Condo Media - October 2010 - 25

help to people who don’t want it rather than failing to help people who will be harmed without the assistance. The board’s authority and obligation to respond are clearer if the actions of a resident threaten the safety or property of others. The courts in some cases will intervene, e.g., ordering locks on stoves where forgetful seniors were creating a fire hazard for the entire community; or prohibiting a violent, emotionally disturbed resident from occupying his home. But even these situations are rarely clear-cut. Troubled residents also have ownership rights that the courts will recognize and are reluctant to override, and the Fair Housing Act requires accommodations for individuals with emotional as well as physical disabilities. Although the law includes an exception for residents who pose a threat to others, boards need some basis to support their argument that a threat exists; the existence of a disability, association attorneys emphasize, is not

in itself evidence that a court needs to intervene. Before seeking court action, association attorneys advise, boards should try to find an acceptable accommodation that will allow the resident to remain in place. There is no blueprint for dealing with residents who are unable to care for themselves. Particularly when dealing with aging residents, common sense, compassion and a willingness to think creatively are probably the best guides. Apart from seeking guidance from a court — usually a last resort — Brawley suggests a few steps that can help boards and managers deal with these difficult situations when they arise: • Create a directory of local resources — social workers, medical services, elder care agencies and the like — that might provide assistance. • Form a volunteer “lifeline” committee responsible for checking periodi-

cally on older or otherwise fragile residents. • Collect emergency contact information for all owners. This isn’t easy, according to Brawley, who notes, “You never get a 100 percent response.” Keeping the information current also is difficult, she says. But linking the information requests to something residents need — a parking sticker or a pool access card, for example — “can significantly improve the response rate,” Brawley has found. For boards and managers dealing with residents who are aging in place, “there are no generic fixes,” Brawley says. “It’s a conundrum.” And with the population of seniors expanding rapidly as the baby boomers age, she warns, “it’s only going to get worse.” CM Nena Groskind is vice president of eContentplus.

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Condo Media - October 2010

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