HUD INVESTIGATION FINDS THAT DALLAS HOUSING AUTHORITY ENGAGED IN DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it has issued findings that the Housing Authority of Dallas (DHA), Texas, discriminated against a tenant with a disability by failing to provide a reasonable accommodation and seeking to evict her. Specifically, the DHA failed to transfer a tenant with a mobility disability to a ground-floor unit, forcing her to leave her wheelchair and crawl up or down the stairs in order to access or leave her housing. Read HUD's Letter of Findings.

"When the housing authority failed to provide this tenant with a ground floor unit, it violated her civil rights, subjected her to indignity, and interfered with her independent use and enjoyment of housing," said Jeanine Worden, HUD's Acting Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. "Reasonable accommodations are essential to ensuring that individuals with disabilities have equal opportunity to enjoy and benefit from housing. HUD will vigorously enforce civil rights laws to ensure that individuals with disabilities served by HUD's public housing programs are not subjected to discrimination."

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by public housing agencies and other recipients of HUD funding. Recipients must bring their programs, activities, and facilities into compliance with federal accessibility requirements. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) also prohibits public entities from discriminating on the basis of disability in all services, activities, and programs, whether or not they receive federal funds.

The case originally came to HUD's attention when the tenant filed a complaint alleging that she had been discriminated against on the basis of her disability. HUD's investigation also revealed that the housing authority unlawfully evicted the tenant in retaliation for her efforts to obtain a reasonable accommodation.

People who believe they have experienced housing discrimination or discrimination in any other program or activity funded by HUD may file a complaint by contacting HUD's Office of Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (Federal Relay Service).

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