Housing discrimination is treating people differently because of a disability. People who rent or sell houses must treat people with disabilities like those without them. Some things they are not allowed to do are:

• Refusing to rent to a person who uses a wheelchair because they think the wheelchair may damage the apartment.
• Making people with intellectual disabilities pay a higher security deposit because they think having an intellectual disability will make it harder to keep a job and pay rent.
• Charging a person with a service animal more because they are afraid the service animal will ruin the carpet.

A housing provider is a person or business that rents, sells, or manages places where people live (such as houses, apartments, or condominiums). Under the Fair Housing Act, housing providers must treat everyone the same no matter their race, color, religion, disability, familial status, national origin, or gender. (The Illinois Human Rights Act also prevents discrimination based on age and other categories.)

All of these are housing providers:

• Property owners
• Property managers
• Homeowners
• Condominium associations
• Lenders
• Real estate agents
• State and local governments
• Other people and businesses involved in renting or selling housing

Yes. Housing providers must make and pay for reasonable accommodations or modifications for people with disabilities. Landlords usually do not have to give accommodations or modification unless you ask first. If you need to ask for a reasonable accommodation or modification, make sure you do it in a letter or email and keep a copy.

When it comes to where you live, a reasonable accommodation is a change in rules or services so people with disabilities can enjoy the common areas of their homes and the buildings.

A reasonable modification is a physical change to the property, such as adding ramps or grip bars.

Examples of reasonable accommodations are:

• Giving a person with a mobility disability a parking space close to their front door, even if nobody else has their own parking spot.
• Letting a person have a service dog even if no other animals are allowed.

Calling a blind person to make sure they know about a general building announcement, because they cannot read signs posted in common areas.

Yes. Your landlord must make reasonable modifications to your apartment or common areas so you can have the same access as everyone else. Or your landlord must let you make a reasonable modification.

Your landlord does not have to make a reasonable modification if it will be too expensive or make a major change to the rest of the building. In these cases, your landlord must find something else to help you.

Also, you may be required to remove any modifications you made when you move out.

Examples of reasonable modifications are:

• Installing a ramp so a person in a wheelchair can get into their front door.
• Putting grab bars in the bathroom next to the toilet and bathtub.
• Putting an accessible open button on the gate around the pool.

If you rent, you will probably have to pay for modifications. But if you live in federally assisted housing, your landlord must pay for the modification.

No. Your landlord cannot ask you about your disability, ask for medical records, or ask you to take medical tests. But if you are asking for modifications, they may require documents to support the need for the modification

No, usually not. The only time a landlord can refuse to rent to you is if your disability can cause a “direct threat” to other people living nearby. Just thinking you can cause a direct threat is not enough to say no. There must be a true reason for believing that you or someone could be hurt because of your disability. If a landlord refused to rent to you and say it is because they are afraid you might hurt someone, call Equip for Equality right away.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has an office that investigates housing discrimination. You can call HUD’s Housing Discrimination Hotline, (800) 669-9777, or file a complaint on-line at https://www.hud.gov/fairhousing/fileacomplaint.

You may also file a complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights. See https://dhr.illinois.gov/filing-a-charge/housing.html for more information.