(a)
It
is hereby declared to be the policy of the city to bring about, through
fair, orderly and lawful procedures, the opportunity of each person
to obtain housing without regard to race, color, creed, religion,
sex, national origin, physical or mental handicap, marital status,
parenthood, or age.
(b)
It
is further declared that such policy is established upon a recognition
of the inalienable rights of each individual to obtain housing without
regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, physical
or mental handicap, marital status, parenthood, or age, and further
that the denial of such rights through considerations based on race,
color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental handicap,
marital status, parenthood, or age is detrimental to the health, safety
and welfare of the inhabitants of the city and constitutes an unjust
denial or deprivation of such inalienable rights which is within the
power and the proper responsibility of government to prevent.
As used in this division, the following words and phrases shall
have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section, unless
the context requires otherwise:
means the calendar age of an individual eighteen (18) years
of age or over.
means any set of principles, rules, opinions and precepts
formally expressed and seriously adhered to or maintained by a person.
means the director of the human relations department or authorized
assistant.
means an act which is unlawful under this division.
means any building, structure or portion thereof which is
occupied as, or designed and intended for occupancy as, a residence
by one or more persons, and any vacant land which is offered for sale
or lease for the construction or location thereon of any such building,
structure or portion thereof.
means a single individual or a group of individuals living
together under one common roof.
means functions such as, but not limited to, caring for one’s
self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking,
breathing, learning and working.
means an individual’s status as a single, married,
divorced, widowed or separated person.
means a person’s status as a parent or legal guardian
of a child or children under the age of eighteen (18).
means one or more individuals, corporations, partnerships,
associations, labor organizations, legal representatives, mutual companies,
joint stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees,
trustees in bankruptcy, receivers and fiduciaries.
means any physical or mental impairment which substantially
limits one or more major life activities.
shall include:
Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement
or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems:
neurological, musculoskeletal, special sense organs, cardiovascular,
reproductive, digestive, genitourinary, hemic and lymphatic, skin,
and endocrine; or
Any mental or psychological disorder, such as mental retardation,
organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific
learning disabilities.
means a person fifty-five (55) years of age or older.
means to lease, to sublease, to let and otherwise to grant
for a consideration the right to occupy premises not owned by the
occupant.
This division shall in no way be interpreted as creating a judicial
right or remedy which is the same or substantially equivalent to the
remedies provided under title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968,
as amended, or the federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C.
1691). All aggrieved parties shall retain the rights granted to them
[pursuant] to title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, as amended,
and the federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act. In construing this division,
it is the intent of the city council that the courts shall be guided
by federal court interpretations of title VIII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1968, as amended, and the federal Equal Credit Opportunity
Act, where appropriate.
Except as exempted, it shall be unlawful:
(1)
To
refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona fide offer or to
refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable
or deny, a dwelling to any person because of race, color, creed, religion,
sex, national origin, physical or mental handicap, marital status,
parenthood, or age.
(2)
To
discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges
of a sale or rental of a dwelling or in the provision of services
or facilities in connection therewith because of race, color, creed,
religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental handicap, marital
status, parenthood, or age.
(3)
To
make, print or publish, or cause to be made, printed or published,
any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale or
rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or
discrimination based on race, color, creed, religion, sex, national
origin, physical or mental handicap, marital status, parenthood or
age, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.
(4)
To
represent to any person because of race, color, creed, religion, sex,
national origin, physical or mental handicap, marital status, parenthood,
or age that any dwelling is not available for inspection, sale or
rental when such dwelling is in fact so available.
(5)
To
induce or to attempt to induce any person to sell or rent any dwelling
by representations regarding the entry into the neighborhood of a
person or persons of a particular race, color, creed, religion, sex,
national origin, physical or mental handicap, marital status, parenthood,
or age.
It shall be unlawful for any bank, building and loan association,
insurance company, or other person whose business consists in whole
or in part in the making of commercial real estate loans to deny a
loan or other financial assistance to a person applying therefor for
the purpose of purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing or maintaining
a dwelling or to discriminate against him in the fixing of the amount,
interest rate, duration or other terms or conditions of such loan
or other financial assistance because of the race, color, creed, religion,
sex, national origin, physical or mental handicap, marital status,
parenthood, or age of such person or such persons associated therewith
or because of the race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin,
physical or mental handicap, marital status, parenthood, or age of
the present or prospective owners, lessees, tenants or occupants of
the dwelling or dwellings for which such loan or other financial assistance
is to be made or given.
It shall be unlawful for any person to deny another person access
to membership in or participation in any multiple listing service,
real estate brokers’ organization, or other service, organization
or facility relating to the business of selling or renting dwellings,
or to discriminate against another person in the terms or conditions
of such access, membership or participation, on account of race, color,
creed, religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental handicap,
marital status, parenthood, or age.
It shall be unlawful for any person to harass, threaten, harm,
damage, or otherwise penalize any individual, group or business because
such individual, group or business has complied with the provisions
of this division or has exercised in good faith rights under this
division, or has enjoyed the benefits of this division, or because
such individual, group, or business has made a charge in good faith,
testified in good faith or assisted in good faith in any manner in
any investigation or in any proceeding hereunder or has made any report
to the director.
(a)
Nothing
in this division shall apply to:
(1)
Any single-family house sold or rented by an owner, provided that:
(A)
Such private individual owner does not own more than three (3) single-family
houses at any one time;
(B)
If the owner does not reside in the house at the time of the sale
or was not the most recent resident of such house prior to sale, the
exemption granted by this section shall apply only with respect to
one such sale within any twenty-four (24) month period;
(C)
Such bona fide private individual does not own any interest in, nor
is there owned or reserved on such person’s behalf, under any
[express or] voluntary agreement, title to or any right to all or
any portion of the proceeds from the sale or rental of more than three
(3) such single-family houses at any one time;
(D)
The sale or rental is made without the use in any manner of the sales
or rental facilities or the sales or rental service of any real estate
broker, agent or salesman, or of such facilities or services of any
person in the business of selling or renting dwellings, or of any
employee or agent of any such broker, agent, salesman, or person;
and
(E)
The sale or rental is made without the publication, posting or mailing
of any advertisement or written notice in violation of this division;
but nothing in this provision shall prohibit the use of attorneys,
escrow agents, abstractors, title companies and other such professional
assistance as necessary to perfect or transfer the title.
(2)
Rooms or units in dwellings containing living quarters occupied or
intended to be occupied by no more than four (4) families living independently
of each other, if the owner actually maintains and occupies one of
such living quarters as his residence.
(b)
For the purposes of subsection (a) above, a person shall be deemed to be in the business of selling or renting dwelling if:
(1)
He has, within the preceding twelve (12) months, participated as
principal in three (3) or more transactions involving the sale or
rental of any dwelling or any interest therein;
(2)
He has, within the preceding twelve (12) months, participated as
agent other than in the sale of his own personal residence in providing
sales or rental facilities or sales or rental services in two (2)
or more transactions involving the sale or rental of any dwelling
or any interest therein; or
(3)
He is the owner of any dwelling designed or intended for occupancy
by, or occupied by, five (5) or more families.
(c)
Nothing
in this division shall prohibit a religious organization, association
or society or a 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 dwellings 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, sex, national origin, physical or mental
handicap, marital status, parenthood, or age.
(d)
Nothing
in this division shall prohibit a private club, not in fact open to
the public, which as an incident to its primary purpose or purposes
provides lodgings which it owns or operates for other than a commercial
purpose, from limiting the rental or occupancy of such lodgings to
its members, or from giving preference to its members.
(e)
Nothing
in this division shall bar any person from owning and operating a
housing accommodation in which rooms are leased, subleased or rented
only to persons of the same sex, when such housing accommodation contains
common lavatory, kitchen or similar [facilities available for the
use of all persons] occupying such housing accommodation.
(f)
Nothing
in this division shall prohibit the sale, rental, lease or occupancy
of any dwelling designed and operated exclusively for senior adults
and their spouses, unless the sale, rental, lease or occupancy is
further restricted on account of race, color, creed, religion, sex,
national origin, physical or mental handicap and marital status.
