It is hereby declared to be the public policy of the city that
all of its residents and persons subject to its jurisdiction should
enjoy equal freedom to pursue their aspirations and that discrimination
against any individual or group because of race, creed, color, sex,
religion, disability, age, national origin, familial status, sexual
orientation, transgender, gender identity or gender expression is
detrimental to the peace, progress and welfare of the city.
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
(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, disability, familial status, age,
sexual orientation, transgender, gender identity or gender expression.
(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, creed, color, sex, religion, disability,
age, national origin, familial status, sexual orientation, transgender,
gender identity or gender expression; and further that the denial
of such rights through considerations based on race, creed, color,
sex, religion, disability, age, national origin, familial status,
sexual orientation, transgender, gender identity or gender expression
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.
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
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:
In the context of unlawful discrimination on the basis of
age, the prohibitions in this division shall be limited to individuals
who are at least 40 years of age.
With respect to an individual:
Disparate treatment or treatment resulting in disparate effect,
which shall include, but not be limited to, withholding or denying
of entry, services or facilities, or any other advantage offered to
the general public.
A person's external characteristics and behaviors including,
but not limited to, dress, grooming, mannerisms, speech patterns and
social interactions that are socially identified with a particular
gender.
A person's innate, deeply felt sense of gender, which
may or may not correspond to the person's body or sex listed
on their original birth certificate.
Heterosexuality, same-gender relationships or bisexuality
or being identified with such orientation.
A person who experiences and/or expresses their gender differently
from conventional or cultural expectations including, but not limited
to those who express a gender that does not match the sex listed on
their original birth certificate or who physically alters their sex.
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
Except as exempted by section 14.07.038, it shall be unlawful to:
(1)
Refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona fide offer
or refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of or otherwise make
unavailable or deny a dwelling to any person because of race, creed,
color, sex, religion, disability, age, national origin, familial status,
sexual orientation, transgender, gender identity or gender expression.
(2)
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, creed,
color, sex, religion, disability, age, national origin, familial status,
sexual orientation, transgender, gender identity or gender expression.
(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, creed, color, sex, religion, disability,
age, national origin, familial status, sexual orientation, transgender,
gender identity or gender expression, or an intention to make any
such preference, limitation or discrimination.
(4)
Represent to any person because of race, creed, color, sex,
religion, disability, age, national origin, familial status, sexual
orientation, transgender, gender identity or gender expression 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, creed, color,
sex, religion, disability, age, national origin, familial status,
sexual orientation, transgender, gender identity or gender expression.
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
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 the terms or conditions of such loan or
other financial assistance because of the race, creed, color, sex,
religion, disability, age, national origin, familial status, sexual
orientation, transgender, gender identity or gender expression of
such person or such persons associated therewith or because of race,
creed, color, sex, religion, disability, age, national origin, familial
status, sexual orientation, transgender, gender identity or gender
expression 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.
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
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, creed,
color, sex, religion, disability, age, national origin, familial status,
sexual orientation, transgender, gender identity or gender expression.
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
It shall be unlawful for any person to harass, threaten, harm,
damage or otherwise penalize any individual, group, or business if
the 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.
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
(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 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 such sale within any twenty-four-month
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 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 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), 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, creed, color, sex, religion, disability,
age, national origin, familial status, sexual orientation, transgender,
gender identity or gender expression.
(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, creed, color,
sex, religion, disability, age, national origin, familial status,
sexual orientation, transgender, gender identity or gender expression.
(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.
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
No person shall violate any provision of this division or knowingly
obstruct or prevent compliance with this division.
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
(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.
(1)
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 complaint 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 (1) above.
(3)
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
the "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 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.
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
(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 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.
(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 human relations commission
of the city must, upon a majority vote, refer the case to the city
attorney for prosecution in municipal court or to other agencies as
appropriate. With such recommendation of the director and the referral
of the human relations commission, 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 municipal court.
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
If a discriminatory housing practice is found to have in fact occurred and the case has been referred to municipal court, the respondent shall be assessed a penalty in accordance with the general penalty in section 1.01.009 of this code per violation
(Ordinance O-2023-050 adopted 8/17/2023)
