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SAFE HARBORS What are the ten "safe harbors" for compliance with the Fair Housing Act and where can I find them? HUD recognizes ten safe harbors for compliance with the Fair Housing Act's design and construction requirements. They are:
* Effective February 28, 2005 HUD determined that the IBC 2003 is a safe harbor, conditioned upon ICC publishing and distributing a statement to jurisdictions and past and future purchasers of the 2003 IBC stating, "ICC interprets Section 1104.1, and specifically, the exception to Section 1104.1, to be read together with Section 1107.4, and that the Code requires an accessible pedestrian route from site arrival points to accessible building entrances, unless site impracticality applies. Exception 1 to Section 1107.4 is not applicable to site arrival points for any Type B dwelling units because site impracticality is addressed under Section 1107.7." Information about these safe harbors as well as HUD’s policy with respect to their use may be found in Report
of HUD Review of the Fair Housing Accessibility
Requirements in the 2006 International Building
Code. Where can I find the accessibility standards for dwelling units required to be accessible under the Fair Housing Act's design and construction requirements? The
Fair Housing Act requires seven basic requirements that must be
met to comply with the access requirements of the Act. Those
Requirements are: Why isn't there one uniform accessibility standard for compliance with the Fair Housing Act's design and construction requirements? Congress
did not provide statutory authority for one national uniform set
of accessibility standards. Although one uniform accessibility
standard is desirable, there are many ways for buildings to be
built to be accessible. HUD has noted that the ANSI (American
National Standards Institute) standard was the design basis for
the Fair Housing Accessibility Guidelines, and that it is also
the underlying standard for the Uniform Federal Accessibility
Standards (UFAS) and many state and local codes. Preamble
to the Guidelines, 56 FR 9472, 9478-79, March 6, 1991.
* Effective February 28, 2005 HUD determined that the IBC 2003 is a safe harbor, conditioned upon ICC publishing and distributing a statement to jurisdictions and past and future purchasers of the 2003 IBC stating, "ICC interprets Section 1104.1, and specifically, the exception to Section 1104.1, to be read together with Section 1107.4, and that the Code requires an accessible pedestrian route from site arrival points to accessible building entrances, unless site impracticality applies. Exception 1 to Section 1107.4 is not applicable to site arrival points for any Type B dwelling units because site impracticality is addressed under Section 1107.7." If a property is built to some standard other than one of the safe harbors, can it still comply with the Fair Housing Act's access requirements? Yes.
HUD said in the Introduction to the Accessibility Guidelines,
"builders and developers may choose to depart from these
guidelines and seek alternate ways to demonstrate that they have
met the requirements of the Fair Housing Act." The standard
employed must meet all of the design and construction
requirements specified in the Fair Housing Act and HUD's Fair
Housing Act regulations, and provide the same or a stricter
degree of accessibility than the recognized safe harbors. Fair
Housing Act Design Manual, page 13. Preamble
to the Guidelines, 56 FR 9478-79, March 6, 1991. The purpose
of the Fair Housing Act Guidelines is "to describe the
minimum standards of compliance with the specific accessibility
requirements of the Act." Preamble to the Guidelines, 56 FR
9472, 9476, March 6, 1991. 91. In a building that consists of multistory townhouses with covered multistory dwelling units that contain private internal elevators, what design specifications should apply to the private elevator? Some of the HUD-approved safe harbors do not contain technical specifications for private residential elevators located on the interior of individual dwelling units. However, ICC/ANSI A117.1 (2003) may be consulted for specifications for such elevators. These specifications are found in ICC/ANSI A117.1 (2003) Chapter 10, Type B Dwelling Unit Section 1004.7, which in turn references Chapter 4, Accessible Routes Sections 407, 408, and 409. If using the 1986 ANSI A117.1, Section 4.10 applies. Some of the main accessible features required by ICC/ANSI A117.1-2003 are:
For the complete technical specifications for residential elevators, consult ICC/ANSI A117.1 (2003).
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