(a) General. No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination in multi-family rental housing.

(b) New construction. (1) Recipients receiving assistance from the Department for multi-family rental housing projects constructed after the effective date of this part shall construct at least five percent of the units in the project or one unit, whichever is greater, to be accessible to or adaptable for physically handicapped persons. The requirement that five percent of the units in the project or at least one unit, whichever is greater, be accessible or adaptable may be modified if a recipient shows, through a market survey approved by the Department, that a different percentage of accessible or adaptable units is appropriate for a particular project and its service area.

(i) The variety of units accessible to or adaptable for physically handicapped persons shall be comparable to the variety of units available in the project as a whole.

(ii) No extra charge may be made for use of accessible or adaptable units.

(iii) A recipient that operates multi-family rental housing projects on more than one site may not locate all accessible or adaptable units at one site unless only one accessible or adaptable unit is required.

(2) Standards for accessibility are contained in subpart C and in appropriate regulations.

(c) Existing facilities. Recipients receiving assistance from the Department for multi-family rental housing projects constructed prior to the effective date of this part shall assure that their facilities comply with the accessibility requirements established in § 15b.18 if a qualified handicapped person applies for admission. Necessary physical alterations made pursuant to such requirements shall be completed within a reasonable amount of time after the unit becomes available for occupancy by the qualified handicapped person. Subject to the availability of funds and fulfillment by the recipient of all program eligibility requirements, the Department may assist recipients to comply with accessibility requirements through methods such as (1) consideration of subsequent loan applications for purposes of making existing facilities accessible or for the construction of additional units which are accessible and (2) consideration of approval to commit project reserve account funds for minor modifications in order to make existing facilities accessible.