From Hidden Property Liabilities to HUD's New ESA Guidance
Fair Housing liability rarely begins with an employee deliberately discriminating against someone. More often, it starts with an inconsistent decision, poor documentation, an outdated procedure, a poorly handled accommodation request, a screening practice, or a routine operational decision that nobody recognized as a potential Fair Housing problem. The 2026 Fair Housing Compliance & Risk Reduction Bundle brings together two focused sessions designed to help multifamily housing professionals identify these vulnerabilities before they become complaints, investigations, litigation, or expensive settlements.
Presented by nationally recognized Fair Housing educator Doug Chasick, CPM®, CAPS, SLE, this two-part training combines a comprehensive Fair Housing operational risk audit with a focused examination of one of today's most challenging compliance areas: assistance animals and Emotional Support Animals (ESAs).
- Would your property's policies and resident files hold up if a Fair Housing complaint were filed tomorrow?
- Are your onsite teams handling reasonable accommodation requests consistently—or could two employees give two residents completely different answers?
- Do your managers know what to review when an assistance animal or ESA request lands on their desk?
- And following HUD's changing 2026 approach to assistance animals, are your existing policies still creating unnecessary risk?
SESSION 1
How to Find Your Biggest Fair Housing Liability Before HUD Does!
August 25, 2026
1:00 PM ET | 12:00 PM CT
60 Minutes
The best time to discover a Fair Housing problem is before a resident, tester, investigator, or plaintiff's attorney discovers it for you.
This practical session teaches housing professionals how to look at their properties through the eyes of a Fair Housing investigator.
Rather than concentrating only on legal theory, attendees will learn how to systematically review everyday operations and uncover potential vulnerabilities involving:
- Leasing and resident interactions
- Policies and procedures
- Resident documentation
- Reasonable accommodations and modifications
- Maintenance practices
- Criminal background screening
- Occupancy standards
- Renewals and transfers
- Advertising and marketing
- Websites and online applications
- AI-assisted communications and technology
- Operational consistency between employees and properties
The objective is simple:
Find small compliance problems today before they become expensive Fair Housing problems tomorrow.
Key Takeaways
Attendees will learn how to:
- Identify operational areas most likely to create Fair Housing exposure
- Conduct a systematic internal Fair Housing audit
- Spot inconsistent practices that can create discrimination allegations
- Review resident files and documentation for weaknesses
- Evaluate accommodation and modification procedures
- Identify risks involving websites, technology and AI
- Develop recurring internal compliance reviews
- Strengthen accountability across onsite and regional teams
SESSION 2
The Great ESA Reset: What Every Housing Professional Needs to Know About HUD's Latest Guidance
60 Minutes | On-Demand Recording
Assistance animal requests have long been one of the most confusing areas of Fair Housing compliance.
Now housing professionals must understand how HUD's changing 2026 enforcement approach affects the way animal-related reasonable accommodation requests are evaluated—while remembering that private Fair Housing litigation risk has not disappeared.
This session helps property professionals separate what has changed from what has not and translate the regulatory discussion into practical procedures for onsite teams.
You'll Explore
- HUD's changing 2026 approach to assistance animals
- Service animals vs. assistance animals vs. Emotional Support Animals
- Fair Housing Act requirements compared with ADA service-animal standards
- Evaluating accommodation requests individually
- Appropriate and inappropriate documentation practices
- Online ESA certifications
- Multiple-animal requests
- Pet fees, deposits and pet rent
- Updating accommodation procedures and internal workflows
- Training onsite employees for consistent decision-making
- Continuing private Fair Housing litigation exposure
Instead of simply telling your team what the rules say, this session helps them understand what to do when the next request actually arrives.
WHY THESE TWO SESSIONS BELONG TOGETHER
The first session asks:
“Where is Fair Housing liability hiding in our operation?”
The second asks:
“Are assistance animal and ESA requests one of those vulnerabilities?”
Together, attendees learn how to evaluate Fair Housing compliance across the entire resident lifecycle and then take a deeper look at an area where inconsistent policies, documentation and employee decisions can create significant exposure.
It's broad risk identification + focused risk management in one practical training package.
BUNDLE OBJECTIVES
After completing both sessions, attendees should be better prepared to:
- Identify hidden Fair Housing vulnerabilities before they generate complaints
- Audit policies, resident files and everyday operational practices
- Improve consistency between onsite employees and locations
- Strengthen reasonable accommodation procedures
- Evaluate assistance animal and ESA requests more confidently
- Improve documentation surrounding management decisions
- Review policies affected by HUD's evolving approach
- Train leasing, management and compliance teams more effectively
- Reduce preventable Fair Housing risk throughout the organization
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
This bundle is particularly valuable for:
Property Managers | Community Managers | Regional Managers | Area & District Managers | Leasing Managers | Compliance Professionals | Fair Housing Coordinators | Training Professionals | HR Professionals | Maintenance Supervisors | Owners & Operators | Multifamily Executives
Organizations managing multiple properties or multiple onsite teams may find particular value in the sessions because consistency, documentation and standardized procedures become increasingly important across larger portfolios.
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