U.S. Department of Justice
                                        Civil Rights Division
DJ 192-06-00019
                                        Coordination and Review Section
                                        P.O. Box 66118
                                        Washington, D.C. 20035-6118

                                                MAY 4 1992

Ms. Clare Beckett
Clare's Engraving
P.O. Box 1012
Moorhead, Minnesota 56560

Dear Ms. Beckett:

        This is in response to your letter to our office concerning
coverage of apartment buildings under the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA).

        The ADA authorizes the Department of Justice to provide
technical assistance to entities that are subject to the Act.
This letter provides informal guidance to assist you in
understanding how the ADA may apply to you. However, this
technical assistance does not constitute a determination by the
Department of Justice of your rights or responsibilities under
the ADA and does not constitute a binding determination by the
Department of Justice.

        Under title III of the ADA, entities which are covered by
the Fair Housing Act of 1968, i.e. long-term residential
facilities, are expressly exempted from the ADA's commercial
facilities requirements. Such facilities may, however, be
covered by the ADA as places of public accommodation if they fall
under one of the 12 categories of places of public accommodation
(see pages 35551 and 35594 of the title III rule). If a long-
term residential facility provides social services, for example,
it would be a place of public accommodation because it falls
under category 11.

        Note, however, that the category "places of lodging" (the
first category on the list) excludes facilities that are solely
residential. Only facilities used for short-term stays are
included within this category. (See page 35552 of the rule.)
Thus, if a facility is purely residential and does not fall
within one of the 12 listed categories, then the facility is
covered by the Fair Housing Amendments Acts only and not by title
III.
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        Title II of the ADA, which covers State and local government
services, must also be considered. Thus, for example, State-
operated public housing apartments are covered by title II and
must be constructed in compliance with one of two accessibility
design standards, the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards or
the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (which are an appendix to our
title III rule). See section 35.151(c) of the title II rule.

        Copies of our title II and title III rules and technical
assistance manuals are enclosed. I hope this information is
helpful to you.

                                Sincerely,


                             Stewart B. Oneglia
                                  Chief
                        Coordination and Review Section
                            Civil Rights Division

Enclosures (4)
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