24 CFR Part 100—Supplement to Notice of Fair Housing Accessibility Guidelines: Questions and Answers about the Guidelines

5. Units Over Parking

5.1 Q...Would the first story of single-story dwelling units over the parking level be required to be accessible?

A. Yes. The Guidelines adopt and amplify the definition of ground floor found in HUD's regulation implementing the Fair Housing Act (see 24 CFR 100.201) to indicate that . . .where the first floor containing dwelling units is above grade, all units on that floor must be served by a building entrance on an accessible route. This floor will be considered to be a ground floor. (See definition of ground floor in the Guidelines at 24 CFR Ch. I, Subch. A, App. II, Section 2.) Where no dwelling units in a covered multifamily dwelling are located on grade, the first floor with dwelling units will be considered to be a ground floor, and must be served by a building entrance on an accessible route. However, the definition of ground floor does not require that there be more than one ground floor.

5.2 Q. If a building design contains a mix of single-story flats on grade and single-story flats located above grade over a public parking area, do the flats over the parking area have to be accessible?

A. No. In the example in the above question, because some single-story flats are situated on grade, these flats would be the ground floor dwelling units and would be required to be accessible. The definition of ground floor in the Guidelines states, in part, that ground floor means a floor of a building with a building entrance on an accessible route. A building may have one or more ground floors. . . Thus, the definition includes situations where the design plan is such that more than one floor of a building may be accessed by means of an accessible route (for an example, see Question 6, which follows). There is no requirement in the Department's regulations implementing the Fair Housing Act that there be more than one ground floor.