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Pursuant to Public Act No. 18 of the Extra Session of 1933, as amended by Public Act No. 80 of 1935, Public Act No. 265 of 1937 and Public Act No. 5 of the Extra Session of 1938, a commission is hereby created for the City, to be known as the “Flint Housing Commission.”
(Ord. 1788, passed 7-27-1964)
(a) The Flint Housing Commission shall have all the powers and duties vested or permitted to be vested in housing commissions by State law, it being the intention of this article to vest in the Flint Housing Commission all powers and duties permitted by law.
(b) The Flint Housing Commission shall be designated as a borrower pursuant to State law, and have all of the power and authority as a borrower set forth in Public Act 18 of 1933.
(Ord. 1788, passed 7-27-1964; Ord. 3782, passed 9-23-2010)
Statutory reference:
Housing facilities, see MCLA 125.651 through 125.709e
ARTICLE V. HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION
It is hereby found that prejudice and discrimination against any individual or group because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, political orientation, age or handicap is inimical to democracy, the cornerstone of our American tradition, and menaces peace and public welfare. That eliminate such prejudice and discrimination, an instrumentality of government should be established through which the citizens of Flint may be kept informed of developments in human relations and from which the elected and appointed officials, and the departments of this City may obtain advice and assistance in adopting those measures to keep peace and good order and harmony among the citizens of Flint, and to promote and insure equality of treatment and of opportunity to all, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, political orientation, age or handicap.
Therefore, there is hereby created and established a commission to be known as the Human Relations Commission, consisting of fifteen members to be appointed by the Mayor with the approval of the City Council. The members of the Human Relations Commission, as nearly as possible, shall be representatives of the various racial, religious, national, cultural and ethnic groups of the City. They shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for expenses actually and necessarily incurred in connection with their duties as members of the Human Relations Commission subject to the approval of the Mayor. Of the 15 members so appointed, one-third shall be for one year, one-third shall be for two years and one-third shall be for three years, and thereafter appointments shall be for three-year terms. In the event of death or resignation of any member, his or her successor shall be appointed by the Mayor to serve for the unexpired term for which such member had been appointed. Current members of the Human Relations Commission shall continue to serve until their respective terms expire and shall then be eligible for reappointment in accordance with Section 6-101 of the Charter of the City of Flint. The City Council, may by appropriate action, increase the membership of the Human Relations Commission to a total of not more than 21 members, preferably in multiples of three. One-third of the new members shall be appointed for one year, one-third for two years and one-third for three years, and thereafter any member shall be appointed for a three-year term, and shall likewise be as nearly as possible representative of the community as herein set forth.
In addition to the membership provided for previously in this section, one member of the City Council shall be appointed by the City Council to serve as an ex officio member of the Human Relations Commission. Such member shall serve during his term of office and shall act as liaison between the City Council and the Human Relations Commission.
The Human Relations Commission shall meet not less than once a month and shall adopt, by majority rule, such rules as it shall deem expedient for the conduct of its business. Such rules shall be adopted in accordance with Section 1-801 of the City Charter.
(Ord. 2602, passed 4-25-1977)
For the purposes of this article, the terms, phrases, words, and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number and words in the singular number include the plural number. The word “shall” is always mandatory and not merely directory.
AGE. Chronological age over the legal age of 18 years.
COMMISSION. The Flint Human Relations Commission.
DIRECTOR. The Executive Director of the Flint Human Relations Commission.
HANDICAP. A limitation of physical capabilities unrelated to one’s ability to safely perform work involved in jobs or positions available for such person for hire or promotion of a limitation of physical capabilities unrelated to one’s ability to acquire, rent and maintain property. HANDICAP includes but is not limited to blindness or partial sightedness, deafness or hearing impairment, muteness, partial or total absence of a physical member, speech impairment and motor impairment.
HIS. Refers to a person, male or female.
MARITAL STATUS. The state of being married, single, separated, divorced or widowed.
PERSON. Any individual, group, association, corporation, partnership, receiver, trust, trustee, trustee in bankruptcy, unincorporated organization, any legal or commercial entity, the State or any governmental entity or agency.
PLACE OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION. An educational, health, entertainment, cultural, recreation, refreshment, transportation, accommodation, business or other facility of any kind, whose goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations are extended, offered, sold or otherwise made available to the general public, or which receives financial support through solicitation of the general public or through governmental subsidy of any kind.
REAL ESTATE TRANSPORTATION. The sale, exchange, rental or lease of any real property.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION. A preference with regard to the sex of one’s actual or potential sexual partners.
