[Added 4-23-2002 by Ord.
No. 3-2002; amended 8-11-2009 by Ord. No. 12-2009; 6-25-2013 by Ord. No. 2-2013]
Unless otherwise specified, the following words and phrases
shall have the following meanings ascribed to them for the purposes
of this article:
The chronological age of not less than 40 years.
The grant, denial, extension or termination of credit to
an individual.
A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits
one or more of the major life activities of an individual; a record
of such impairment; or being regarded as having such impairment. Excluded
from this definition is an impairment relating to the illegal use,
possession or distribution of controlled substances as defined in
Schedules I through V of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C.
§ 812).
A person 55 years of age or older.
Any individual, whether paid or unpaid, engaged in employment
for an employer, or an applicant for employment.
The performance of services for an employer for remuneration,
as a volunteer, or as a participant in a training or apprenticeship
program.[1]
One or more individuals (who have not attained the age of 18
years) being domiciled with a parent or person having legal custody
of such individual or individuals, or the designee of such parent
or other person having such custody, with the written permission of
such parent or other person;
Any person who is pregnant; or
Any person who is in the process of securing legal custody of
any individual who has not attained the age of 18 years.
The actual or perceived appearance, expression, identity,
or behavior of a person as being male or female, whether or not that
appearance, expression, identity, or behavior is different from that
traditionally associated with the person's designated sex at
birth.
Any improved or unimproved real property, or part thereof,
which is used or occupied, or is intended, arranged or designed to
be used or occupied, as the home or residence of one or more individuals.
Housing:
Any organization, labor union, or craft union, or any voluntary
incorporated association designed to further the cause of union labor,
which is constituted for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective
bargaining or of dealing with an employer concerning grievances, terms
or conditions of employment, or apprenticeships or applications for
apprenticeships, or of other mutual aid or protection in connection
with employment, including apprenticeships or application for apprenticeships.
The legal status of being married, single, separated, divorced
or widowed.
A person's status as having been discharged from the Armed
Forces of the United States of America, their Reserve components or
any National Guard or Naval Militia, other than by a dishonorable
discharge.
The place in which a person or one of his or her ancestors
was born.
Any owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent
or occupant of a place of public accommodation, or an employee of
any such person or persons.
The status of living with one or more dependent minors or
disabled children.
One or more individuals, corporations, partnerships, associations
or organizations, labor organizations, labor unions, joint apprenticeship
committees, or union labor associations, corporations, the State of
Illinois and its instrumentalities, political subdivisions, units
of local government, legal representatives, trusts, trustees in bankruptcy
or receivers, state governments other than Illinois, or commercial
operations or entities controlled by governments other than those
of Illinois or of the United States.
Includes, but is not limited to:[2]
An inn, hotel, motel, or other place of lodging, except for
an establishment located within a building that contains not more
than five units for rent or hire and that is actually occupied by
the proprietor of such establishment as the residence of such proprietor;
A restaurant, bar, or other establishment serving food or drink;
A motion-picture house, theater, concert hall, stadium, or other
place of exhibition or entertainment;
An auditorium, convention center, lecture hall, or other place
of public gathering;
A bakery, grocery store, clothing store, hardware store, shopping
center, or other sales or rental establishment;
A laundromat, dry-cleaner, bank, barber shop, beauty shop, travel
service, shoe repair service, funeral parlor, gas station, office
of an accountant or lawyer, pharmacy, insurance office, professional
office of a health-care provider, hospital, or other service establishment;
Public conveyances on air, water, or land;
A terminal, depot, or other station used for specified public
transportation;
A museum, library, gallery, or other place of public display
or collection;
A park, zoo, amusement park, or other place of recreation;
A nonsectarian nursery, day-care center, elementary, secondary,
undergraduate, or postgraduate school, or other place of education;
A senior citizen center, homeless shelter, food bank, nonsectarian
adoption agency, or other social service center establishment; and
A gymnasium, health spa, bowling alley, golf course, or other
place of exercise or recreation.
Any officer or employee of the state or any agency thereof,
including state political subdivisions, municipal corporations, park
districts, forest preserve districts, educational institutions and
schools.
