How to Clear Up the Law Around Housing Providers’ Rights in Addressing Reasonable Accommodations for Non-Apparent Disabilities

Under the Fair Housing Act, housing providers must provide reasonable accommodations to a tenant who requests them if the tenant (1) is disabled within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act and (2) their disability necessitates the requested accommodation. However, not all disabilities are observable—tenants may be disabled under the ADA if they have non-apparent disabilities, like anxiety, depression, and arthritis. The current law around what information housing providers may request from a tenant seeking a reasonable accommodation based on a non-apparent disability is ambiguous and does not offer housing providers sufficient guidance. However, the law around what disability-related information employers may request from employees seeking reasonable accommodations based on non-apparent disabilities is clearer and more developed. To resolve the ambiguity around this issue in the housing context, housing providers should be granted employer-level rights to request disability-related information from tenants claiming to have a non-apparent disability