(Ord. 2602, passed 4-25-1977; Ord. 3131, passed 4-9-1990)
It shall be an unfair or discriminatory practice for any person, for reasons of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, political affiliation, or handicap, to:
(a) Refuse the sale, exchange, lease or rental of any housing accommodation or living quarters of any sort, or initiate a real estate transaction or advertise such housing accommodation in a fashion as to discriminate against any individual on the basis of such categories; or to discriminate against any person on the basis of such categories with reference to the availability, terms, conditions or privileges of such real estate transaction, in the lending of money or otherwise making available funding for the acquisition of such housing accommodations.
(b) Refuse to hire or render employment service to any individual or to conduct personnel matters in such fashion as to discriminate on the basis of those categories.
(c) Deny or limit access to a place of accommodation or facilities thereof in such fashion as to discriminate any individual on the basis of said categories.
(d) Deprive any student of the right to equal educational opportunity on the basis of such categories.
(e) No person shall adopt, enforce or employ any policy or requirement, publish, post or broadcast any advertisement, sign or notice that discriminates or indicates discrimination in providing housing, employment or public accommodations.
It is further a discriminatory practice to retaliate or discriminate against a person because he or she has opposed a discriminatory practice, filed a charge or complaint, testified or assisted in an investigation undertaken by the Human Relations Commission.
It shall not be considered a discriminatory practice for a religious organization or institution to restrict any of its facilities of housing or accommodation which are operated in connection with its religious activities to persons of the denomination involved, to restrict enrollment in denominational schools to members of that denomination, or to restrict enrollment opportunities to persons of that denomination, if a bona fide religious purpose for such restriction exists.
(Ord. 2602, passed 4-25-1977; Ord. 3131, passed 4-9-1990)
The objectives of the Human Relations Commission shall be to work cooperatively with other persons to eliminate discrimination and the results of the past discrimination, to recommend ways and means of initiating and improving city government programs designed to eliminate discrimination or to remove the effects of past discrimination, and to develop programs for coordination of community efforts to address problems involving tensions in the community.
In performing this function, the Commission shall strive to increase the effectiveness of these programs, to increase the fairness with which these programs are operated and to increase interdepartmental harmony in the operation of these programs. To achieve the objectives of this article, the Human Relations Commission shall:
(a) Develop mutual understanding and respect among all racial, religious, nationality, cultural and ethnic groups in the City of Flint and work to prevent discriminatory practices against such groups.
(b) Aid in seeing that no person is deprived of equal services in this City by reason of discrimination on account of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, political affiliation, age, or handicap.
(c) Encourage, receive, investigate and evaluate complaints from any person of discrimination which allegedly violates local law, and any other complaints as it deems fall within the scope of its services, and make public the procedures which a person may use to complain of discrimination.
(d) Receive and investigate complaints and problems and initiate its own investigations of intergroup tensions and of practices of discrimination and acts of prejudice against any person or group due to considerations of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, political affiliation, age or handicap.
(e) Confer with the Chief Legal Officer on such complaints as appear to require legal process after initial investigation and/or failure to achieve conciliation.
(f) Initiate and conduct hearings not otherwise prohibited by law in situations in which the Commission has reason to believe that discrimination has occurred in violation of law.
(g) Engage in testing of discriminatory practices without entrapment where necessary to verify information relating to complaints of alleged discriminatory practices.
(h) Investigate upon request or initiate investigation of racial incidents, make recommendations for corrective action, and coordinate community efforts towards their resolution.
(i) Formulate, develop and disseminate programs of community information, educational materials, and reports which will assist in the elimination of prejudice, intolerance, intergroup tensions and discrimination, or which promote goodwill and result in better human relations.
(j) Maintain a program in cooperation with local employers, unions, employment agencies and other relevant persons seeking to improve employment opportunities for persons who have been the traditional targets of discrimination in employment.
(k) Assist community groups and various fraternal, service and benevolent organizations in the promotion of educational campaigns devoted to the elimination of group prejudices, racial or neighborhood tensions, intolerances and discrimination.
(l) Conduct research and obtain data to ascertain the status and treatment of racial, religious and ethnic groups of the City and the best means of progressively improving human relations in Flint.
(m) Cooperate with and render assistance to the Ombudsman, the Citizens Action Center, the equal opportunity officers and other branches of City government in the area of human rights.
(n) Cooperate with and render assistance to County, State, Federal and other governmental or private agencies in the area of human rights.
(o) Prepare and publish an annual report and such other factual reports and recommendations as it deems necessary concerning problems relating to discrimination, racial tensions, and other human relations concerns. Copies of all the reports and recommendations shall be filed with the City Council.
(Ord. 2602, passed 4-25-1977; Ord. 3131, passed 4-9-1990)
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