A person, whether licensed or not, who, for or with the expectation
of receiving a consideration, lists, sells, purchases, exchanges,
rents, or leases real property, or who negotiates or attempts to negotiate
any of these activities, or who holds himself or herself out as engaged
in these activities.
The sale, exchange, rental, occupancy, lease, sublease, or
lease renewal of real property for residential purposes in the City
of Hometown, or the provision of services or utilities in connection
with such sale, exchange, rental, occupancy, lease, sublease or lease
renewal. "Real estate transaction" also means, with respect to activities
conducted or property located within the City of Hometown, the brokering
or appraising of residential real property and the making, purchasing,
or guaranteeing of loans or mortgages, or providing any other financial
assistance either for purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing,
or maintaining a dwelling, secured by residential real property.
Buildings, structures, real estate, lands, tenements, leaseholds,
interest in real estate cooperatives, condominiums, and hereditaments,
corporeal and incorporeal, or any interest therein.
Any belief protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First
Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, including all
aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as beliefs or
the actual identification with, or perceived identification with,
a religion.
The status of being male or female.
The status or expression, whether actual or perceived, of
heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.
The lawful manner by which an individual supports himself/herself
and his/her dependents.
Discrimination against a person because of the actual or
perceived status, practice, or expression of that person's race,
color, sex, age, religion, disability, national origin, ancestry,
sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, military discharge
status, source of income, gender identity, or housing status, or the
actual or perceived association with such a person.
It is a violation for any person engaging in a real estate transaction
because of unlawful discrimination, or because of familial status,
to:
(A)
Refuse to engage in a real estate transaction with a person or to
discriminate in making available such transaction.
(B)
Alter terms, conditions or privileges of a real estate transaction
or in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith.
(C)
Refuse to receive or to fail to transmit a bona fide offer to engage
in a real estate transaction from a person.
(D)
Refuse to negotiate for a real estate transaction with a person.
(E)
Represent to a person that real property is not available for inspection,
sale, rental, or lease when in fact it is so available, or to fail
to bring a property listing to his or her attention, or to refuse
to permit him or her to inspect real property.
(F)
Print, circulate, post, mail, publish or cause to be published a
written or oral statement, advertisement or sign, or to use a form
of application for a real estate transaction, or to make a record
or inquiry in connection with a prospective real estate transaction,
which expresses any limitation founded upon, or indicates, directly
or indirectly, an intent to engage in unlawful discrimination.
(G)
Offer, solicit, accept, use or retain a listing or real property
with knowledge that unlawful discrimination in a real estate transaction
is intended.
Nothing contained in § 18.71 shall prohibit:
(A)
The sale of a single-family home by its owner so long as the following
criteria are met:
(1)
The owner does not own or have a beneficial interest in more
than three single-family homes at the time of the sale.
(2)
The owner or a member of his or her family was the last current
resident of the home.
(3)
The home is sold without the use of the sales or rental facilities
or services of any real estate broker or salesman, or of any employee
or agent of any real estate broker or salesman.
(B)
Rental of a housing accommodation in a building which contains housing
accommodations for not more than four families living independently
of each other, if the lessor or a member of his or her family resides
in one of the housing accommodations.
(C)
Rental of a room or rooms in a private home by an owner if he or
she or a member of his or her family resides therein or, while absent
for a period of not more than 12 months, if he or she or a member
of his or her family intends to return to reside therein.
(D)
Restriction of the rental or sale of a housing accommodation to a
person of a certain age group when such housing accommodation is authorized,
approved, financed or subsidized, in whole or in part, for the benefit
of that age group, by the United States of America, the State of Illinois,
or by a unit of local government.
(E)
A religious organization, association, or society, or any nonprofit
institution or organization operated, supervised or controlled by
or in conjunction with a religious organization, association, or society
from limiting the sale, rental or occupancy of a dwelling which it
owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose to persons of
the same religion, or from giving preference to such persons, unless
membership in such religion is restricted on account of race, color,
or national origin.
(F)
Restricting the rental of rooms in a housing accommodation to persons
of one sex.
