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(A) 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, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or status as an individual with a disability.
(B) To 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, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or status as an individual with a disability.
(C) 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, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or status as an individual with a disability, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.
(D) To represent to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or status as an individual with a disability that any dwelling is not available for inspection, sale or rental when such dwelling is in fact so available.
(Ord. 94-1023, passed 6-23-94)
It shall be unlawful 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 therefore 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, religion, or national origin of such person or of any person associated with him in connection with such loan or other financial assistance or the purposes of such loan or other financial 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; provided that nothing contained in this section shall impair the scope or effectiveness of the exception contained in § 157.03(B).
(Ord. 94-1023, passed 6-23-94)
It shall be unlawful to deny any person access to or membership 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 him in the terms or conditions of such access, membership, or participation, on account of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or status as an individual with a disability.
(Ord. 94-1023, passed 6-23-94)
Nothing in this ordinance shall prohibit a religious organization, association, or society, or any 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, or national origin. Nor shall anything in this ordinance 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.
(Ord. 94-1023, passed 6-23-94)
(A) The authority and responsibility for administering the Act shall be in the Mayor.
(B) The Mayor may delegate any of these functions, duties, and powers to employees of the city or to boards of such employees, including functions, duties, and powers with respect to investigating, conciliating, hearing, determining, ordering, certifying, reporting or otherwise acting as to any work, business, or matter under this ordinance. The Mayor shall by rule prescribe such rights to appeal from the decisions of his hearing examiners to other hearing examiners or to other officers in the city, to boards of officers or to himself, as shall be appropriate and in accordance with law.
(C) All executive departments and agencies shall administer their programs and activities relating to housing and urban development in a manner affirmatively to further the purposes of this ordinance and shall cooperate with the Mayor to further such purposes.
(Ord. 94-1023, passed 6-23-94)
Immediately after the enactment of this Chapter, the Mayor shall commence such educational and conciliatory activities as will further the purposes of this Chapter. He shall call conferences of persons in the housing industry and other interested parties to acquaint them with the provisions of this chapter and his suggested means of implementing it, and shall endeavor with their advice to work out programs of voluntary compliance and of enforcement.
(Ord. 94-1023, passed 6-23-94)
(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 (hereafter "person aggrieved") may file a complaint with the Mayor. Complaints shall be in writing and shall contain such information and be in such form as the Mayor requires. Upon receipt of such a complaint, the Mayor shall furnish a copy of the same to the person or persons who allegedly committed or are about to commit the alleged discriminatory housing practice. Within thirty (30) days after receiving a complaint, or within thirty (30) days after the expiration of any period of reference under subsection (C), the Mayor shall investigate the complaint and give notice in writing to the person aggrieved whether he intends to resolve it. If the Mayor decides to resolve the complaint, he shall proceed to try to eliminate or correct the alleged discriminatory housing practice by informal methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion. Nothing said or done in the course of such informal endeavors may be made public or used as evidence in a subsequent proceeding under this chapter without the written consent of the persons concerned. Any employee of the Mayor who shall make public any information in violation of this provision shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year.
(B) A complaint under subsection (A) shall be filed within one hundred and eighty (180) days after the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurred. Complaints shall be in writing and shall state the facts upon which the allegations of a discriminatory housing practice are based. Complaints may be reasonably and fairly amended at any time. A respondent may file an answer to the complaint against him and with the leave of the Mayor, which shall be granted whenever it would be reasonable and fair to do so, may amend his answer at any time. Both complaints and answers shall be verified.
(C) If within thirty (30) days after a complaint is filed with the Mayor, the Mayor has been unable to obtain voluntary compliance with this ordinance, the person aggrieved may, within thirty (30) days thereafter, file a complaint with the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Mayor will assist in this filing.
(D) If the Mayor has been unable to obtain voluntary compliance within thirty (30) days of the complaint, the person aggrieved may, within thirty (30) days thereafter commence a civil action in any appropriate court, against the respondent named in the complaint, to enforce the rights granted or protected by this ordinance, insofar as such rights relate to the subject of the complaint. If the court finds that a discriminatory housing practice has occurred or is about to occur, the court may enjoin the respondent from engaging in such practice or order such affirmative action as may be appropriate.
