation request to the housing authority to be able to have the support animal in your home.

Federal public housing

Under federal rules, housing authorities cannot use their pet policies to prevent people with disabilities from having an assistance animal. But they may require a person with a disability to show that there is a relationship between the person’s disability and their need for the animal.46 Even if you are allowed, as a reasonable accommodation, to keep an assistance animal that you otherwise would not be able to keep, you still must follow reasonable rules about the safe-keeping of the animal.

parking
If I need a parking space near my apartment because I have a disability, can I get one?

If you have a disability and you need a particular parking space due to your disability, you should request that the landlord make a reasonable accommodation and provide you with the space.47 You may be required to prove that you need the space due to your disability. You can do this by requesting a letter from your doctor stating that you need a parking spot near your apartment as a result of your disability.

The housing provider may not have to give you the exact space you request. But they may be required to give you a space that will address the needs relating to your disability. If there is only 1 space that will meet your needs, your housing provider may be required to allow you to park there.

If, after your written request for a reasonable accommodation, your landlord will not give you the appropriate parking space, you can:

  • Consider filing a discrimination complaint with a local, state, or federal government agency.48
  • Try to get a temporary restraining order from the court. This is an order from a judge that would prevent the landlord from giving the parking space to anyone else until the discrimination issues have been investigated.49
eviction
How can a reasonable accommodation help me prevent an eviction?

Sometimes housing authorities or other landlords try to evict tenants because they say the tenant is violating the lease. If you or a member of your household have a disability and your landlord is trying to evict you because of behavior related to that disability, you may have the right to stop the eviction and put a plan in place to make sure you or your household member do not continue to violate the lease.

What the law requires is that the landlord make reasonable accommodations to allow a person with a disability to remain living in their apartment. If you cannot negotiate a reasonable accommodation with a landlord directly and you need to go before a judge in an eviction case, keep in mind that a judge’s decision about when a requested accommodation is reasonable will depend on the facts of the individual case. There is never a guarantee that a judge would require a particular accommodation.

However, here are examples of where accommodations would probably be considered reasonable:

  • You suffer from major depression and have a cat that you are emotionally dependent on. The landlord seeks to evict you for violating a no-pets clause in the lease. 
    • A reasonable accommodation might be: Your landlord allows you to keep your cat as an assistance animal.50
  • Your son is hyperactive and has damaged a few doors in your house as a result of his hyperactivity. Your landlord seeks to evict you due to damage at the premises.51 Your son is now being treated medically for his condition, and the treatment has been effective or has a good chance of being effective in lessening his hyperactivity and preventing future damage to the house. 
    • A reasonable accommodation might be: The landlord is required to stop the eviction and wait to see if your son is better able to follow the rules of the lease as a result of medication or other treatment. You would most likely need to pay to repair any damage.
  • You have fallen behind on your rent because you have depression and are unable to keep up with budgeting. 
    • A reasonable accommodation might be: Your landlord may not be able to evict you if you show that your failure to pay rent was related to your disability and that in the future you will be able to pay your rent on time. For example, if you are getting public benefits, you could agree that the Department of Transitional Assistance will send vendor rent payments directly to your landlord. Or you could agree to have a representative payee pay your landlord directly out of your Supplemental Security Income benefits. Another possibility is that you show that you are now in treatment for your depression and that the treatment has been effective or is likely to be effective in lessening your symptoms. You could then ask your landlord to give you another chance to show that you will now be able to pay your rent on time. Most likely, you would need to pay your landlord the back rent owed or have a plan to do so to prevent eviction.
  • You have some belongings that your landlord told you to move from the common areas of the building. You are recuperating from back surgery and have not been able to do it. Your landlord serves you with an eviction notice. 
    • A reasonable accommodation might be: Your landlord gives you extra time to have the items moved and stops any eviction proceedings once the items are moved. Also, the landlord might be required to have maintenance staff move the items for you if it would not be too expensive or complicated for them.52
  • Your landlord is seeking to evict you because he claims that you are a bad housekeeper and your apartment is cluttered and a risk to others due either to fire or to cockroach infestation. 
    • A reasonable accommodation might be: Your landlord is required to stop eviction proceedings if you or your care providers are able to contract for home housekeeping assistance. Sometimes you can get housekeeping assistance through MassAbility or Department of Social Services. You also might be able to get assistance through MassHealth if you qualify for a personal care attendant.53 Councils on Aging often have information about housekeeping services in different local areas. 

