On June 10, 2020, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) reached a Voluntary Compliance Agreement with the Housing Authority of Prince George’s County (HAPGC), Maryland after a HUD compliance review determined that HAPGC denied the reasonable accommodation requests of tenants with disabilities, failed to ensure program accessibility in existing facilities, and failed to make an adequate number of accessible units available.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) prohibits discrimination  on the basis of disability by recipients of federal financial assistance and requires that recipients of federal financial assistance bring their programs and activities into compliance with federal accessibility requirements. In addition, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits state and local governmental entities from discriminating on the basis of disability in all services, activities, and programs.

The case began when HUD conducted a review to determine if HAPGC was compliant with Section 504 and the ADA. The HUD compliance review identified a lack of accessibility throughout HAPGC’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV), Project-Based Voucher (PBV), Moderate Rehabilitation (Mod Rehab), and Public Housing (PH) programs. The review also revealed that HAPGC staff routinely failed to respond to the reasonable accommodation requests of tenants.

Under the terms of the agreement, HAPGC will: