I refuse to live in fear of fair housing. I 100% agree with the spirit of the laws, but will not constantly worry about how things are perceived. In the example given I still don't see how using a name could cause perceived discrimination. The lead comes with the name, so I presumably already have an idea of who I'm dealing with. How does using the name change that? This is absolutely not an attack on you Sandy, just an observation. I stopped attending a certain person’s fair housing classes because according to her everything was a violation. Calling children, children or kids is discrimination and they should be called young persons. Posting age limits at the pool could get me in trouble because I'm discriminating against young persons. This is why there are times we don’t make good business decisions based on the fear of a perceived discrimination. Again I 100% believe everyone who qualifies should be able to lease a home, and it would never occur to me to treat people differently, however there has to be a line somewhere.
On of the biggest complaints I get at my active seniors community is that there are so many people living here that truly need more assistance than we can offer. I have lost prospects due to some days it does look like a nursing home, however as long as the prospect qualifies on paper I must rent to them. My biggest issue is when they move in a parent who can truly no longer care for themselves but the families are too busy or just plain unwilling to help out. That leaves us to check on Ms Jones who forgets to eat, or Mr. Smith who forgets to take his insulin. While it’s certainly not our jobs someone has to do it. I actually get calls from people whose parents are being released from the hospital for a serious condition, and can no longer live alone. Rather than move them somewhere that offers assistance (and cost a whole lot more) they “park” them here. They can’t even sign a lease or write out a rent check and I know they are going to be left alone to fend for themselves, but I can’t do a darn thing about it!