Fair Housing 101

View the April 2011 Fair Housing Month Proclamation.

Accomplishments of the Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Subsection

In December 2008, DFEH Director Phyllis Cheng co-founded the Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Subsection of the State Bar Real Property Law Section. Since its inception, the Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Subsection accomplished the following:

Organized a Steering Committee with a well-balanced group of fair housing/public accommodations practitioners from the plaintiff, defense, neutral, government, and non-profit sectors.
Elected Subsection Co-Chairs: Susan Saylor, DFEH Chief Counsel, and Kathy Belville, Partner, Kimball Tirey & St. John. In 2010, Sybil Villanueva, DFEH Associate Chief Counsel and Heidi Palutke of the California Apartment Association became the new Co-Chairs.
Sponsored two highly successful day-long Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Symposiums at Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco and Southwestern Law School for attorneys, law students and others. On April 2,2011, the Subsection plans a third symposium at Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco.
Sponsored a State Bar Webinar on disability and housing and a Marijuana Roundtable.
Developed an active State Bar E-Circle with nearly 90 active members. The Subsection’s e-Circle page is rated among the “most active” sites. We do not have a record of how many new members the E-Circle and Subsection have brought to the Section, but suspect that we have contributed to that effort.
Wrote two articles on the special issue of the California Real Property Journal, Issue 4, 2009, devoted to fair housing and public accommodations.
- Through Struggle to the Stars: A History of California's Fair Housing Law, by Ann M. Noel and Phyllis W. Cheng.
- Anatomy of A Fair Housing Case: A Primer on Litigating a Housing Discrimination Claim and MCLE Test 18, by Annmarie Billoti, Susan Saylor, and R. Sybil Villanueva.
Developed a detailed outline of the first-ever California Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Practice Guide. We are in serious discussion with two potential legal publishers to publish the practice guide.
Proposed on more than one occasion workshop topics for the Real Property Law Section’s Annual Meeting and State Bar Winter SEI.

Any attorney interested in joining the Subsection and its e-Circle can write to phyllis.cheng@dfeh.ca.gov.

More to come...

Save the Date: Please save January 25, 2012 from noon to 1:30 p.m. for the webinar "Recent Developments in Fair Housing: Criminal Background Checks, Domestic Violence and Medical Marijuana." New state laws and federal guidance offer special housing protections for domestic violence victims. The panel will discuss how domestic violence intersects with fair housing laws; and address how domestic violence affects evictions, lock changes, and tenants' rights to end their leases early. Although criminal history is not generally a legally protected class under fair housing laws, the use of criminal background checks can create fair housing issues and potential liability. The panel will review the fair housing implications of using criminal history in resident screening, including the possibility of application of HUD's new proposed rules on the disparate impact theory of discrimination. What are the landlord’s and tenant’s rights when a tenant claims that the use and/or cultivation of marijuana is necessary as a reasonable accommodation for his or her disability or illness? The review will include a discussion of the conflict between state and federal law, recent cases, HUD opinions and practical considerations.
Moderator: Heidi Palutke, Research Counsel, California Apartment Association
Panelists:
Meliah Schultzman, an attorney at the National Housing Law Project in San Francisco, is involved in policy advocacy and litigation to advance the rights of tenants in the federally subsidized housing programs and the housing rights of domestic violence survivors. Prior to working at NHLP, she served as a judicial clerk in the federal district court for the Southern District of California. She is a graduate of Berkeley Law and the recipient of a 2007 Equal Justice Works Fellowship.
Sanjay Wagle is Counsel for the California Association of REALTORS®. Sanjay has been with C.A.R. since 2003. He provides advice to REALTORS® on a wide variety of real estate law issues through the C.A.R. legal hotline, has written articles for California Real Estate Magazine, co-hosted a number of legal webinars and drafted legal articles for C.A.R. members including articles on medical marijuana and landlord-tenant issues. He also teaches classes on a variety of topics including risk management and distressed properties. Sanjay received his bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in Sociology from UCLA. He received his Juris Doctorate from USC Law School.
Theresa L. Kitay provides general consultation and defense representation on civil rights issues for the housing industry. Terry has developed an expertise in disability and accessibility issues, including reasonable accommodations and the Fair Housing Act's design and construction requirements for new multifamily housing. She represents owners, developers, managers, architects and engineers of multifamily housing throughout the country. She is a member of the Board of Advisors of Professional Apartment Management, and the author of "Fair Housing and Accessibility Issues in Multifamily Rental Housing" in the Georgia Apartment Law Book. She is also a frequent contributor on fair housing and related issues to such national publications as Multifamily Executive and Units, and has testified before the United States House of Representatives on fair housing and accessibility issues. She is an honors graduate of both Smith College and the Emory University School of Law, and is a member of the California and Georgia state bars.
Registration at http://www.legalspan.com/calbar/telephone.asp?UGUID=&CategoryID=20020116172124213244&ItemID=20111208-790189-100539#sf
Read Julie Waltz First Amendment Policy - Housing Directive H-103.
2010 View of ADA
The Second Annual Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Symposium In Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the ADA
The Third Annual Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Symposium
Register online for the "Third Annual Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Symposium" sponsored by the Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Subsection, State Bar of California Real Property Law Section, in partnership with Golden Gate University School of Law. Register here.

View and download housing videos.