It is the policy of the Town of Tatum to provide, within constitutional limitations, for fair housing throughout the Town, and to achieve a condition in which individuals with similar financial resources and interests in the same housing market area have a like range of housing choices available to them regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, spousal affiliation, national origin, ancestry or physical or mental handicap.
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of the Town of Tatum 12-29-1994. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
The New Mexico Human Rights Commission.
Those prohibited practices and acts specified in § 133-3 of this chapter.
Any building or portion of building constructed or to be constructed, for use as the residence or sleeping place of any individual; and any lands, leaseholds or commercial or industrial buildings, whether constructed or to be constructed, offered for sale or rent for use as the residence or sleeping place of any individual.
Includes one or more individuals, corporations, partnerships, associations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees and fiduciaries.
A.
No person shall:
(1)
Refuse to sell, rent, assign, lease or sublease or offer for sale, rent, lease, assignment or sublease any dwelling or refuse to negotiate for the sale, rental, lease, assignment or sublease of any dwelling to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity, spousal affiliation or physical or mental handicap, provided that the physical or mental handicap is unrelated to a person’s ability to acquire or rent and maintain a particular dwelling.
(2)
Discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions or privileges of the sale or rental of a dwelling or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith because of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, spousal affiliation or physical or mental handicap, provided that the physical or mental handicap is unrelated to a person’s ability to acquire or rent and maintain a particular dwelling.
(3)
Print, circulate, display or mail or cause to be printed, circulated, displayed or mailed any notice, statement or advertisement, publication or sign or use any form of application for the purchase, rental, lease, assignment or sublease of any dwelling or make any record or inquiry regarding the prospective purchase, rental, lease, assignment or sublease of any dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, spousal affiliation or physical or mental handicap or intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.
(4)
Represent to any person that because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, spousal affiliation or physical or mental handicap any dwelling is not available for inspection, sale or rental when such dwelling is, in fact, so available.
B.
No person to whom application is made for financial assistance for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair or maintenance of any housing accommodation shall:
(1)
Consider the race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, spousal affiliation or physical or mental handicap of any individual in the granting, withholding, extending, modifying or renewing or in the fixing of the rates, terms, conditions or provisions of any financial assistance or in the extension of services in connection with the request for financial assistance.
(2)
Use any form or application for financial assistance or make any record or inquiry in connection with applications for financial assistance that expresses, directly, any limitation, specification or discrimination as to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, spousal affiliation or physical or mental handicap.
C.
No person shall:
(1)
Aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any discriminatory housing practice, or attempt to do so;
(2)
Engage in any form of threats, reprisal or discrimination against any person who has opposed any discriminatory housing practice or who has filed a complaint, testified or participated in any proceeding under this chapter; or
(3)
Willfully obstruct or prevent any person from complying with the provisions of this chapter.
A.
Nothing contained in this chapter shall apply to any single-family housing accommodation sold, leased, subleased or rented by an owner without the making of any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale, lease, sublease or rental of the housing accommodation unit that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or ancestry. Any exemption is subject to the following further reservations:
(1)
To qualify for the exemption, the seller must not be an owner of or own or have an interest in more than three single-family dwellings; and
(2)
If the seller does not presently live in the housing accommodation or he/she was not the most recent occupant, the exemption granted in this section will only apply to one sale in 24 months.
B.
Nothing in this chapter shall bar any religion or denominational institution or organization which is operated or supervised or controlled by, or is operated in connection with, a religious or denominational organization from limiting admission to or giving preference to persons of the same religion or denomination or from making selections of buyers, lessees or tenants as the organization or denomination may consider necessary to promote religious or denominational principles for which it is established or maintained unless membership in the religious or denominational organization is restricted on account of race, color, national origin, or ancestry.
C.
Nothing in this chapter shall apply to rooms or housing accommodations containing living quarters occupied or intended to be occupied by more than four families living independently of each other, if the owner actually maintains and occupies one of the living quarters as his/her residence.
D.
Nothing in this chapter shall bar any religious or denominational institution or organization that is operated, supervised or controlled by or that is operated in connection with a religious or denominational organization from imposing discriminatory employment or renting practices that are based upon sexual orientation or gender identity; provided that the provisions of the Human Rights Act (NMSA § 28-1-1 et seq.) with respect to sexual orientation and gender identity shall apply to any other:
(1)
For-profit activities of a religious or denominational institution or religious organization subject to the provisions of Section 511(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; or
(2)
Nonprofit activities of a religious or denominational institution or religious organization subject to the provisions of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
Any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice or who has reason to believe that discrimination has occurred may file a complaint with the Town of Tatum Town Council. The complaint shall be in writing and it shall contain such information and be in such form as may be required by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission. Upon receipt of any complaint alleging a discriminatory housing practice, the Town of Tatum Town Council shall promptly forward it to the New Mexico Human Rights Commission at Santa Fe, New Mexico for such action as may be deemed appropriate by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission under NMSA §§ 28-1-1 through 28-1-14, and a copy of such complaint shall, at the same time, be forwarded to the Equal Opportunity Division of the Regional Office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Dallas, Texas; it being recognized that the New Mexico Human Rights Commission and/or the Department Housing and Urban Development has primary jurisdiction over complaints of discrimination in housing, and that such agencies have the facilities for investigating and processing such complaints and appropriate sanctions and penalties for denial of equal housing opportunities. The only enforcement action to be taken hereunder shall be the forwarding of complaints to said agencies, and no other action toward enforcement or penalty is imposed upon the Town of Tatum with respect to any alleged discriminatory housing practice.