U. S. Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) and Home Accessibility - Comparison of before and after the FHAA -

Abstract

This study examined whether the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (FHAA) in the US provides more home accessibility features and reduces the home accessibility problems of senior residents with physical disability. The 2011 American Housing Survey data with a sample of 2,326 senior residents age 55 and over with physical disability and living in multifamily housing built between 1970 and 2011 were analyzed. We compared senior residents living in multifamily before (1970-1990) and after (1991-2011) the FHAA. The results show that senior residents living in multifamily housing before the FHAA were at a greater disadvantage because they were more likely to live in older buildings located in urban areas, yet paid lower rent and received government subsidies. This study confirmed that the FHAA enabled residents of multifamily housing to have more home accessibility features. However, there was no significant difference in perceived home accessibility problems between the two groups, indicating that senior residents in multifamily housing have experienced home accessibility problems both before and after the FHAA. This study has important implications for housing policy makers to consider home accessibility features for multifamily housing buildings before the FHAA, and to revisit if the FHAA sufficiently compensates physical disability of senior resident living in multifamily housing after the FHAA.