Requiring Adult Supervision of Children May Cross the Line to a Fair Housing Violation

A recent fair housing court case (Dumas v. Sunview Properties, February 2014) has clarified that while it is OK to have property rules relating to the safety of children, rules relating to behavior and rules requiring unreasonable supervision of children may not be acceptable.

 

In this case, one rule of the property stated that all children must be supervised by an adult who will be responsible for any damage caused by the children, such as destroying plants. This was known at the property as the “adult supervision rule.” Another rule stated, “No playing with balls, bicycles, roller blades, and other toys on the property.” This was known as the “no playing rule.”

 

The plaintiff in this case alleged discrimination five different times between 2006 and 2013, all involving her son playing outside until he was told not to do so. In at least one of these cases, the property took action because there was no adult supervision of the child.

 

In February 2014, the court dismissed the mother’s discrimination claim based on the No Playing Rule, but allowed further proceedings regarding the Adult Supervision Rule.

 

The reasoning was that the No Playing Rule prohibited play by anyone – not just children, and thus was not discriminatory. However, the Adult Supervision Rule applied only to families with children, and could therefore be discriminatory.

 

In general, courts take issue with rules requiring adult supervision of all children because such rules are not the least restrictive way to accomplish the purpose of the rules. However, rules requiring supervision of young children during specific activities, such as swimming or bicycle riding, have been found to be justified because of the safety issues involved and the younger age of the children. Policies requiring adult supervision of all children – regardless of age – have been found to be overly broad.

 

The key here is not to implement rules relating to the behavior of children. Safety rules are fine, but must be reasonable. For example, while it may be reasonable to require the supervision of children age six and younger when playing outside, requiring constant adult supervision of children of all ages could be hard to defend.

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