A Texas mom is embroiled in a dispute with her neighbors over a gate she installed in front of her home to keep her son with autism from wandering.
Christa Colquhoun put a small white picket gate on her front porch to keep Luke, 5, from bolting into the street. Before installing the gate she submitted an application with her homeowners’ association detailing the alteration to her home and the reasons for the change. Colquhoun waited 30 days for a response — per the HOA’s regulations — and after 60 days without a reply proceeded to install the gate.
But now, Colquhoun says she’s being bullied by her neighbors and the HOA, which is asking for $600 in fines and the removal of the gate. The association even warned Colquhoun that they could foreclose on her home if she doesn’t comply.
“It’s not neon purple. It doesn’t have crazy colors. All I have is a gate to protect my son and I’m being bullied by neighbors and by HOA,” Colquhoun told KENS 5, the San Antonio CBS affiliate.
This family can fight the HOA using provisions within the Fair Housing Act:
Fair Housing Act
The Fair Housing Act, as amended in 1988, prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, and national origin. Its coverage includes private housing, housing that receives Federal financial assistance, and State and local government housing. It is unlawful to discriminate in any aspect of selling or renting housing or to deny a dwelling to a buyer or renter because of the disability of that individual, an individual associated with the buyer or renter, or an individual who intends to live in the residence. Other covered activities include, for example, financing, zoning practices, new construction design, and advertising.
The Fair Housing Act requires owners of housing facilities to make reasonable exceptions in their policies and operations to afford people with disabilities equal housing opportunities. For example, a landlord with a “no pets” policy may be required to grant an exception to this rule and allow an individual who is blind to keep a guide dog in the residence. The Fair Housing Act also requires landlords to allow tenants with disabilities to make reasonable access-related modifications to their private living space, as well as to common use spaces. (The landlord is not required to pay for the changes.) The Act further requires that new multifamily housing with four or more units be designed and built to allow access for persons with disabilities. This includes accessible common use areas, doors that are wide enough for wheelchairs, kitchens and bathrooms that allow a person using a wheelchair to maneuver, and other adaptable features within the units.
Complaints of Fair Housing Act violations may be filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. For more information or to file a complaint, contact:
Office of Program Compliance and Disability Rights
Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th Street, S.W. , Room 5242
Washington, D.C. 20410
http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo
(800) 669-9777 (voice)
(800) 927-9275 (TTY)
For questions about the accessibility provisions of the Fair Housing Act, contact Fair Housing FIRST at:
http://www.fairhousingfirst.org
(888) 341-7781 (voice/TTY)
For publications, you may call the Housing and Urban Development Customer Service Center at:
(800) 767-7468 (voice/relay)
Additionally, the Department of Justice can file cases involving a pattern or practice of discrimination. The Fair Housing Act may also be enforced through private lawsuits.
BJBlackler’s got it right – legally. Having been through this I can only say that this is a great way for lawyers to make money (even if it’s pro-bono), and it helps to know that the law is on your side. But if your entire community is against you – not just a cuople of knuckle-heads on the HOA – things can be really difficult – expecially while trying to take care of day-to-day realities at the same time. My point is, it is important to scope out how the community sees this, and marshall neighbor’s support. In a smaller town (hey, I’m in NYC…) contacting the local parent-to-parent, ASD-support network, churches, etc. is a good way to marshal support. It’s amazing how many people are directly affected by ASD – and therein lies your victory.
She is covered under the reasonable accommodations provision of the Rehabilitation Act.
The neighbors just don’t want a handicapped child in their neighborhood. They would be quick to bring the mother up on charges if they had to form a search party and go look for the little boy or if he got run over by a car or if she put him on a leash instead of using a gate. They are a bunch of stuck up classists.