What is the ADA?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law that was passed in 1990 to address discrimination based on disability. The ADA recognizes disability as a source of discrimination similar to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin as stated within the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As defined by the ADA, disability is a “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities or one who has had this impairment or is regarded as having this impairment.” Individuals with disabilities are protected through the ADA in all areas of public life, as well as public and private spaces that are open to the public. These areas include employment, community living, healthcare, and education. The overarching goals of the ADA are to promote equality, participation in society, and economic sufficiency for all individuals with disabilities.

What is the FHA?

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) is a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Titles VIII and IX are the parts of the law commonly known as the FHA. Some earlier laws addressed discrimination in housing, but the FHA expanded on these laws and added an enforcement component. The FHA encompasses changes made in 1988 by the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA).

The FHA prohibits discrimination against people because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), family status, and disability. Within the FHA, a person with a disability is defined to mean an individual with mental or physical impairments that substantially limit one or more major life activities. This law also protects individuals who are regarded as having a disability or who have a history of such an impairment.¹ The FHA applies in many aspects of housing and housing-related transactions, including when someone is buying or renting a home, getting a mortgage or housing assistance, as well as other housing-related contexts and activities. The FHA also has some specific provisions related to disability: allowing tenants to make reasonable modifications to the premises, and allowing for reasonable accommodations.^2,3

Comparison of the ADA and FHA

The ADA and the FHA both prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities in housing. However, there are substantial differences in where and how these laws apply. The way the ADA applies to housing is fairly narrow, while the FHA’s scope is far broader.

Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in all programs, services, and activities provided or made available by public entities (i.e., state and local governments), including when housing is made available by a public entity. Title III applies to places of public accommodation (e.g., privately owned apartment complexes), which are also prohibited from discriminating on the basis of disability. Only areas within housing that are open to the public (like rental offices) must comply with established accessibility standards.

The FHA prohibits discrimination against individuals based on several characteristics, including disability, for housing and housing-related transactions. The FHA covers private housing, housing receiving Federal financial assistance, and state and local government housing. Landlords, real estate companies, municipalities, banks and lending institutions, and homeowner insurance providers are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of disability. In addition, accessible design and construction regulations under FHA apply to “covered multifamily dwellings.”

In some circumstances, both the ADA and the FHA can apply to all or part of a housing situation. Additionally, state or local laws may also apply.

The ADA National Network, the ADA, and the FHA

The ADANN provides information, guidance, and training about the ADA. One of the ways it does this is by providing technical assistance about the ADA. The ADANN only receives funding to address ADA-related questions. However, the ADANN often receives requests that relate to other disability-related laws, including the FHA. In the interest of understanding how ADA-related requests relate to other types of inquiries, the ADANN records information about all technical assistance or informational requests it receives. Technical Assistance Specialists can refer a technical assistance recipient to other organizations that could potentially provide the appropriate assistance.

However, in the case of the FHA, there is not an organization that provides a parallel service of providing comprehensive FHA-related technical assistance on disability-related issues. HUD does have an initiative, Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST, that offers TA to promote compliance with the FHA’s design and construction requirements.⁴ An FHA Resource Center provides information and resources for consumers and industry partners related to financial aspects of home buying and financing.⁵ However, HUD does not provide or fund a comprehensive program related to delivering technical assistance or information about the law, asking for and granting accommodations, the complaint process, or other disability-related policy and procedure with the FHA.

Results

Methods

ADANN uses an online database, the Outcome Measurement System (OMS3), to collect information about technical assistance interactions. Data were retrieved from OMS3 for calendar year 2022, the most recent complete year available. Calendar year 2019 was used as a comparison to identify trends; this year was selected because it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Simple descriptive statistics (counts and percents) were performed for aspects of the data that related to housing. Information examined included assessing the roles of the persons who received housing-related technical assistance, the most common ADA topics related to the technical assistance, which Titles of the ADA were relevant to the interaction, referrals made, and other laws that applied to the situation. The OMS3 system distinguishes between technical assistance topics that relate to the ADA and topics that relate to other laws or general information. As a result, technical assistance relating to housing may relate to either or both the ADA and FHA, and the Technical Assistance Specialists distinguish between the two laws when recording information in OMS3 regarding the technical assistance interactions that took place.

Findings

In 2022, ADA-related housing technical assistance was uncommon, accounting for 2% (n=291) of all 15,608 technical assistance interactions (Figure 1). It was the 15th-most common ADA topic (Figure 2). Technical assistance requests related to FHA were almost seven times more common than ADA-related housing, comprising 13% (n=1,989) of all technical assistance interactions (Figure 1).

This analysis also provided information about aspects of the FHA-related technical assistance interactions. In 2022, 58% of FHA-related technical assistance requests came from individuals with a disability. The next-most common role were family members of persons with a disability, at 14%. Technical Assistance Specialists most frequently referred technical assistance recipients with FHA-related issues to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, this only amounted to 32% of FHA-related interactions; 47% of FHA-related interactions did not result in a referral.

There were notable shifts in the frequency of housing-related technical assistance that occurred between 2019 and 2022 (Figure 3). FHA-related technical assistance interactions increased from 10% of all interactions in 2019 to 13% in 2022. The change for ADA-related housing was more substantial, with the frequency decreasing from 9% in 2019 to 2%.