Direct threat exception

A landlord will not need to make an accommodation that you request if your tenancy:

  • would be “a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals or … would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others”54 and 
  • a reasonable accommodation could not get rid of this threat or lower it. 

Deciding what is a “direct threat” should be based on:

  • actual acts causing harm or threats to cause harm, or other similar objective evidence regarding the actual behavior of the tenant.55 It should not be based on what a landlord or other tenant thinks or fears about mental illness.
  • an individualized assessment of whether any reasonable accommodation could eliminate or acceptably reduce the risk of future harm to other tenants. 

The exception for direct threat should apply only if a tenant would still pose a threat to health or safety after the landlord makes necessary reasonable accommodations.56 For example, a person who might pose a threat without proper treatment or medication but who does not pose a threat with proper treatment and medication should be allowed to get housing as long as they get effective treatment.

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28.  760 C.M.R. § 5.05(1).

29.  See related Giebeler v. M & B Associates, 343 F.3d 1143 (9th Cir. 2003) (court held that the Fair Housing Amendments Act requires landlord to consider finances of co-signer where necessary to accommodate disabled tenant without sufficient income to rent apartment).

30.   Tenant advocates have routinely claimed reasonable accommodation where a denial of housing is based on a criminal record (such as assault and battery) and the criminal activity was related to a disability. At least one federal court has held that a landlord did not need to provide an accommodation in the admissions context where a housing denial was based on a facially neutral policy denying applicants with a criminal record related to violent crime. Evans v. UDR, Inc., 2009 WL 1026724 (E.D.N.C. Mar. 24, 2009). But see Boston Hous. Auth. v. Bridgewaters, 452 Mass. 833 (2009) (tenant entitled to reasonable accommodation after receiving an eviction notice based on a physical assault); Roe v. Hous. Auth. of Boulder, 909 F. Supp. 814, 822-23 (D. Colo. 1995) (landlord could not lawfully evict a mentally ill tenant for violent behavior where landlord had not established that no accommodation would eliminate or acceptably minimize the risk to other tenants); Roe v. Sugar River Mills Assocs., 820 F. Supp. 636, 638-639 (D.N.H. 1993) (same). See Chapter 6: Tenant Screening, and Chapter 7: Challenging a Denial of Housing.

31.  24 C.F.R. § 982.204(c)(2); 24 C.F.R. § 960.202(c)(3).

32.  24 C.F.R. § 982.304.

33.  Under federal law, a housing authority has a duty to “affirmatively further fair housing.” 42 U.S.C. § 3608(d). Some housing authorities have specifically included the requirement to freeze voucher search time in their Section 8 Administrative Plan. 

34.  In the current Section 8 voucher program, housing authorities can set a payment standard between 90%-110% of the fair market rent for its area. If the housing authority uses a payment standard below 110%, it may allow up to 110% for a person with disabilities who needs the adjustment as a reasonable accommodation. 24 C.F.R. § 982.503(b). If an individual needs a payment standard between 110% and 120% of fair market rent, the housing authority should make a request to the HUD local field office. 24 C.F.R. § 982.503(c)(2)(ii); 24 C.F.R. §982.505(d). If a payment standard in excess of 120% is necessary, a request may be forwarded to the Assistant Secretary of HUD at its central office in Washington, D.C. 24 C.F.R. §982.505(d). If the request is denied, a discrimination complaint may be filed with HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. See also 24 C.F.R. § 9.

35.  24 C.F.R. § 982.303(b)(2).

36.  24 C.F.R. § 982.517(e).

37.  24 C.F.R. § 982.402(b)(8).

38.  24 C.F.R. § 982.306(d).

39.  42 U.S.C. § 3604 (f)(3)(A); 24 C.F.R. § 100.203; G.L. c. 151B, § 4(7A).

40.  42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A); 24 C.F.R. § 100.203; G.L. c. 151B, § 4(7A)(1).