(g)
Nothing
in this division shall bar a person who owns, operates, or controls
rental dwellings, whether located on the same property or on one or
more contiguous parcels of property, from reserving any grouping of
dwellings for the rental or lease to tenants with a minor child or
children; provided, however, in the event that said reserved area
is completely leased or rented, the person owning, operating or controlling
said rental dwelling may not refuse to rent or lease any other available
dwelling to the prospective tenant on the basis of the tenant’s
status as parent or any other of the protected classifications set
forth in this division.
No person shall violate any provision of this division or knowingly
obstruct or prevent compliance with this division.
(a)
Generally.
The director of the human relations department
shall have the responsibility of administering and implementing this
division. The director may delegate the authority to investigate and
conciliate complaints to other designated city employees.
(b)
Complaints generally.
(1)
Any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory practice
or believes that he will be irrevocably injured by a discriminatory
housing practice that is about to occur (hereinafter referred to as
the “charging party”) may file a complaint with the director.
Such complaints shall be in writing and shall identify the person
alleged to have committed or alleged to be committing a discriminatory
housing practice and shall state the facts upon which the allegations
of a discriminatory housing practice are based. The director shall
prepare complaint forms and furnish them without charge to any person
upon request.
(2)
The director shall receive and accept notification and referral complaints from the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to the provisions of title VIII, Fair Housing Act of 1968, Public Law 90-284, and shall treat such complaints hereunder in the same manner as complaints filed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.
(3)
All complaints shall be filed within one hundred eighty days following
the occurrence of an alleged discriminatory housing practice. Upon
the filing or referral of any complaint, the director shall provide
notice of the complaint by furnishing a copy of such complaint to
the persons named therein (hereinafter referred to as the “respondent”)
who allegedly committed or were threatening to commit an alleged discriminatory
housing practice. The respondent may file an answer to the complaint
within fifteen (15) days of receipt of the written complaint.
(4)
All complaints and answers shall be subscribed and sworn to before
an officer authorized to administer oaths.
(5)
If at any time the director shall receive or discover credible evidence
and shall have probable cause to believe that any person or persons
have committed a discriminatory housing practice as to which no complaint
has been filed or is about to be filed, the director may prepare and
file a complaint upon his own motion and in his own name and such
complaint shall thereafter be treated in the same manner as a complaint
filed by a person aggrieved.
(c)
Investigation and conciliation.
(1)
Upon the filing or referral of a complaint as herein provided, the
director shall cause to be made a prompt and full investigation of
the matter stated in the complaint; provided, however, that before
any charge becomes accepted for investigation purposes, the director
or investigator shall have personally reviewed with the charging party
the allegations contained therein and shall have determined that said
charge comes within the provisions of this division. In the event
such review results in the determination that a particular charge
does not come within the provisions of this division, the charging
party shall be given a clear and concise explanation of the reasons
why it does not.
(2)
If the director determines that there is not probable cause to believe
that a particular alleged discriminatory housing practice has been
committed, the court shall take no further action with respect to
that alleged offense.
(3)
During or after the investigation, but subsequent to the mailing
of the notice of complaint, the director shall, if it appears that
a discriminatory housing practice has occurred or is threatening to
occur, attempt by informal endeavors to effect conciliation, including
voluntary discontinuance of the discriminatory housing practice, and
to obtain adequate assurance of future voluntary compliance with the
provisions of this division. Nothing said or done in the course of
such informal endeavors may be made public by the director, the commission,
the investigator, the conciliator, the charging party, or the respondent,
or be used as evidence in a subsequent proceeding, without the written
consent of all persons concerned.
(4)
Upon completion of an investigation, where the director has made
a determination that a discriminatory housing practice has in fact
occurred, if the director is unable to secure from the respondent
an acceptable conciliation agreement, then the human relations commission
of the city must, upon a majority vote, refer the case to other agencies
as appropriate.
(1987 Code, ch. 4, sec. 7; Ordinance 9809-322 adopted 9/14/98; 2001 Code, secs. 4.801– 4.810)
