North Dakota fair housing group reports uptick in discrimination based on disability

Oct. 14--Fair housing advocates in North Dakota report that discrimination against people with disabilities is the most common complaint they receive, and those numbers have gone up in recent years.

Most commonly, those complaints involve denied service animals, burdensome forms, inaccessible buildings and landlords who don't allow modifications, said Kelly Gorz, the associate director of High Plains Fair Housing.

"I can talk about discrimination based on race, on sex, on familial status -- all those things happen in North Dakota, but, generally, people can understand how wrong that is," Gorz said. "But when I'm talking about disabilities, it's a lot of people feeling like this is burdensome to deal with a disability."

So far this year through July, High Plains Fair Housing has received 97 discrimination complaints, 72 of which have been on the basis of disability. In 2018, 64 of 104 complaints were of disability discrimination, and in 2019, those numbers were 66 complaints out of 100.

According to a report recently released by High Plains Fair Housing on housing discrimination based on mental health, the organization first noticed an uptick in 2018 and 2019 of people who had been evicted or were in the process of being evicted because of their disabilities, and particularly because of mental illness.

With the COVID-19 pandemic driving an increase in mental illness across the country, the report stated that now more than ever tenants should know their rights when it comes to legal accommodations.

The report details findings of a study conducted by High Plains Fair Housing testers in six major housing markets in the state over the course of a year. The testers function as a kind of "secret shopper" by attempting to gain housing, disclosing a disability and requesting an accommodation, and noting their experience to determine whether discrimination is occurring.

The study found that 23% of the testers were steered toward less desirable units compared to matched control testers, who did not disclose a disability or request an accommodation, and 16% were told that there were no available units at properties where control testers were told there was availability. About 5% of testers were also asked intrusive questions.

Investigating housing access complaints is part of High Plains Fair Housing's regular workload, but Gorz said sometimes tenants don't want to go through the formal complaint process, either because they wish to remain anonymous or because they don't want to endure the emotional stress. In those cases, High Plains Fair Housing uses "testers" to attempt to gain housing and see if the alleged discrimination is occurring.

That practice is fairly common, according to Gorz, who said, if discriminatory practices are found, a conciliation process, where the properties agree to some form of relief without an admission of guilt, will be pursued. Generally, that relief entails a payment of some kind, an agreement to change policy and fair housing training.

Gorz said High Plains Fair Housing has two major conciliations in the works now, but declined to comment further until those cases are resolved.

High Plains last major conciliation regarding disability discrimination was resolved in May. In that case, she said a number of tenants who lived at various properties managed by IRET Properties claimed the property management forced them to waive their HIPAA rights in order to live with their service animals.

IRET Properties is a property management company that operates in several states across the Mountain West and Midwest, including in four cities in North Dakota: Grand Forks, Jamestown, Minot and Bismarck.

High Plains Fair Housing investigators found that IRET required prospective tenants to fill out a disability verification form she called "intrusive" and "overly burdensome."

While landlords are allowed to request verification of a disability, they are not allowed to ask about details including medical history, medication and diagnoses.

As part of that conciliation, Gorz said IRET agreed to pay High Plains Fair Housing$2,000, change its policy and undergo fair housing training for all management and maintenance staff.

"This affects over 2,400 units across the state," she said. "That's why we were pretty excited about this one. It really helps a lot of people."

The High Plains Fair Housing study on mental disability discrimination found that testers were given overly restrictive requirements when they inquired about emotional support animals 40% of the time.

Creating equal access to housing is critical for people with disabilities to live independently, Gorz said.

"Somebody with a disability doesn't get a special thing because they have a disability," Gorz said. "They get these accommodations and these modifications because they cannot access housing .... it is all about equal access. Without this in housing, people cannot live independently, and we will have to go back to having institutions where people are separated from society, so they can't be part of society, they can't be part of our communities without these housing protections."

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