Giebeler

John Giebeler has AIDS. Because he has AIDS, he is disabled and can no longer work, although he had worked and earned an adequate living until he became ill. Once he was no longer earning a salary, his former apartment became too expensive for him. In addition, he needed assistance with daily matters because of his illness and so wanted to live closer to his mother.

Giebeler’s lack of an income stream meant that he could not meet the minimum financial qualifications of the apartment complex where he sought an apartment. Giebeler’s mother, however, did meet those standards, and offered to rent the apartment so that her son could live in it. The owners of the apartment complex refused to rent either to Giebeler or to his mother, citing a management company policy against cosigners.

The question in this case is whether the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA), 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq. (1995), required the apartment owners reasonably to accommodate Giebeler’s disability by assessing individually the risk of nonpayment created by his specific proposed financial arrangement, rather than inflexibly applying a rental policy that forbids cosigners. *1145 Concluding that the…