Scenario:

Nicolai, a 38-year-old veteran of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, wants to lease a unit in a condominium community in your state. (See your state statutes.) He likes the condominium layout and the fact that they have an elevator since he is wheelchair bound with a permanent disability from the war. In this town, only two communities have elevator access to the units. The other community is full, so Nicolai has applied to the second new "Driftwood" community built in 2019 that the owners say is only for residents ages 55 and older. Nicolai's realtor has done some investigation and found that the developers, who also own 60% of the units, took out an FHA loan for this development, and she questions whether this community really is a 55 and older community since she can see that there are a lot of children in the tot lot located on the property. (See Chapter 19, Appendix B of the text concerning the Fair Housing Act, and the HUD Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA).

Access theHUD HOPA Act, 1999.

Checklist: In abusiness memo format, address the following as Nicolai's real estate agent:

• Explain the problem.
• Assess Nicolai's legal rights to live in the Driftwood Community. Access the Civil Rights Act Title VIII (i.e., Fair Housing Act) from the reading, the HUD HOPA Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and related laws, and any other laws that you think might apply. Identify the laws and passages that provide the rights you have stated that Nicolai has above.
• Identify how these legal rights and the documents/laws involved are indicative of the U.S. culture (see the culture website resource in the reading area), and indicative of society.
• Explain how noncompliance with these legal issues could affect the residents, the condominium owners, and the realtor's and developers' professional reputations in the future.
• Analyze how HOPA compliance impacts families with children currently visible in the community.
• Explain how the real estate agent should proceed and provide your reasoning.

Disclaimer:The organization and characters depicted in this exercise are fictional. Any resemblance to real organizations or individuals is purely coincidental.