I was recently on the hunt for an old fair housing case when instead I came across a totally unrelated one (from 15 years ago!) that is still relevant and that reminds me of a message that probably needs reiteration.

Information published early this year (National Vital Statistics Report) shows that based on the preliminary US mortality data for 2010 (the most recent data available), the average age of death for African Americans in the US is 75 years of age.

From that I draw the stunning conclusion that is the title of this post:  Blacks actually do get old.  Why is that stunning to me?  Because if you look at the advertising for senior housing you might think that only white people make it to old age.  And that is because it is often only white people that you will see in such advertising.

So I thought it was time to remind those of you in the senior housing industry of a few things:

• Yes, the Fair Housing Act does in fact apply to you.  The one and only exemption you have under the FHA is that if your community is properly senior housing (and there are rules for that – when was your last age audit?) then you do not have to rent to people with children; i.e. the familial status provision does not apply.
• Yes, the Fair Housing Act still requires diversity when people (“human models” in FHA-speak) are used in advertising.  This has been the case for 44 years.  You are not exempt from this requirement.
• Yes, fair housing folks review advertising. 
• Yes, lawsuits and charges of discrimination issue based on advertising.
• No, it does not matter what the demographics are at your community.  That is neither a basis to skip the diversity requirement or a defense of your non-compliant advertising.
• Yes, not doing it right could cost you big time.

So here is the info on that re-discovered case I referenced above (the one that started my mini-rant here in the first place):

A retirement community resolved a claim of discriminatory advertising to the tune of $569,000.  The fair housing group that filed the lawsuit got $100K and the rest was required to be spent on an affirmative advertising and marketing campaign targeting the African-American community.    Going forward was a further requirement that 11 per cent of the folks depicted in the advertising be black.

Here is the tally of sins: 220 ads appeared for 3 years in the newspaper (every person shown was white); there was a 32 page brochure with 107 pictures (and not one African-American was shown); the only African-Americans who appeared in numerous television commercials were the handyman or gardener (sheeesh).

Think about doing your own tally.  How will your numbers look?  And if your numbers look bad, how much might it cost you?  $569,000 was the cost in one case back 15 years ago.  Likely the cost will be higher today.  You might live to regret violating the FHA advertising provisions – you might even live a long time to regret that.