HUD is charging LJLD, LLC, d/b/a Debrecht Properties or Debrecht Property (LJLD), and Westminster Properties, LLC (Westminster), the developers and original owners of the Bridgewater Residences, an 84-unit apartment complex in St. Louis, Missouri, with failure to design and construct the complex's covered dwellings and public and common use areas so that they are accessible to people with disabilities, in violation of the Fair Housing Act. HUD's charge also names the current owner, Bridgewater Apartments V, LLC, as a necessary party to permit and facilitate the property's retrofitting for accessibility. The Fair Housing Act requires multifamily housing built after March 1991 to have seven basic accessibility features for persons with disabilities, including persons using wheelchairs. These features include accessible building entrances on accessible routes, accessible public and common use areas, usable doors, accessible routes into and through covered dwellings, accessible environmental controls, reinforced walls in bathrooms to allow installation of grab bars, and usable kitchens and bathrooms. Failure to include these features is unlawful and makes housing difficult or impossible to use by people with disabilities.
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