Photo not that of the actual client
“Josie,” who lives in an apartment with her 4-year-old son, sought help from JALA after experiencing repeated problems with her apartment’s air conditioning unit. Josie’s son has multiple disabilities and is at risk if he becomes overheated. During the day in the summer, the temperature in her apartment would go above 85 degrees, forcing her and her son to leave until after 8 p.m. each day. Maintenance of the air conditioning unit is the responsibility of the property management, but the manager made only excuses and not the necessary repairs. JALA Fair Housing Unit attorney Robert Maldonado intervened on Josie’s behalf and requested, as a reasonable accommodation of her son’s disabilities, that the air conditioner be fixed as soon as possible without costs, fees, or penalties to Josie. Both of those reasonable accommodation requests were ignored, forcing Maldonado to negotiate directly with the attorney for the property management company. After Maldonado engaged their attorney, the management arranged for a successful repair to Josie’s air conditioning. She and her son remain stably housed with working air conditioning.
