ACCESSIBLENU

Defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), an assistance animal works, provides assistance, or performs tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability, or provides emotional support that alleviates one or more identified effects of a person’s disability. An assistance animal is not a pet. More information about Assistance Animals can be found on HUD’s website.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an animal that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. A service animal must be permitted to accompany a person with a disability in areas subjected to the ADA, such as businesses that are open to the public. More information about Service Animals can be found on the ADA’s website.

According to the HUD, any animal that provides companionship and/or emotional support to alleviate one or more symptoms or effects of a person’s disability. Because emotional support animals do not have special training to perform tasks that assist people with disabilities, they are not considered service animals. More information about Emotional Support Animals and how they differ from service animals can be found on the ADA National Network’s website.

• SafeRide
• Intercampus shuttle
• Evanston Loop shuttle
• Campus Loop shuttle
• Chicago Campus Shuttle
• Student Game Day shuttle
• Frostbite shuttle

Individuals may bring service animals on any Northwestern shuttle. However, the owner and service animal may be asked to leave if the service animal is not housebroken, is physically ill, and/or is acting aggressively with no proper and effective action on the owner’s part to control the behavior. This policy only applies to service animals.

If you have a personal care attendant that you would like to have accompany you on any Northwestern-specific shuttles, please contact ANU. In some circumstances, this accommodation may need to be provided by the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance.

• Chicago Transportation Authority (CTA) Buses and Trains. Both are wheelchair accessible. More than 70% of the rail stations are currently accessible as well.
• CTA #201. Students, staff, and faculty with a Northwestern Ventra Card can take free rides on the CTA #201 during the program dates.  
• Pace Buses. Pace operates both in the city and suburbs. Buses are fully accessible and operate on fixed routes.
• Metra Trains. All Metra trains are fully accessible, and Metra continues to work on making its stations fully accessible.

Service animals are always allowed on all CTA and Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) public transportation methods in accordance with Department of Transportation regulations. However, the owner and service animal may be asked to leave if the service animal microaggressive or poses a direct threat to others.

Reasonable accommodations are typically changes, exceptions, or adjustments made to rules, policies, practices, or services put in place by a landlord. For example, reasonable accommodation could be assigning an accessible parking space close to her unit to a resident with a physical disability that limits her ability to walk.  Individuals with disabilities cannot be charged extra for reasonable accommodations, as long as the accommodation does not cause a significant financial burden or fundamentally alter the housing unit. More information can be found in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s FAQ regarding reasonable accommodations.

Reasonable modifications tend to be structural changes that allow an individual equal use and access to the unit that they are renting. For example, a reasonable modification could be allowing a tenant who struggles to use doorknobs due to arthritis, to replace them with door levers. If the modification is deemed reasonable and related to the tenant’s disability, the tenant is responsible for the cost of the modification.More information can be found in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s FAQ regarding reasonable modifications.

Students may learn more information about reasonable accommodations and modifications, including information about the differences governing housing law from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s page.

1. Identify what you need.
2. Prepare documents showing that the accommodation you request ties to your disability (note: the documents need not state your disability; they only need to state the request is tied to your disability). These can be obtained from your healthcare provider.
3. Share your request with your landlord. Make your request in writing so you have documentation of the communication.
4. If your landlord is not working actively to provide you with needed accommodations or modifications, you can contact Open Communities at intake@open-communities.org or call 847-501-5760 for help. Open Communities is a community organization ensuring that housing in the northern suburbs of Chicago is fair and inclusive.
5. Be prepared to share details about, and documentation of, your communication with the landlords.
6. Take the advice from Open Communities and follow up with your landlord.

In housing, emotional support/comfort AND service animals are both classified as assistance animals. Per the Fair Housing Act, assistance animals are an example of a reasonable accommodation. A housing provider must make a reasonable exception to a “no pets” policy to allow an applicant with a disability to have an assistance animal. Residents may request an assistance animal as a reasonable accommodation as long as it would not impose an undue financial/administrative burden on the housing provider, would not fundamentally alter the housing provider’s operations, pose a direct health or safety threat to others, or result in significant property damage.

Steps of Request

1. Identify that you need an assistance animal.
2. Have documentation showing that your animal is an assistance animal (e.g. service animal, ESA, therapy animal) ready.
3. Prepare documents demonstrating that the accommodation you request ties to your disability, which can be obtained from your healthcare provider.
4. If you are using an assistance animal for non-apparent disabilities or other medical needs, such as diabetes, you might want to have documentation showing the link between the animal and the disability, which can be obtained from your healthcare provider. If your disability is observable, you may not need this documentation.
5. Share your request with the landlord. Make your request, and all follow-up communication, in writing so you’ll have documentation of the communication.
6. If your landlord is not working actively to provide you with the accommodations, you can contact Open Communities at intake@open-communities.org, or call 847-501-5760 for help.
7. When Open Communities asks for more details about your communication with the landlords, provide your communication history with the landlord to them.
8. Take the advice from Open Communities and follow up with your landlord.

Yes. As live-in caregivers/personal care attendants provide necessary and essential care for people with disabilities, tenants may request one as a reasonable accommodation. Please note that while they live within the unit of a disabled individual so they may provide timely support, live-in caregivers/personal care attendants are not considered residents of the unit and are not liable for paying rent.

1. Identify the specifics of the discrimination you experienced. How have you been treated unequally? What are the reasons that you believe you were treated unequally based on a disability?
2. Collect your evidence, such as email communications with your landlords or recordings of phone calls.
3. Contact the Open Communities intake team at intake@open-communities.org or call them at 847-501-5760. Their experienced and compassionate staff will work with you to discuss your options.
4. You can also consider other options, using the links below to explore.
   1. Getting Help from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Before Reporting Housing Discrimination
   2. Report Housing Discrimination to HUD