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In honor of Fair Housing Month, this month's issue will give you a chance to test your knowledge of fair housing law. The rules forbidding outright housing discrimination seem fairly straightforward, but simply telling your staff not to discriminate against prospects and residents is not enough to avoid fair housing trouble. The law also bans more subtle forms of discrimination, which may not seem to be overtly discriminatory, but have an unfair impact on some prospects or applicants with a protected characteristic.

This month, the focus is on fair housing trouble from an unexpected source: the people who work at your community, but aren't your employees. Communities often rely on a variety of outside contractors or vendors to perform services on their behalf, ranging from independent leasing agents and property management companies to landscapers, painters, and plumbers, among others.

This month, we are going to discuss strategies to avoid fair housing trouble during the application process—beginning with initial contact and ending with approval or rejection of an application. Fair housing law prohibits communities from discriminating against prospects and applicants based on race and other protected characteristics. And each stage of the application process—showing units, filling out paperwork, performing credit checks, negotiating terms, and so on—has the potential to generate a fair housing complaint.

We have given you seven rules on preventing fair housing complaints during the application process. Now let's look at how the rules might apply in the real world. Take the COACH'S QUIZ to see what you have learned.

INSTRUCTIONS: Each of the following questions has only one correct answer. On a separate piece of paper, write down the number of each question, followed by the answer you think is correct—for example, 1) b, 2) a, and so on.

COACH'S TIP: The correct answers (with explanations) follow the quiz. Good luck!

In this special issue of Fair Housing Coach, we'll update you on some recent court developments on the Fair Housing Act (FHA). In recent months, courts have handed down decisions on local immigration measures and the FHA design and construction standards—topics we covered in Fair Housing Coach earlier this year—and on discriminatory advertising on the Internet, a topic we last covered in 2006.

In this special issue of Fair Housing Coach, we look at some recent cases decided by federal and state courts on fair housing law. Keeping abreast of what's happening in the courts can help you learn from the experiences of other communities to better prevent—or respond to—fair housing complaints.

This month, we are going to put the focus on your staff as your first line of defense against fair housing claims. The potential for a fair housing problem is inherent in the many ways your staff interacts with prospects, applicants, and residents—answering phone calls, marketing and showing units, evaluating rental applications, responding to accommodation requests, and performing maintenance work, to name a few.

This month, we are going to teach you about liability insurance that covers housing discrimination. This is important because even if you follow every lesson in Fair Housing Coach, someone someday may claim that you or your community discriminated against him in violation of fair housing laws. If that happens, you need to know whether your insurance covers the claim and, if it does, to what extent your community is covered.

This month, we are going to help you handle residents who cause trouble in your community—either to other residents, the property, or you and your staff—without your violating fair housing laws.

Residents have been known to vandalize or damage community property; violate their leases or community rules; and intimidate, threaten, or harass other residents or guests. They can also make it hard for owners and managers to do their jobs and for residents to enjoy their homes.