ADA vs Fair Housing Act

Two different laws, two different jobs

The ADA is a public-accommodation law. It governs businesses and facilities open to the general public: stores, restaurants, gyms open to non-members. The Fair Housing Act is a housing law. It governs the sale, rental, and ongoing use of a dwelling, including the terms and privileges that come with living there.

Because most of what an HOA does is housing, not public accommodation, the Fair Housing Act is the law that reaches your board's day-to-day decisions far more often than the ADA does.

"Title III does not apply to strictly residential facilities."

Source: ADA Title III Technical Assistance Manual, U.S. Department of Justice

Why the ADA's animal test does not apply to your community

The ADA defines a service animal narrowly. It has to be a dog, individually trained to perform a specific task for a person with a disability. An animal that offers comfort just by being present, without task training, does not meet that test.

"A service animal is defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability."

Source: Frequently Asked Questions about Service Animals and the ADA, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division

That test belongs to businesses open to the public. It is not the test for a request to keep an animal in a resident's home or in shared common areas. There, the Fair Housing Act's assistance-animal rule applies instead, and it reaches further: any species, trained or untrained, if the resident's disability makes the animal necessary to use and enjoy the dwelling. A board that denies a request because the animal is not a task-trained dog, the ADA's own standard, has applied the wrong law to a housing decision.

Where ADA Title III does show up

A pool, gym, or clubhouse that is genuinely restricted to residents and their guests generally sits outside ADA Title III altogether. The Fair Housing Act, not the ADA, is the applicable law for accessibility and accommodation there.

That exemption is not permanent, though. A private facility loses it for the period it is opened up: renting the clubhouse for a public event, or selling day passes to non-residents, can trigger Title III obligations for that specific use, even though the same room is exempt the rest of the time.

State or local building and accessibility codes may impose their own requirements on shared facilities regardless of ADA coverage. Confirm with your state or local building authority before assuming no accessibility rule applies.