Figure 1. Summary of housing-related technical assistance provided by the ADANN, 2022

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Figure 2. Most frequent ADA-related technical assistance topics and FHA-related technical assistance, by percent, 2022

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Figure 3. Change in frequency of ADA-related technical assistance topics and FHA-related technical assistance, by percent, 2019 to 2022

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Conclusion

People with disabilities often face housing discrimination. Housing rights for people with disabilities is a topic that accounts for a large proportion of the technical assistance delivered by ADANN. In 2022, most housing-related technical assistance provided by ADANN related to the FHA. ADA-related housing interactions were one-seventh as common as FHA-related interactions.

Over one in ten of all technical assistance interactions were related to the FHA in 2022, dwarfing the percentage of housing-related calls that were in-scope for ADANN. In fact, if FHA was ranked among ADA topics, housing would be the third-most common reason for contacting ADANN. This abundance of FHA-related calls to an ADA-focused network could be due to a gap in knowledge in the general population about when the ADA applies to a housing-related issue as compared to when the FHA applies to the issue. The discrepancy may also result from inadequate availability of technical assistance for FHA-related issues—the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which enforces the FHA, does not administer or fund a comprehensive program to assist people with FHA-related questions. Another possible reason is that the ADA applies to relatively few housing situations, while the FHA is applicable for many housing issues.

Almost half of FHA-related technical assistance interactions did not result in a referral. From this analysis, it was not possible to tell if these technical assistance recipients received the information they needed (and that a referral was not necessary for their situation) or if the technical assistance interactions resulted in a dead end. The absence of a program designed to address FHA-related issues may be why many technical assistance interactions did not result in a referral. Other reasons could have been a gap in the ADANN Technical Assistance Specialists’ understanding about how to make a referral for FHA-related topics, or that a referral was not warranted.

Together, these findings suggest there is a particular need for more technical assistance related to housing and disability beyond the scope of the technical assistance provided by the ADANN. Greater public knowledge about the ADA and other laws prohibiting discrimination, and greater access for individuals to receive FHA-related technical assistance, would allow for more efficient and appropriate technical assistance and for a greater number of people to access their rights under the law.

Examples from the ADA National Network

Below are on-the-ground examples of how ADANN addresses housing-related requests for information or technical assistance. For further information on how the regional ADA Centers can help, please contact the ADA National Network.

Example 1:

A service provider called ADANN on behalf of her client, a homeowner who uses a wheelchair. Her client has been rebuilding his home after a natural disaster and was in the process of putting a ramp so he could enter and exit his home. A board member from his home owner association (HOA) came and took pictures, and sent a cease-and-desist letter which said that his ramp was in violation of the HOA bylaws. They denied his request for an exception, and said he needed documentation of his disability despite knowing he used a wheelchair. The Technical Assistance Specialist informed the service provider that the HOA was in violation of the FHA and provided contact information for the state’s Fair Housing Center. The Technical Assistance Specialist also recommended some other steps the client could take. Eventually a successful resolution was reached, and the ramp was built.

Example 2:

A man called ADANN asking about ADA regulations for doors in common areas of apartment buildings. In his building, there’s a heavy exterior door that he cannot open. The apartment complex lowered the door’s resistance to eight pounds of pressure, but he was still unable to open it. He wondered what he could do. The Technical Assistance Specialist informed the man that the ADA did not apply to his situation—the FHA was the relevant law. Under the FHA, he could request a reasonable modification request to install an automatic door opener, but this would be installed at the man’s expense.

Example 3:

A man called the ADANN because he was upset about his Deaf neighbor’s service animal, which was a breed of dog with a reputation for being aggressive. The service animal attacked another neighbor’s dog, and the man was afraid for his and his own dog’s safety. He felt there should be restrictions on the breeds that are allowed to be service animals and emotional support animals. The Technical Assistance Specialist informed him that the FHA allows for both service animals and emotional support animals. There are no restrictions on what breeds are allowed. However, the animal must be under the control of the handler at all times. If the animal is misbehaving or aggressive in any way, the apartment management has the right to address the issue, which depending on the behavior, may mean no longer allowing the animal.

Example 4:

A woman with a disability lives in a cooperative condo association, where all the residences are co-owned by all residents. Her disability is not apparent, but it causes her to get tired when she has to walk too far. She has a quiet, well-behaved service animal to help her. A neighbor yelled at her and told her she didn’t have a disability, and that she shouldn’t let her dog walk through the picnic area on the way to a grassy spot that her dog uses as a relief area. The woman asked the Technical Assistance Specialist for help. The Technical Assistance Specialist told her that the FHA applies to all condos and apartment buildings. The FHA says that people with disabilities have the right to request reasonable accommodations to use their dwelling or the common use spaces. The Technical Assistance Specialist also explained that property manager or the condo board can establish a pet relief area, but a person with a disability has the same right to use common spaces such as the picnic area just like everyone else.

References

¹ The United States Department of Justice. The Fair Housing Act. justice.gov. Published June 22, 2023. Accessed September 13, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/crt/fair-housing-act-1

² 24 CFR § 100.203 – Reasonable modifications of existing premises. LII / Legal Information Institute. Accessed September 13, 2023. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/24/100.203

³ 24 CFR § 100.204 – Reasonable accommodations. LII / Legal Information Institute. Published 2026. Accessed September 13, 2023. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/24/100.204

⁴ Fair Housing Accessibility First Home. HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Accessed September 5, 2023. https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/accessibility_first_home

⁵ The FHA Resource Center | HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Hud.gov. Published 2021. Accessed September 5, 2023. https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/sfh/fharesourcectr

SUGGESTED CITATION: Porter, M.A., Jones, R., Parker Harris, S., and Harniss, M. (2025). Disability and Housing: Intersections of ADA and FHA technical assistance (pp.1-10). Seattle, WA and Chicago, IL: ADA National Network Knowledge Translation Center.