It is declared to be the policy of the city in the exercise
of its police power for the public safety, public health, and general
welfare to assure equal opportunity to all persons to live in decent
housing facilities regardless of race, color, religion, sex or national
origin and, to that end, to prohibit discrimination in housing by
any person.
(C.O. 84-372 § 1 (part))
means any difference in treatment based upon race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin, or any act that is unlawful under
this chapter.
includes any person, as defined in this section, engaged
in the business of lending money or guaranteeing losses.
means any building, mobile home or trailer, structure, or
portion thereof which is occupied as, or designed, or intended for
occupancy as a residence by one or more families, and any vacant land
which is occupied as or designed or intended for occupancy as a residence
by one or more families, and any vacant land which is offered for
sale or lease for the construction or location thereon of any such
building, mobile home or trailer, structure, or portion thereof of
any real property, as defined in this chapter, used or intended to
be used for any of the purposes set forth in this chapter.
means an individual who is engaged in or who performs the
business or services of a mortgage broker as the same are defined
by Massachusetts general laws.
means the market which is informed of the availability for
sale, purchase, rental or lease of any housing accommodation, whether
informed through a real estate broker or by advertising by publication,
signs or by any other advertising methods directed to the public or
any portion thereof, indicating that the property is available for
sale, purchase, rental or lease.
includes a lessee, sublessee, co-tenant, assignee, managing
agent or other person having the right of ownership or possession,
or the right to sell, rent or lease any housing accommodation.
includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint
adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates,
fiduciaries, corporations and all other groups or combinations.
includes any individual, qualified by law who, for a fee,
commission, salary or for other valuable consideration, or who with
the intention or expectation of receiving or collecting same, lists,
sells, purchases, rents or leases any housing accommodations, including
options thereupon, or who negotiates or attempts to negotiate such
activities, or who advertises or holds himself or herself out as engaged
in such activities; or who negotiates or attempts to negotiate a loan,
secured by a mortgage or other encumbrance, upon transfer of any housing
accommodations; or who is engaged in the business of charging an advance
fee or contracting for collection of a fee in connection with a contract
whereby he or she undertakes to promote the sale, purchase, rental
or lease of any housing accommodation through its listing in a publication
issued primarily for such purpose; or an individual employed by or
acting on behalf of any of these.
includes buildings, structures, land, tenements, leaseholds,
cooperatives and condominiums.
(C.O. 84-372 § 1 (part))
In connection with any of the transactions set forth in this
chapter which affect any housing accommodation on the open market,
or in connection with any public sale, purchase, rental or lease of
any housing accommodation, it is unlawful within the city for a person,
owner, financial institution, real estate broker or real estate salesman,
or any representative of the above, to:
A.
Refuse
to sell, purchase, rent or lease, or deny to or withhold any housing
accommodation from a person because of his or her race, color, religion,
ancestry, national origin, sex, or place of birth;
B.
Discriminate
against a person in the terms, conditions or privileges of the sale,
purchase, rental or lease of any housing accommodation, or in the
furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith;
C.
Refuse
to receive or transmit a bona fide offer to sell, purchase, rent or
lease any housing accommodation from or to a person because of his
or her race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, or place
of birth;
D.
Refuse
to negotiate for the sale, purchase, rental or lease of any housing
accommodation to a person because of his or her race, color, religion,
ancestry, national origin, sex, or place of birth;
E.
Represent
to a person that any housing accommodation is not available for inspection,
sale, purchase, rental or lease when in fact it is so available, or
to refuse to permit a person to inspect any housing accommodation,
because of his or her race, color, religion, or national origin, sex,
or place of birth;
F.
Make,
publish, print, circulate, post or mail, or cause to be made, published,
printed, circulated, posted or mailed, any notice, statement or advertisement,
or to announce a policy, or to sign or to use a form of application
for the sale, purchase, rental, lease or financing of any housing
accommodation or to make a record of inquiry in connection with the
prospective sale, purchase, rental, lease or financing of any housing
accommodation, which indicates any discrimination or any intent to
make a discrimination;
G.
Offer,
solicit, accept or use a listing of any housing accommodation for
sale, purchase, rental or lease with the understanding that a person
may be subjected to discrimination in connection with such sale, purchase,
rental or lease, or in the furnishing of facilities or services in
connection therewith;
H.
Induce
directly or indirectly, or attempt to induce directly or indirectly,
the sale, purchase, rental or lease, or the listing for any of the
above, of any housing accommodation by representing that the presence
or anticipated presence of persons of any particular race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin or place of birth in the area to
be affected by such sale, purchase, rental or lease will or may result
in either:
I.
