It is the policy of the City of Pretty Prairie to provide, within constitutional limitations, for fair housing throughout the City.
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)
(a) Dwelling means any building, 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 offered for sale or lease for the construction or location thereon of any such l1uilding, structure, or portion thereof.
(b) Family includes a single individual.
(c) Person includes one 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.
(d) To Rent includes to lease, to sublease, to let and otherwise to grant for a consideration the right to occupy premises owned by the occupant.
(e) Discriminatory housing practice means an act that is unlawful under Sections 5-304:306.
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)
Subject to the provisions of subsection (b) and Section 5-307, the prohibitions against discrimination in the sale or rental of housing set forth in this section shall apply to:
(a) All dwellings except as exempted by subsection (b).
(b) Nothing in Section 5-304 shall apply to:
(1) Any single-family house sold or rented by an owner, provided That such private individual owner does not own more than three (3) such single family houses at any one time provided 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 prior to such sale the exemption granted by this subsection shall apply only with respect to one such sale within any twenty-four (24) month period: Provided further, That such bona fide private individual owner does not own any interest in, nor is there owned or reserved on his 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 (3) such single-family houses at any one time: provided further, that the sale or rental of any such single family house shall be excepted from the application of this title only if such house is sold or rented (a) without the us 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 rental of dwellings, or of any employee or agent of any such broker, agent, salesman, or person and (b) without the publication, posting or mailing after notice of any advertisement or written notice in violation of section 5-304(c), but nothing in this provision shall prohibit the use of attorneys, escrow agents, abstractions, title companies, and other such professional assistance as necessary to perfect or transfer the title or
(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.
(c) For the purpose of subsection (b) 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, or
(2) he has, within the preceding twelve (12) months, participated as agent, other than the sale of his own personal residence in providing sales or rental facilities or sales or renal services in two or more transactions involving the sale or rental of 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.
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)
As made applicable by Section 5-303 and except as exempted by Sections 5-303(b) and 5-307, it shall be unlawful:
(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, or national origin.
(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 or national origin.
(c) To make, print or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale of rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.
(d) To represent to any person because of race, color, religion or national origin that any dwelling is not available for inspection, sale or rental when such dwelling is in fact so available.
(e) For profit, to 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, religion or national origin.
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)
It shall be unlawful for any lending association, insurance company or other corporation or association whose business consists in the whole or in part in the making of commercial real estate loans, to deny a loan or other financial assistance to any 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 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 section 5-303(b).
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)
It shall be unlawful to deny any person access to, or membership or participate in, any multiple listing service, estate brokers organization, or other service organization or facility relating to the business of selling or renting dwellings, or to discriminate against any person in terms of conditions of such access, membership or participation on account of race, color, religion or national origin
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)
Nothing in this article shall prohibit a religious organization, association, or society, or any non-profit 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 article 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. 167; Code 2018)
(a) The authority and responsibility for administering this Act shall be in the Chief Executive Officer of the City of Pretty Prairie.
(b) The Chief Executive Officer 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 article. The Chief Executive Officer shall by rule prescribe such rights of 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 he 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 article and shall cooperate with the Chief Executive Officer to further such purposes.
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)
Immediately after the enactment of this article, the Chief Executive Officer shall commence such educational and conciliatory activities as will further the purposes of this article. He shall call conferences of persons in the housing industry and other interested parties to acquaint them with the provisions of this article and his suggested means of implementing it, and shall endeavor with their advice to work out programs of voluntary compliance and of enforcement.
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)
(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 City Council. Complaints shall be in writing and shall contain such information and b in such form as the City Council requires. Upon receipt of such a complaint, the City Council shall furnish a copy of the same to the person or person who allegedly committed or are about to commit the alleged discriminatory housing practice. Within thirty days after receiving a complaint, or within thirty days after the expiration of any period of reference under subsection (c) the City Council shall investigate the complaint and give notice in writing to the person aggrieved whether he intends to resolve it. If the City Council intends to resolve the complaints, they 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 during such informal endeavors may be made public without the written consent of the persons concerned. Any public 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 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 City Council, 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 days after a complaint is filed with the City Council, the City Council has been unable to obtain voluntary compliance with this article, the person aggrieved may, within thirty days thereafter, file a complaint with the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The City Council will assist in this filing.
(d) If the City Council has been unable to obtain voluntary compliance within thirty days of the complaint, the person aggrieved may, within thirty 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 article, 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 City Council shall immediately terminate all efforts to obtain voluntary compliance.
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)
(a) In conducting an investigation the Chief Executive Officer 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 that the Chief Executive Officer first complies with the provisions of the Fourth Amendment relating to unreasonable searches and seizures, the Chief Executive Officer 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 Chief Executive Officer may administer oaths.
(b) Upon written application to the Chief Executive Officer, a respondent shall he entitled to the issuance of reasonable number of subpoenas by and in the name of the Chief Executive Officer to the same extent and subject to the same limitations as subpoenas issued by the Chief Executive Officer 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 Chief Executive Officer 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 the service of a subpoena upon any person, such person may petition the Chief Executive Officer to revoke or modify the subpoena. The Chief Executive Officer 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 on contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena, the Chief Executive Officer or other person at whose request it was issued may petition for its enforcement in the Municipal or 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 Chief Executive Officer shall he fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or hath. Any person who with intent thereby to mislead the Chief Executive Officer, shall make or cause to he made any false entry or statement of fact in any report, account, record, or other document submitted to the Chief Executive Officer 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 documentary evidence, shall he 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 Chief Executive Officer participates as a party o as amicus pursuant to this article.
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)
(a) The rights granted by Sections 5-303:306 may be enforced by civil actions in State or local courts of general jurisdiction. A civil action shall he commenced with one hundred 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 Section 5-310(d) from time to time before bringing it to trial if the court believes that the conciliation efforts of the Chief Executive Officer are likely to result in satisfactory settlement of the discriminatory housing practice complained of in the complaint made to the Chief Executive Officer 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 article, and involving a bona fide purchaser, encumbrancer, or tenant without actual notice of the existence of the filing of a complaint or civil action under the provisions of this article 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. 167; Code 2018)
It shall he unlawful to coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with any person in the exercise or enjoyment of, or on account of his having exercised or enjoyed, or on account of his having aided or encouraged any other person in the exercise or enjoyment of, any right granted or protected by Sections 5-303:306. This Section may be enforced by appropriate civil action.
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)
Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, by force or threat of force willfully injures, intimidates or interferes with, or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with:
(a) any person because of his race, color religion or national origin and because he is or has been selling, purchasing, renting, financing, occupying, or contracting or negotiating for the sale, purchase, rental; financing or occupation of any dwelling; or applying for or participating in any service, organization, or facility relating to the business of selling or renting dwellings; or
(b) any person because he is or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from;
(1) participating, without discrimination on account of race, color, religion or national origin, in any of the activities, services, organizations or facilities described in subsection (a); or
(2) affording another person or class of persons opportunity or protection so to participate; or
(c) any citizen because he is or has been, or in order to discourage such citizen or any other citizen from 1awfully aiding or encouraging other persons to participate, without discriminati6n on account of race, color, religion or national origin, in any of the activities, services, organizations or facilities described in subsection (a), or participating lawfully in speech or peaceful assembly opposing any denial of the opportunity to so participate: shall he fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results shall he fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than ten (10) years, or both and if death results shall be subject to imprisonment for any terms of years or for life.
(Ord. 167; Code 2018)