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:
The calendar age of an individual eighteen (18) years of
age or over.
Any set of principles, rules, opinions and precepts formally
expressed and seriously adhered to or maintained by a person.
The director of the human relations department or city secretary.
An act which is unlawful under this division.
Any building, structure or portion thereof which is occupied
as, or designated and intended for occupancy as, a residence by one
(1) 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.
A single individual or a group of individuals living together
under one (1) common roof.
Functions such as, but not limited to, caring for one’s
self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking,
breathing, learning and working.
An individual’s status as a single, married, divorced,
widowed or separated person.
A person’s status as a parent or legal guardian of
a child or children under the age of eighteen (18).
One (1) 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 only [any] physical or mental impairment which substantially
limits one (1) or more major life activities.
Any physiological disorder or condition [causing] cosmetic disfigurement
or anatomical loss affecting one (1) 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.
A person fifty-five (55) years of age or older.
To lease, to sublease, to let and otherwise to grant for
consideration the right to occupy premises not owned by the occupant.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-1)
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
by 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.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-2)
Except as exempted by [section 1.06.037], it shall be unlawful to:
(1)
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)
Discriminate
against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of 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)
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, or parenthood, or an intention
to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.
(4)
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)
Induce,
or attempt to induce, any person to sell or rent any dwelling by representations
regarding the entry or prospective 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.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-3)
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 persons [or of 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.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-4)
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 and 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.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-5)
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.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-6)
(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 the sale,
the exemption granted by this subsection shall apply only with respect
to one (1) such sale within any twenty-four-hour month [sic] period;
(C)
Such bona fide private individual owner 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 services of any real estate
broker, agent or salesman, or of any 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 (1)
of such living quarters as his residence.
(b)
For the purposes of subsection (a), a person shall be deemed to be in the business of selling or renting dwellings 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 any
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 (1)
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 a parent or any other of the protected classifications set
forth in this division.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-7)
No person shall violate any provision of this division, or knowingly
obstruct or prevent compliance with this division.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-8)
The director of the human relations department or the city secretary
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.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-9)
(a)
Any
person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing
practice or who 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.
(b)
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.
(c)
All
complaints shall be filed within one hundred eighty (180) 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 person named therein (hereinafter referred to as “respondent”)
who allegedly committed or was threatening to commit an alleged discriminatory
housing practice. The respondent may file an answer to the complaint
within fifteen (15) days of the receipt of the written complaint.
(d)
All
complaints and answers shall be subscribed and sworn to before an
officer authorized to administer oaths.
(e)
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.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-10)
(a)
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 investigative purposes, the director or an 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.
(b)
If
the director determines that there is not probable cause to believe
that a particular alleged discriminatory housing practice has been
committed, the director shall take no further action with respect
to that alleged offense.
(c)
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 provisions
of this division. Nothing said or done in the course of such informal
endeavors may be made public by the director, the city council, 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.
(d)
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 city council must, upon a majority vote, refer
the case to the city attorney for prosecution in the court of competent
jurisdiction of the county, as authorized by the interlocal agreement
between the city and county, or to other agencies, as appropriate.
With such recommendation of the director and the referral of the city
council, the director shall refer his entire file to the city attorney.
The city attorney shall, after such referral, make a determination
as to whether to proceed with prosecution of such complaint in the
court of competent jurisdiction of the county, as authorized by the
interlocal agreement between the city and county.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-11)
If a discriminatory housing practice is found to have in fact
occurred and the case has been referred to the court of competent
jurisdiction as described in the preceding section, the respondent
shall be assessed a penalty of up to five hundred dollars ($500.00)
per violation.
(1990 Code, sec. 13-12)