41.  Although a housing provider must pay for reasonable modifications in buildings of ten or more units, a housing provider need not pay for installing a ramp to more than five steps or installing a wheelchair lift. Reasonable modifications include, but are not limited to, making housing accessible to mobility-impaired, hearing-impaired and sight-impaired persons, installing a doorbell that flashes, lowering a cabinet, ramping a front entrance of five or fewer vertical steps, widening a doorway, and installing a grab bar. G.L. c. 151B, § 4(7A)(3). 

42.  24 C.F.R. § 100.203; HUD Multifamily Occupancy Handbook 4350.3, §§ 2.46, 2.8, REV-1, CHG-4 (November 2013); G.L. c. 151B, § 4(7A).

43.  See Assessing a Person’s Request to Have an Animal as a Reasonable Accommodation Under the Fair Housing Act, FHEO-2020-01.

44.  See 73 Federal Register 63834 (Oct. 27, 2008); HUD Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook, § 16.1; HUD Multifamily Occupancy Handbook 4350.3 REV-1, CHG-3 (June 2009), §2-44.

45.  760 C.M.R. § 6.03.

46.  24 C.F.R. §5.303(a); 73 Federal Register 63834 (Oct. 27, 2008); HUD Multifamily Occupancy Handbook 4350.3 REV-1, CHG-3 (June 2009), § 2-44.

47.  See Joint Statement of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice entitled “Reasonable Accommodations Under the Fair Housing Act,” May 17, 2004, p. 6, ex. 1; see also Jankowski Lee & Assocs. v. Cisneros, 91 F.3d 891 (7th Cir. 1996).

48.  42 U.S.C. § 3610; G.L. 151B, §§ 3, 5, 6, and 8; 804 C.M.R. §§ 1.00 et seq. 

49.  42 U.S.C. § 3613(c)(1); Heights Cmty. Cong. v. Hilltop Realty, Inc., 774 F.2d 135 (6th Cir. 1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1019 (1986) (allowing injunctive relief); Runyon v. McCrary, 427 U.S. 160 (1976); Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968); Moore v. Townsend, 525 F.2d 482 (7th Cir. 1975); Smith v. Sol D. Adler Realty Co., 436 F.2d 344 (7th Cir. 1970); G.L. c. 151B, § 9 (statutory basis for injunctive relief); G.L. c. 93, § 102(b); G.L. c. 12, §§ 11H and 11I.

50.  See Whittier Terrace Assocs. v. Hampshire, 26 Mass. App. Ct. 1020 (1989); Bhogaita v. Altamonte Heights Condo. Ass'n, Inc., 765 F.3d 1277, 1288-89 (11th Cir. 2014) (finding that plaintiff established his need for emotional assistance animal was a reasonable accommodation because it alleviated symptoms of his disability). 

51.  See City Wide Assocs. v. Penfield, 409 Mass. 140 (1991) (tenant who threw water on the walls and hit walls with a bat due to auditory hallucinations related to her mental illness entitled to reasonable accommodation).

52.  See Schuett Inv. Co. v. Anderson, 386 N.W.2d 249 (Minn. Ct. App. 1986) (requiring affirmative steps to accommodate disabled tenants and remedy code violations).

53.  For Personal Care Worker eligibility criteria, see 130 C.M.R. § 403.423.

54.  42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(9).

55.  Wirtz Realty Corp. v. Freund, 308 Ill. App. 3d 866, 875-876 (1999); Howard v. City of Beavercreek, 108 F. Supp. 2d 866, 875 (S.D. Ohio 2000).

56.  See Boston Hous. Auth. v. Bridgewaters, 452 Mass. 833 (2009); Douglas v. Kriegsfeld Corp., 884 A.2d 1109 (D.C. Cir. 2005); Roe v. Sugar River Mills Assocs., 820 F. Supp. 636 (D.N.H. 1993); Roe v. Hous. Auth. of Boulder, 909 F. Supp. 814 (D. Colo. 1995); see also Joint Statement of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice, “Reasonable Accommodations Under the Fair Housing Act,” May 17, 2004, pp. 4-6.

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