(G)
Conduct against a person because such person has been convicted of
the illegal manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance.
(H)
Persons engaged in the business of furnishing appraisals of real
property from taking into consideration factors other than those based
on unlawful discrimination or familial status.
(I)
Taking familial status into consideration with respect to housing
for older persons.
It is a violation to deny or refuse to sell or rent, or to otherwise
make available, a dwelling to any buyer or renter because of:
(A)
A disability of a buyer or renter, a disability of a person residing
or intending to reside in that dwelling after it is sold, rented or
made available, or a disability of any person associated with the
buyer or renter.
(B)
To refuse to permit, at the expense of a disabled person, reasonable
modifications to the premises occupied, or to be occupied, by such
person if such modifications may be necessary to afford such person
full enjoyment of the premises; except that, in the case of a rental,
the landlord may, where it is reasonable to do so, condition permission
for a modification on the lessee agreeing to restore the interior
of the premises to the condition that existed before modifications,
reasonable wear and tear excepted. The landlord may not increase any
customarily required security deposit on the basis of a person's
disability. However, where it is necessary in order to ensure with
reasonable certainty that funds will be available to pay for the restorations
at the end of the tenancy, the landlord may negotiate as part of such
a restoration agreement a provision requiring that the tenant pay
into an interest-bearing escrow account, over a reasonable period,
a reasonable amount of money not to exceed the cost of the restorations.
The interest in any such account shall accrue to the benefit of the
tenant. A landlord may condition permission for a modification on
the lessee providing a reasonable description of the proposed modifications
as well as reasonable assurances that the work will be done in a workmanlike
manner and that any required building permits will be obtained.
(C)
To refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices,
or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such
person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.
(D)
To fail to design and construct subject multifamily dwellings in
such a manner that the public use and common use portions of such
dwellings are readily accessible to and usable by disabled persons.
Specifically, all doors shall be designed to allow disabled persons
in wheelchairs passage into and within all premises within such dwellings.
Additionally, all premises within such dwellings shall feature:
It is a violation for any person to:
(A)
Solicit for sale, lease, list or purchase any residential real estate
on the grounds of loss of value due to the present or prospective
entry into the vicinity of the property of any person or persons of
a particular race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age,
sex, marital status or disability.
(B)
Distribute or cause to be distributed written material or statements
designed to induce any owner of residential real estate to sell or
lease his or her property because of any present or prospective changes
in the race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, sex,
marital status or disability of residents in the vicinity of the property
involved.
(C)
Intentionally create alarm among residents of any community by transmitting
communications in any manner, including a telephone call, whether
or not a conversation thereby ensues, designed to induce any owner
of residential real estate to sell or lease his or her property because
of any present or prospective entry into the vicinity of the property
involved of any person of any national origin, ancestry, age, sex,
marital status or disability.
It is a violation for any person on the basis of unlawful discrimination
to:
(A)
Deny or refuse to another the full and equal enjoyment of the facilities
and services of any public place of accommodation;
(B)
Directly or indirectly, as the operator of a place of public accommodation,
publish, circulate, display or mail any written communication, except
a private communication sent in response to a specific inquiry, through
which the operator communicates that the facilities of the place of
public accommodation will be denied to any person, or that any person
is unwelcome, objectionable or unacceptable, because of unlawful discrimination;
(C)
Deny or refuse to another, as a public official, the full and equal
enjoyment of the accommodations, advantage, facilities or privileges
of the official's office or services or of any property under
the official's care because of unlawful discrimination.
Nothing in § 18.75 shall apply to:
(A)
A private club, or other establishment, not in fact open to the public,
except to the extent that the goods, services, facilities, privileges,
advantages, or accommodations of the establishment are made available
to the customers or patrons of another establishment that is a place
of public accommodation.
(B)
Any facility, as to discrimination based on sex, which is distinctly
private in nature such as rest rooms, show rooms, bath houses, health
clubs and other similar facilities for which the City of Hometown,
in its rules and regulations, may grant exemptions based on bona fide
considerations of public policy.
(C)
Any facility, as to discrimination based on sex, which restricts
the rental of rooms to individuals of one sex.
