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35 T. Marshall L. Rev. 139 (2009-2010)
No Training Required: The Availability of Emotional Support Animals as a Component of Equal Access for the Psychiatrically Disabled under the Fair Housing Act

handle is hein.journals/thurlr35 and id is 143 raw text is: NO TRAINING REQUIRED: THE AVAILABILITY OF EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMALS AS A COMPONENT OF EQUAL ACCESS FOR THE PSYCHIATRICALLY DISABLED UNDER THE FAIR HOUSING ACT CHRISTOPHER C. LIGAITI* Discrimination saps people's strength and their ability to struggle through each day-hence causing the very depression, hopelessness, anxieties, and suspicions that become the basis for further discrimination. Laws that prohibit . . . this discrimination have been passed; it is up to all of us to learn them, understand them, take them seriously, and enforce them. INTRODUCTION With the passage of the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988,2 Congress created a right for disabled persons to live in the housing of their choice. In the years since, many disabled individuals have fully asserted this right and when denied housing or reasonable accommodations, sought recourse through both private suits3 and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) administrative enforcement mechanism.4 Despite this, disabled individuals, in particular individuals disabled by * Attorney Advisor, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Boston, MA; Legal Research and Writing Instructor, New England School of Law; B.A., George Washington University, 2004; J.D., New England School of Law, 2007. The author wishes to thank all those who encouraged the research and writing of this article and all those who provided valuable assistance by commenting on the manuscript. The views or opinion professed within this article are of the author only and in no way the official policies, opinion, or views of the United States government or any department thereof. 1. SusAN STEFAN, UNEQUAL RIGHTS: DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE WITH MENTAL DISABILITIES AND THE AMERICANS wITH DISABILITIES ACT, at xv (2001). 2. Fair Housing Act, Pub. L. No. 100-430, 102 Stat. 1620 (1968) (codified in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601-3619). 3. Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3613 (2009). 4. Id. §§ 3610-14. Individuals or organizations are able to bring allegation of discrimination to HUD through an administrative process. Id. at § 3610. Upon HUD's determination that there is reasonable cause to believe a violation of the Fair Housing Act has occurred, the Department will issue a charge. Id. § 3610(g). After issuing such a charge both complainants and respondents have twenty days to elect to have the case decided in a civil action in federal court. Id. at § 3612(a). If no such election is made, the case stays within the administrative process and a hearing is conducted by an administrative law judge within 120 days following the issuance of the charge. Id. at § 3612(g).

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