FHA: Examples of Adaptable Elements for Multi-Family Housing (*pdf document)

The Federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) Design Guidelines require most newly constructed residential units to be ‘adaptable.’  What does that mean? Read our recent Access Alert and download "FHA: Examples of Adaptable Elements for Multi-Family Housing."

ADA Compliance in Difficult Times

The economy may be down, but enforcement of the ADA continues in many business and institutional sectors.  There are five actions that property owners and managers can take that cost very little, improve accessibility, and mitigate against risk of complaint or litigation.  Read more in a recent article (*pdf) in Today’s Facility Manager by Katherine McGuinness, Principal of Kessler McGuinness & Associates, LLC. 

Major Fair Housing Act Settlement Establishes Construction Tolerances

Trammel Crow Residential Development and Archstone Smith Trust have signed  important Fair Housing Act settlement agreements with The Equal Rights Center (ERC) of Washington DC.  Both settlements include "remediation tolerances" that allow certain existing conditions which exceed FHA design requirements to remain.  These tolerances have been agreed upon by the ERC and the developer/defendants, but they do not represent an enforceable national standard.  For example:  

To view the Appendix to the ERC v Trammell Crow settlement listing the agreed upon tolerances, click here (*pdf).

The ADA/504 Survival Kit for Colleges and Universities: Lessons Learned from Federal Investigations

Katherine McGuinness is co-presenting "The ADA/504 Survival Kit" for colleges and universities at two upcoming conferences. 

• National Association of College and University Business Officials (NACUBO), June 28-30, in Boston, MA. The NACUBO presentation is 1.5 hours.
  
  
• Society of College and University Planners (SCUP), July 18, in Portland, OR. The SCUP presentation is a 5-hour pre-conference workshop.

For college administrators, architects, and attorneys, the ADA/504 Survival Kit will give you hard-earned experience from colleges and universities who have entered into ADA settlement agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Having a federal agency investigate your campus accessibility is - at best- a distraction, and often leads to expensive modifications on aggressive schedules. This session is an opportunity to learn from those who have been investigated how to avoid one, and what to do if you are. It will outline how to develop proactive planning and management strategies to improve campus accessibility and avoid complaint, and mitigate risk in the event of an investigation.

Download pdf for complete seminar synopsis.

Co-Presenters:
C. Stuart Hain, VP for Facilities and Services, Swarthmore College
Susan Smythe, ADA Program Manager, Swarthmore College
Mary F. Thomas, Disabilities Services Director, Duke University

Register Now! 

NACUBO: Advance Rates apply April 1, 2009 through May 31, 2009 (Onsite Rates apply after June 1, 2009). Save by registering before April 20th!

SCUP: Early bird registration ends May 8th. Register now and save! 

Update: US DoJ ADA Hotel Investigations

US DoJ investigations of New York City Hotels have been continuing at a steady pace through the latter part of 2008 and into 2009. 

The US DoJ has announced settlements with the following hotels:

• Park Central Hotel
• Muse Hotel
• Mariott Marquis Hotel
• Salisbury Hotel
• DaVinci Hotel
• Paramount Hotel
• Hilton New York and Towers
• Doubletree Guest Suites
• Sheraton Manhattan Hotel
• Flatotel International Hotel,
• Courtyard by Marriott, Times Sq.
• Crowne Plaza Hotel

A sample of a recent settlement can be viewed here (*pdf, 37 KB).

Common ADA and FHA Accessible Design and Construction Errors

You paid your architect. You paid your contractor.

But is the project ADA compliant?

Learn to avoid common ADA and FHA accessible design and construction errors.

ADA Amendments Act Signed into Law
President George W. Bush signed the ADA Amendments Act into law yesterday.  Supported by a broad coalition of advocacy and employer organizations, the amendments disavow U.S. Supreme Court decisions that define ‘covered disabilities’ more narrowly than Congress had intended when first passing the ADA in 1990.

These amendments do not affect design and construction standards under the ADA, and are unrelated to the U.S. Department of Justice’s administrative process of adopting the 2004 ABA/ADA Accessibility Guidelines, known to most architects as ‘the new ADAAG.’ 

Please donwload this excellent summary (*pdf) by Seyfarth Shaw, LLP.

Common Access Errors in School Design & Construction
You can avoid common accessible design and construction errors. Be sure to review plans for the access elements listed in our recent Access Alert. (521 CMR is cited when it is more stringent than ADAAG.)  Click here to download a pdf of our recent Boston Society of Architects presentation on Common Access Errors in School Design and Construction.

U.S. Says Many Apartments Violate Law on Disabled
The U.S. Department of Justice recently filed a Fair Housing Act lawsuit against AvalonBay Communities and its architects for a new multi-family housing development in NYC.  This is an important test case addressing whether compliance with a local accessibility code that is not recognized as a “safe harbor” by the HUD is compliant with the FHA’s requirement to design and construct accessible facilities.

"The Americans with Disabilities Act has different requirements for government facilities and buildings owned by private entities. Most architects know the accessible design standard for privately-owned buildings, but are not aware that there are different standrads for government facilities." 

In the Banker & Tradesman's April 28th Commercial Real Estate Monthly Section Katherine McGuinness' article Government Facilities Affected By Unusual ADA Requirements clarifies some common issues. If you would like to read Katie's article please download the article .pdf here.

Multi-Housing News published an article by David Kessler: Ensuring Accessibility: Multifamily Housing Developers Learn from FHA Litigation. It addresses several common design and construction mistakes seen in multi-housing developments. You are welcome to read and forward this article.

Here is a link to a recent New York Times article. Food critic Frank Bruni discovered that accessibility and hospitality are not always synonymous, and that access is more than a ramp and a bathroom with grab bars. His experiences are well-articulated.

The Courthouse Access Advisory Committee issued its final report and recommendations – Justice For All: Designing Accessible Courthouses. Katherine McGuinness served as an active participant on this committee which met quarterly for two years (and has the plaque and mug to prove it!). The report includes recommendations for:

• Design solutions to meet minimum ABAAG and ADAAG standards
• Best practices for accessible courthouses
• Outreach and educational strategies for disseminating this information

You can find the report, free, at the Access Board’s website. Committee Members visited many courthouses nationwide, among them the John Adams Courthouse in Boston, MA. The recent renovations to this courthouse (CBT Architects, Inc.) demonstrated many of the report’s best practices for accessible design.

David Kessler was a speaker at the Universal Access in Travel Symposium sponsored by the American Association of Airport Executives and the Federal Aviation Administration. Equal Access to Information – DCARA vs. the City of San Francisco addresses the implications for other airports of the settlement agreement between Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency and San Francisco International Airport. The settlement includes SFO providing an additional 80 flat screen monitors, and including all types of PA announcements in a visual format. KMA was selected by both the plaintiffs and the defendant to serve as the "neutral consultant" to conduct fact finding and make recommendations to resolve the litigation. View the presentation “Equal Access to Information” (in pdf format - rotate clockwise using the icon on your toolbar for easier viewing).