While this is from TX, the "Guidance" applies to all states.
The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) encourages residential occupants with disabilities to be aware of new guidance by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice, under the Federal Housing Act (FHA), (http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr08-028.cfm) that reinforces their rights to make reasonable structural modifications to dwellings which facilitate full enjoyment of the premises.TWC's Civil Rights Division (CRD) enforces laws to ensure that all Texas residents are given equal access to housing as federally mandated by FHA, which prohibits discrimination in housing based on disability, race, color, religion, national origin, sex and familial status. In Fiscal Year 2007, TWC's Civil Rights Division resolved more than 300 cases involving allegations of housing discrimination.
The new guidance, which coincides with the 40th anniversary of the FHA and National Fair Housing Month in April, is designed to help housing providers and homeowners' associations better understand their obligations and inform disabled people about their rights regarding the FHA's reasonable modifications provision.
Housing providers or homeowners' associations are prohibited from refusing to allow occupants to modify residences that would enable full accessibility of the premises. Examples of reasonable modifications, for which occupants must pay, include widening door- ways to make rooms more wheelchair accessible, and installing a ramp to provide access to common use areas such as clubhouses.
Complaints filed by prospective renters or home buyers also can range from being denied the chance to rent or purchase housing to being told housing is unavailable when it is on the market. Being shown apartments or homes only in certain neighborhoods or being refused information about mortgage loans are other types of housing discrimination.
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