## Facts

- Andrew Rusinov, a tenant at River Park Apartments, had multiple sclerosis that substantially limited major life activities, including walking long distances.
- River Park Apartments operated a first-come, first-served parking lot with no assigned tenant spaces (aside from limited management and visitor spaces).
- Rusinov requested an assigned parking space as close as possible to his apartment building to accommodate his disability-related mobility limitations.
- Management (Jankowski Lee & Associates and related parties) refused, citing its general no-assigned-parking policy.
- Rusinov filed an administrative complaint with HUD alleging disability discrimination based on the refusal to accommodate his parking request.
- After a two-day administrative hearing, a HUD Administrative Law Judge found a Fair Housing Act violation and ordered injunctive relief, assignment of a nearby parking space, $2,500 compensatory damages, and a $2,500 civil penalty; the decision became the Secretary’s final order.

## Issues

1. Whether Rusinov was “handicapped” within the meaning of the Fair Housing Act.
2. Whether refusing to assign Rusinov a parking space near his building was a failure to make a reasonable accommodation “necessary to afford” an equal opportunity to use and enjoy his dwelling, violating 42 U.S.C. §§ 3604(f)(2) and 3604(f)(3)(B).
3. Whether substantial evidence supported HUD’s factual findings and remedies.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit denied the petition for review and affirmed the Secretary of HUD’s final order.
- The court upheld the finding that Rusinov qualified as handicapped under the Act.
- The court upheld the conclusion that an assigned, nearby parking space was a reasonable and necessary accommodation and that maintaining a neutral parking policy without exception was unlawful discrimination.
- The court deferred to HUD’s fact-finding under the substantial-evidence standard and left the ordered relief and penalties intact.

## Legal Principles

- Under 42 U.S.C. § 3602(h), a “handicap” includes a physical or mental impairment substantially limiting one or more major life activities.
- 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(2) prohibits discrimination in the terms, conditions, privileges, or services connected to a dwelling because of handicap.
- 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) defines discrimination to include refusing reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when necessary to afford an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.
- A housing provider may be required to modify an otherwise uniform policy when a modest, low-burden exception is necessary for a disabled tenant’s equal use and enjoyment.
- On judicial review of a HUD order, factual determinations are upheld when supported by substantial evidence in the administrative record.

## Conclusion

The court sustained HUD’s determination that refusing to assign a nearby parking space to a tenant with multiple sclerosis violated the Fair Housing Act’s reasonable-accommodation requirement because the requested exception to a neutral parking policy was necessary and reasonable to provide equal opportunity to use and enjoy the dwelling.


Jankowski Lee & Assocs. v. Cisneros, 91 F.3d 891 (7th Cir. 1996)