No Shoes, No Enter, No Good 

Maintenance technicians are taught to put safety first—but what if doing so conflicts with a resident’s cultural traditions?

It’s a common concern, says Doug Chasick, CAS, CAPS, CPM, Chief Learning Officer of CallSource, who addresses the fair housing question when teaching maintenance training classes.

According to Chasick, the Fair Housing Act (FHA) requires apartment communities to make accommodations for disability only—not for any of the other protected classes.

Therefore, situations involving cultural and religious concerns do not qualify for special accommodation. They should, however, be treated with sensitivity.

For example, some cultures require guests to remove their shoes before entering the home—a safety concern for maintenance technicians who need to complete a service request.

“As a best practice, apartment communities should try to meet residents’ requests without compromising the safety of its team members,” Chasick explains. “We never want to intentionally upset our customers but removing one’s shoes is never an option.”

In this case, Chasick suggests that maintenance employees wear booties over their shoes before entering the resident’s apartment. He says it is best to buy them by the pair in a sealed package to assure the resident that they have never been on the ground.

David Jolley, CAMT, Maintenance Training Director for Equity Residential, agrees, and says his employees do their best to make residents with cultural sensitivities as comfortable as possible with the situation.

“We try not to put the booties on until the resident has answered the door, which seems to help because they know they weren’t worn in someone else’s home,” Jolley says. “It is also best to replace them each time you leave and re-enter the unit.” —NAA’s Lauren Boston

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