Make
any misrepresentations concerning the listing for sale, purchase,
rental or lease, or the anticipated listing for sale, purchase, rental
or lease, or the anticipated listing for any of the above, or the
sale, purchase, rental or lease of any housing accommodation in any
area in the city for the purpose of inducing or attempting to induce
any such listing or any of the above transactions;
J.
Engage
in, or hire to be done, or to conspire with others to commit acts
or activities of any nature, the purpose of which is to coerce, cause
panic, incite unrest or create or play upon fear, with the purpose
of either discouraging or inducing, or attempting to induce, the sale,
purchase, rental or lease, or the listing for any of the above, of
any housing accommodation;
K.
Retaliate
or discriminate in any manner against a person because he or she has
opposed a practice declared unlawful by this article, or because he
or she has filed a complaint, testified, assisted or participated
in any matter in any investigation, proceeding, hearing or conference
under this chapter;
L.
Aid,
abet, incite, compel or coerce any person to engage in any of the
practices prohibited by this chapter, or to obstruct or prevent any
person from complying with the provisions of this chapter or any order
issued thereunder;
M.
By canvassing,
to commit any unlawful practices prohibited by this chapter;
N.
Otherwise
deny to, or withhold any housing accommodation from a person because
of his or her race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex,
or place of birth;
O.
For
any bank, building and loan association, insurance company or other
corporation, association, firm or enterprise 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 or her in
the fixing of the amount, interest rate, duration, or other terms
or conditions of such loans or other financial assistance, because
of the race, color, religion, sex, or national origin of such person
or of any person associated with him or her in connection with such
loan or other financial assistance or the purposes of such loan assistance
or of the present or prospective owners, lessees, tenants, or occupants
of the dwelling or dwellings in relation to which such loan or other
financial assistance is to be made or given;
P.
Deny
any qualified person access to or membership or participation in any
multiple listing service, real estate broker's organization, or other
service, organization, or facility relating to the business of selling
or renting dwellings, or to discriminate against him or her in their
terms or conditions of such access, membership, or participation,
on account of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
This chapter shall not apply to:
A.
A religious
organization, association, or society or any nonprofit institution
or organization operating, supervised, or controlled by or in conjunction
with a religious organization, association, or society, "which limits
the sale, rental or occupancy, of dwellings which it owns or operates
for other than commercial purpose to persons of the same religion,
or which gives preference to such persons, unless membership in such
a religion is restricted on account of race, color, sex, or national
origin."
B.
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, and which limits the rental or occupancy
of such lodgings to its members or gives preference to its members.
C.
Any
single-family house sold or rented by an owner; provided, that such
private individual owner does not own more than three such single-family
houses at any one time; provided further, that in the case of the
sale of any such single-family house by a private individual owner
not residing in such house at the time of such sale or who was not
the most recent resident of such house at the time of such sale or
who was not the most recent resident of such house prior to such sale,
the exemption granted by this subsection shall apply only with respect
to one such sale within any twenty-four-month period; provided further,
that such bona fide private individual owner does not own any interest
in, nor is there owned or served on his or her behalf, under any express
or voluntary agreement, title to or any right to all or a portion
of the proceeds from the sale or rental of more than three such single-family
houses at any one time; provided further, the sale or rental of any
such single-family house shall be excepted from the application of
this chapter only if such house is sold or rented:
1.
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
2.
Without the publication, posting or mailing, after notice, of any advertisement or written notice in violation of the provisions of 42 United States Code Section 3604(c), or of Section 9.24.030 of this revision; but nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the use of attorneys, escrow agents, abstractors, title companies, and other such professional assistance as necessary to perfect or transfer the title;
D.
Rooms
or units in dwellings containing living quarters occupied or intended
to be occupied by no more than four families living independently
of each other, if the owner actually maintains and occupies one of
such living quarters as his or her residence.
(C.O. 84-372 § 1 (part))
Any person aggrieved by an unlawful practice prohibited by this
chapter may file a complaint with the housing complaint officer of
the city thirty days after the aggrieved person becomes aware of the
alleged unlawful practice, and in no event more than sixty days after
the alleged unlawful practice occurred. The housing officer or his
or her duly authorized representative shall investigate each complaint
and attempt to resolve each complaint. Failure to achieve a resolution
acceptable to both parties and compliance with this chapter shall
cause the housing complaint officer to forward the complaint and his
or her findings to appropriate state and federal officials.
(C.O. 84-372 § 1 (part))
Nothing contained in this chapter shall prevent any person from
exercising any right or seeking any remedy to which he or she might
otherwise be entitled or from filing his or her complaint with any
appropriate governmental agency.
(C.O. 84-372 § 1 (part))
Any person violating any provision of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished as provided by law and be subject to the general penalty provided for in Chapter 1.16 of this revision.
(C.O. 84-372 § 1 (part))
