The Legal Column: New Handicapped Housing Rules

New federal requirements could affect how you build or remodel multifamily housing. The Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act, which took effect last March, adds handicapped to the classes protected by Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which had included race, religion, sex, and national origin. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was authorized to issue regulations and to implement the new rules. A “handicap” is defined as a “physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of such person’s major life activities, a record of having such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment.” Under this fair housing law, discrimination in the sale, rental, or advertising of dwellings based on handicap is now