Yet another homeowners association has found itself in hot water for potential violations of federal fair housing laws.  East of San Francisco, the Tennis Villas at Blackhawk association barred children from trick-or-treating at Halloween.  While the community is gated and "upscale," an upscale community does not have the right to adopt policies that have a disparate impact on a group due to familial status.

Here, by adopting a policy that essentially only affects families with young children, the association is discriminating against those families.  According to the article, the association even prohibits children from playing on common areas!

This is a bad policy decision that could have been avoided if the association had sought legal counsel before its adoption.  While there are always two sides to a story, it sounds like the association needs to change its policies – yesterday!