Mention disability discrimination to an owner or operator of an assisted living facility (ALF) or other facility for the elderly, and the response is likely to be a grimace or a groan. Since the addition in 1988 of disability to the prohibited bases of discrimina-tion under the Fair Housing Act, and the passage of the ADA in 1990, providers of housing and services to the elderly have been grappling with the impact of these laws on their facili-ties' admissions, operations, and archi-tectural access. Most likely, at least one of these laws, if not other older laws, applies to such facilities.

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