Grace Hill Releases New Compliance Course on Assistance Animals, Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals

GREENVILLE, S.C., May 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Grace Hill, the leading provider of online compliance training for the multifamily property management industry, released a new mini-course today to help industry pros navigate the legal issues around assistance, service and emotional support animals. The course is one of Grace Hill's quarterly mini-courses on the most pressing legal topics facing multifamily. The course is available for purchase now on Visto and to all Grace Hill Gold and Platinum-level Vision customers in their course library.

"Requests to accommodate assistance animals are a sensitive area to navigate. You must provide reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. In today's world, you must also know when and how to raise appropriate questions about documentation that seems suspicious," explained Dru Armstrong, CEO of Grace Hill. "Issues surrounding assistance animals are some of the more complicated ones to navigate in the property management industry. Grace Hill is committed to helping our customers navigate these tricky topics - it's why we invest so heavily in compliance updates and other relevant legal guidance from our law firm, Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, to share with our customers. Grace Hill invests upwards of $100k a year in compliance updates, which are added to our courses, compliance newsletters, and webinars to share with our clients."

The new mini-course is part of Grace Hill's Compliance Plus offering, which in addition to an online library of compliance training courses, also includes coverage of emerging compliance issues, monthly reports on the latest legal developments and enforcement actions, in-depth webinars attorneys interpreting current regulations and quarterly mini-courses on the most pressing legal topics.

"There are strict guidelines regarding what you may ask a person who is requesting a reasonable accommodation. If you don't follow these guidelines, you're at risk of committing disability discrimination," Ellen Clark, Grace Hill Director of Assessment, said. "Most residents and prospects don't understand the applicable laws as well as you do. You may need to educate residents as you go. Doing so with understanding and empathy will help make the process go smoothly."

Clark continued, "In this mini-course, learners will gain understanding about how federal laws regarding service and assistance animals apply to multifamily properties and what to do when you suspect a medical verification for an assistance animal is not legitimate. This course also provides direct answers to frequently asked questions such as:

• Can a resident have more than one assistance animal?
• What if someone is allergic to a resident's assistance animal?
• What can a property manager do if owners of assistance animals break the rules?
• Can a property manager charge fees or deposits for assistance animals?

Armstrong continued, "Due to the demand for information in our industry around how to navigate the issues around assistance animals, service animals, and emotional support animals, Grace Hill is making its new mini-course available for purchase individually outside of our Vision LMS." The course is available for purchase on Visto today.

Visto was created by Grace Hill and the National Apartment Association Education Institute (NAAEI) to provide easy access to nationally-recognized, high-quality, online credential programs and training courseware. Online training courses and credentials are available for purchase on GoWithVisto.org on an à la carte basis.

As the Director of Assessment at Grace Hill, Clark oversees the creation of all Grace Hill content. Clark joined Grace Hill two years ago and led the complete update of Grace Hill's entire course library. The updates included making the courses modularized, so one complete learning idea takes less than 20 minutes to complete, designing courses with the latest in learning science to increase retention and competency and including dynamic learning characteristics. Grace Hill's course catalog includes voice narration, live video and motion graphics, interactive practice elements and streamlined navigation.

Clark's work has spanned the entire learner lifecycle, from elementary school through professional development. She spent over 10 years working with K12 Inc.'s network of online charter schools - measuring learning, developing learning improvement plans using evidence-based strategies, and conducting learning studies. Prior to joining Grace Hill, she was at Kaplan Inc., working in the vocational education and job training divisions, improving online, blended and face-to-face training programs, and working directly with business leaders and trainers to improve learner outcomes and job performance.

Grace Hill offers a suite of valuable training offerings that are available immediately online, allowing property managers to train employees quickly to ensure compliance with extensive rules and regulations on topics such as Fair Housing, OSHA, sexual harassment and more.

About Grace Hill

Grace Hill develops best-in-class online training courseware and administration solely for the Property Management Industry. For more than 20 years, Grace Hill has helped people, teams and companies in the multifamily industry improve performance and reduce risk. The company offers the highest level performance-based online training courseware and administration with Vision, its industry-leading learning management system. Vision combines the latest in Learning Science and digital technologies, with white-glove customer service and support. 

About Visto

Visto was created by Grace Hill and the National Apartment Association Education Institute (NAAEI) to provide easy access to nationally-recognized, high-quality, online credential programs and training courseware to leasing consultants, maintenance technicians, community managers, regional portfolio supervisors and industry suppliers who are committed to enhancing their professional development.

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Media Contact: Kimberly Cadena, 202.669.0802 or [email protected]

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