Date:
Time: 90 Minute Webinar

Cost: $79 Member; $119 Non-Member
Trainers: Debbie Piltch and Heather Staggs, President, S.T.A.R. Momentum Compliance Consulting, Inc.

Our obligations under Federal, State and local Fair Housing laws haven’t changed during the COVID-19 Pandemic. So why focus on Fair Housing?

During the COVID-19 Pandemic:

Our country has seen a dramatic increase in discriminatory incidents and harassment based on national origin, which raises significant concern regarding how we effectively address such complaints given that some of the tools we would standardly use may not be available to us.
The number of incidents of domestic violence have increased, while our capacity to make external emergency transfers may have decreased.
We have had to significantly change our business operations in order to maintain the health and safety of staff and residents and comply with required and recommended social distancing initiatives leaving us potentially vulnerable to allegations of discriminatory treatment.
Maintenance personnel face unprecedented challenges in performing their job which raise potential fair housing concerns.
People impacted by the virus are requesting reasonable accommodations, raising questions about whether they meet the definition of a disability and if so, whether their request is “reasonable.”
The importance of communicating effectively with applicants and residents with limited English proficiency has been heightened.
There is a lot of confusion regarding what questions we can legally ask an applicant/resident due to health and safety concerns.

During this webinar we will discuss these and other Fair Housing related concerns, and provide ideas as to how to effectively address them.

Registration is closed.

Please call Laura at (856) 786-9590 if you have any questions concerning registration, webinar login information, or anything else regarding this webinar.

About Heather Staggs, AHM, CPO™, FHC™, SHCM™

Ms. Staggs brings knowledge from both sides of the aisle. Formerly with the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) and, prior to that, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, she is an expert in compliance with low-income housing laws and regulations. As a long-time property manager, Ms. Staggs possesses the real-world, hands-on knowledge of applying the rules of the trade. Her experience includes:

More than 22 years of property management experience with deep knowledge of multifamily programs and regulations, including: Project Based Section 8, Low Income Housing Tax Credit, FDIC Affordable Housing Program, and FHA and Non-FHA Loan products
Former Manager of Section 8 Contract Administration, Multifamily Program Compliance and Asset Management Officer with Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA)
Former Project Manager with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Former Sr. Director of Property Management
Former Community Manager/Assistant Manager with Windsor Communities / General Investment and Development
Former District Manager with McCormack Baron Management Services and Wilhoit Properties
Former Special Task Assignment Response Team Specialist with Property Asset Management / AIMCO
Attended the University of Denver’s Executive Leadership Program 2010-2011
Rocky AHMA’s Contract Administration Special Recognition Award for Commitment to Excellence in Affordable Housing in 2011
Recipient of a Special Recognition Award from the Denver HUD Office 2012

About Debbie Piltch

Debbie Piltch has a masters’ degree in labor relations and is an attorney with considerable expertise in discrimination law and housing law. She worked for more than five years at the Disability Law Center (DLC) in Boston, Massachusetts, representing low-income individuals in cases involving discrimination in housing, employment, and education. She also designed and conducted training for consumers, and public and private entities on disability discrimination law. While at the DLC, she served on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) taskforce responsible for making recommendations to the Secretary of HUD regarding complicated occupancy issues in public and assisted housing. She wrote the section of the report on reasonable accommodation in relation to persons with drug and alcohol addictions.

She left the DLC in 1994 to establish a consulting business that provides technical assistance and training to government and private entities on their rights and responsibilities in relation to civil rights and housing laws. She has developed a national reputation in the field of housing and discrimination law and has been fortunate to work with a number of the leading government and private organizations involved in housing issues. A significant portion of her work for these organizations has focused on designing, developing, and implementing training programs on occupancy issues, tax credit compliance, and fair housing, reasonable accommodation, limited English proficiency, harassment and liability issues for Resident Service Coordinators.

Ms. Piltch has worked extensively with the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA). She co-authored this organization's training program on occupancy issues, serves as a trainer for its members on this topic and Fair Housing and is a member of NAHMA’s Specialist in Housing Credit Management (SHCM) Technical Advisory Committee and Chairperson of its Fair Housing Committee and former Chairperson of its Education and Training Committee. In addition, she has worked with HUD conducting training for large public housing authorities, and HUD public and fair housing personnel on discrimination in public housing and occupancy issues, and most recently conducting two webinars on Reasonable Accommodation for entities involved with the 811 Project Rental Assistance Program.

In addition, in her capacity as a consultant, she has analyzed countless organization's rules, policies and procedures in an effort to ensure they are in compliance with applicable tax credit, civil rights and housing laws. She has also designed compliance protocols for government and private entities, has served as an independent monitor for a state Attorney General’s office in a discrimination case, and is a trained mediator.

Although she continues to maintain her consulting business, she is presently employed as the V.P. of Compliance for Maloney Properties, Inc., a private housing management company that operates over 12,000 units of affordable housing in five states.

Fair Housing and the COVID-19 Pandemic Webinar