Wisconsin Real Estate Magazine: 2017 Fair Housing Quiz

2017 Fair Housing Quiz


 Debbi Conrad  |    March 30, 2017
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1. Which of the following statements is not true regarding Fair Housing Act (FHA) enforcement actions by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ)?

A. The DOJ has sued lenders when they have imposed more stringent underwriting standards on home loans or made loans on less favorable terms for Hispanic or Native American borrowers.
B. The DOJ has taken enforcement action against municipal governments that have tried to reduce or limit the number of Hispanic families that may live in their communities.
C. The DOJ has taken action against private landlords who have discriminated against Hmongs and individuals from the former Soviet Union.
D. The DOJ has taken action against private landlords who fail to enter into or renew rental agreements with elderly or minority tenants who have Section 8 housing choice vouchers.

2. Under the FHA, property managers must make reasonable accommodations for a tenant’s service or comfort animal. What is the difference between the two?

A. The FHA does not require training or certification, so a comfort animal and a service animal are treated the same.
B. The Americans with Disabilities Act provides that a service animal is trained and certified, while a comfort animal primarily provides emotional support to a person with anxiety.
C. All animals must meet the training requirements in Wis. Stat. § 106.50(2r)(bm) for vision, hearing and mobility assistance.
D. Service animals wear vests with emblems on them while comfort animals do not.

3. Which of the following is not true when a residential tenant asks the landlord to change the locks to the tenant’s premises based on the Safe Housing Act?

A. The request must be accompanied by a certified copy of a domestic abuse injunction, harassment injunction, criminal complaint alleging sexual assault or stalking, or similar order as stated in the statute.
B. A landlord shall have the locks changed, or give the tenant permission to change the locks, within 48 hours after receipt of the tenant’s request and a certified copy of one of the documents listed in the statute.
C. The person threatening the tenant shall be responsible for the cost of changing the locks.
D. If the landlord gives the tenant permission to change the locks, within a reasonable time after any lock has been changed, the tenant shall provide the landlord with a key for the changed lock.

4. What is the mission of the Partnership for Success Program?

A. To promote diversity within the REALTOR® membership based on race, color and national origin.
B. To invite members to watch the Partnership for Success video found at www.wra.org/Partnership.
C. To increase minority representation in real estate brokerages and REALTOR® organizations.
D. Both A and C.

5. Which of the following does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity, which is actual or perceived gender-related characteristics?

A. Wisconsin’s open housing or fair housing law.
B. HUD’s Equal Access to Housing Policy for federally supported housing programs.
C. Article 10 of the REALTOR® Code of Ethics.
D. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.

6. Under the Wisconsin statutes regulating the design and construction of multifamily housing, which includes three or more units, which of the following is not a requirement?

A. Grab bars are installed around the toilet, tub, shower stall and shower seat.
B. Interior and exterior doors, and interior passages, are sufficiently wide to allow passage by persons with disabilities who use wheelchairs.
C. There is at least one accessible entrance for each building and that entrance is on an accessible route.
D. Public and common use areas are accessible to persons with disabilities.

7. Which of the following does not accurately describe HUD’s guidance document, “Office of General Counsel Guidance on Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use of Criminal Records by Providers of Housing and Real Estate-Related Transactions”?

A. Applies disparate impact analysis to the policies of landlords or property managers who refuse to rent to people who have been arrested or convicted.
B. Provides under the first step that the challenger prove the landlord’s criminal history screening standard has a discriminatory effect and results in a disparate impact on a protected class, such as African American males.
C. Allows the landlord in the second step to prove that the challenged policy is necessary to achieve a substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest, which often means the landlord must prove its criminal history screening policy actually assists in protecting tenant safety or property.
D. Concludes that excluding tenant applicants because of one or more prior arrests, without any conviction, is necessary to achieve a substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest.

8. What are examples of housing discrimination?

A. Refusing to make reasonable accommodations or reasonable modifications for persons with disabilities.
B. Refusing to permit inspection or requiring different purchase or rental terms or conditions.
C. Refusing to finance or sell an unimproved residential lot or to construct a home or residence upon such lot.
D. All of the above.

9. Which of the following is not discrimination when a landlord brings an action to evict a tenant who is a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking?

A. The landlord knows or should have known the tenant is a victim, and the basis for the eviction is conduct related to the commission of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking by a person who was not the invited guest of the tenant.
B. The tenant violated the rental agreement or a statute that entitles the landlord to possession of the premises.
C. The landlord knows or should have known the tenant is a victim and the eviction is based on conduct related to the commission of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking by a person who was the invited guest of the tenant, but the tenant has sought an injunction prohibiting the person from coming to the premises.
D. The landlord knows or should have known the tenant is a victim and the eviction is based on conduct related to the commission of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking by a person who was the invited guest of the tenant, but the tenant has provided the landlord with a written statement indicating the person is no longer an invited guest.

10. Which of the following is not an exception to fair housing law and thus represents an instance where certain discrimination is permitted? 

A. A family with “too many” people may be turned away from housing, based on reasonable government regulations addressing health and safety, overcrowding, or capacity of utilities or infrastructure.
B. Landlords may reserve certain buildings for families for the safety and well-being of all tenants.
C. Housing may be denied to a person who poses a direct threat to the safety of others or whose tenancy would result in substantial physical damage to property, provided the risk can’t be sufficiently reduced by a reasonable accommodation.
D. Housing primarily intended and operated for older persons may, under certain conditions, be restricted to persons over a certain age, such as “62 years and older” housing and “55 and over” housing.

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