Date: 10/03/2024
Time: 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Description: This CLE is designed to provide attorneys, paralegals, and advocates a deeper dive into writing Reasonable Accommodation Requests under the Fair Housing Act and enforcing violations of the Fair Housing Act if a Reasonable Accommodation Request is improperly denied. Reasonable Accommodations are a powerful tool to enable persons with disabilities to access and preserve housing. The presentation will provide a brief overview of the Fair Housing Act and explain Reasonable Accommodations and best practices for drafting and securing Reasonable Accommodations. The presentation will also provide procedural, substantive, and practical information about renewing reasonable accommodation requests through demand letters, as well as enforcing Fair Housing violations through the administrative complaint process. Assisting clients with seeking a Reasonable Accommodation is a wonderful opportunity for pro bono attorneys to provide a meaningful legal service and support persons with disabilities to have equal access to housing. Knowledge about the administrative complaint process enables advocates to know “what comes next?” if a reasonable accommodation is denied.
Presenters:
Lauren Brasil: Lauren Brasil is a Co-Director and Managing Attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Fair Housing Project. Ms. Brasil represents victims of housing discrimination across the State in fair housing administrative proceedings before the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and State and local administrative agencies, as well as in State and federal court. She has presented at fair housing seminars for housing consumers, advocates, attorneys, and housing providers. Ms. Brasil is a member of the North Carolina State Bar. She earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology at Lehigh University and her J.D. at Temple University School of Law.
Hope Williams: Hope Williams is a supervising attorney at Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Fair Housing Project where she represents victims of housing discrimination across the State. Hope has worked at Legal Aid of North Carolina since 2006, and previously was a staff attorney at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. Before joining the Fair Housing Project, Hope handled special education cases for students in public schools and immigration cases for victims of domestic violence and trafficking. She also spent several years at Legal Aid’s Centralized Intake Unit where she advised clients in a wide range of civil law matters and supervised Legal Aid’s Fair Housing intake and advice cases. Hope graduated from The University of Texas School of Law and got her undergraduate degree in History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Approved for 1.5hrs of General Credit