Appendix A to 34 CFR Part 104 - Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Handicap in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance, Analysis of Final Regulation (with amendments issued through July 2017)

32. Housing.

Section 104.45(a) requires postsecondary institutions to provide housing to handicapped students at the same cost as they provide it to other students and in a convenient, accessible, and comparable manner. Commenters, particularly blind persons pointed out that some handicapped persons can live in any college housing and need not wait to the end of the transition period in subpart C to be offered the same variety and scope of housing accommodations given to nonhandicapped persons. The Department concurs with this position and will interpret this section accordingly.

A number of colleges and universities reacted negatively to paragraph (b) of this section. It provides that, if a recipient assists in making off-campus housing available to its students, it should develop and implement procedures to assure itself that off-campus housing, as a whole, is available to handicapped students. Since postsecondary institutions are presently required to assure themselves that off-campus housing is provided in a manner that does not discriminate on the basis of sex (§106.32 of the title IX regulation), they may use the procedures developed under title IX in order to comply with §104.45(b). It should be emphasized that not every off-campus living accommodation need be made accessible to handicapped persons.