(E) In any proceeding brought pursuant to this section, the burden of proof shall be on the complainant.
(F) Whenever an action filed by an individual shall come to trial, the Mayor shall immediately terminate all efforts to obtain voluntary compliance.
(Ord. 94-1023, passed 6-23-94)
(A) In conducting an investigation the Mayor shall have access at all reasonable times to premises, records, documents, individuals, and other evidence or possible sources of evidence and may examine, record, and copy such materials and take and record the testimony or statements of such persons as are reasonably necessary for the furtherance of the investigation; provided however, that the Mayor first complies with the provisions of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution relating to unreasonable searches and seizures. The Mayor may issue subpoenas to compel his access to or the production of such materials, or the appearance of such persons, and may issue interrogatories to a respondent, to the same extent and subject to the same limitations as would apply if the subpoenas or interrogatories were issued or served in aid of a civil action in the United States district court for the district in which the investigation is taking place. The Mayor may administer oaths.
(B) Upon written application to the Mayor, a respondent shall be entitled to the issuance of a reasonable number of subpoenas by and in the name of the Mayor to the same extent and subject to the same limitations as subpoenas issued by the Mayor himself. Subpoenas issued at the request of a respondent shall show on their face the name and address of such respondent and shall state that they were issued at his request.
(C) Witnesses summoned by subpoena of the Mayor shall be entitled to the same witness and mileage fees as are witnesses in proceedings in United States district courts. Fees payable to a witness summoned by a subpoena issued at the request of a respondent shall be paid by him.
(D) Within five (5) days after service of a subpoena upon any person, such person may petition the Mayor to revoke or modify the subpoena. The Mayor shall grant the petition if he finds that the subpoena requires appearance or attendance at an unreasonable time or place, that it requires production of evidence which does not relate to any matter under investigation, that it does not describe with sufficient particularity the evidence to be produced, that compliance would be unduly onerous, or for other good reason.
(E) In case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena, the Mayor or other person at whose request it was issued may petition for its enforcement in the state court for the district in which the person to whom the subpoena was addressed resides, was served, or transacts business.
(F) Any person who willfully fails or neglects to attend and testify or to answer any lawful inquiry or to produce records, documents, or other evidence, if in his power to do so, in obedience to the subpoena or lawful order of the Mayor shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. Any person who, with intent thereby to mislead the Mayor, shall make or cause to be made any false entry or statement of fact in any report, account, record, or other document submitted to the Mayor pursuant to his subpoena or other order, or shall willfully neglect or fail to make or cause to be made full, true, and correct entries in such reports, accounts, records, or other documents, or shall willfully mutilate, alter, or by any other means falsify any documentary evidence, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
(G) The City Attorney shall conduct all litigation in which the Mayor participates as a part or as amicus pursuant to this chapter.
(Ord. 94-1023, passed 6-23-94)
The rights granted by §§ 157.03 - 157.06 may be enforced by civil actions in state courts of general jurisdiction. A civil action shall be commenced within one hundred and eighty (180) days after the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurred, provided however, that the court shall continue such civil case brought pursuant to this section or sections 157.10(D) from time to time before bringing it to trial if the court believes that the conciliation efforts of the Mayor are likely to result in satisfactory settlement of the discriminatory housing practice complaint or in the compliant made to the Mayor and which practice forms the basis for the action in court and provided however, that any sale encumbrance, or rental consummated prior to the issuance of any court order issued under the authority of this chapter, and involving a bona fidepurchaser, encumbrancer, or tenant without actual notice of the existence of the filing of a complaint or civil action under the provision of this chapter shall not be affected.
(B) The court may grant as relief, as it deems appropriate, any permanent or temporary injunction, temporary restraining order, or other order, and may award to the plaintiff actual damages and not more than $1,000 punitive damages, together with court costs and reasonable attorney fees in the case of a prevailing plaintiff, provided that the said plaintiff in the opinion of the court is not financially able to assume said attorney's fees.
(Ord. 94-1023, passed 6-23-94)
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