HomeMy WebLinkAbout3542f.~ ~.. ~tribution:
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Bremerton,Sun~
ORDINANCE NO.~ ~ ~ Affirmative Action Officer/
AN ORDINANCE amending Ordinance No. 2801; and defining
and prohibiting unfair housing practices in the sale and offering for
sale, in the rental and offering for rent and in the financing of
housing accommodations; defining offenses; and prescribing penalties.
THE CITY OF BREMERTON DOES ORDAIN:
Section 1. Declaration of Policy.
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the
City of Bremerton in the exercise of its police power for the
public safety, public health, and general welfare, for the maintenance
of business and good government and for the promotion of the city's
trade, commerce and manufacturers to assure equal opportunity to all
persons to live in decent housing facilities regardless of race, color,
sex, religion, ancestry or national origin, and to that end to prohibit
discrimination in housing by any person, including real estate brokers,
real estate salesmen and agents, owners of real property and lending
institutions, to forward the cause of brotherhood, and to secure a
reduction of all tensions and discriminations because of race, color,
sex, religion or national origin.
Section 2. Definitions·
Definitions as used in this ordinance, unless
additional meaning clearly appears from the context, shall have the
meanings subscribed:
(1) "Housing Accommodations" shall include any dwelling, or
dwelling unit, rooming unit, rooming houSe, lot or parcel of land
in the City of Bremerton which is used, intended to be used, or
arranged or designed to be used as, or improved with a residential
structure for one or more human beings.
(2) "Dwelling" includes any building containing one or more
dwelling units.
(3) "Dwelling Unit" includes a suite of rooms for occupanc~
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by one family containing space for living, sleeping, and prepara-
tion of food, and containing toilet and bathing facilities.
(4) "Rooming Unit" includes one or more rooms within.
a dwelling unit or rooming house containing space for living and
sleeping.
(5) "Person" includes one or more individuals, partner-
ships, or other organizations, trade or professional associations,
corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy
and receivers.
(6) "Owners" include persons who own, lease, sublease,
rent, operate, manage, have charge of, control, or have the right
of ownership, possession, management, charge, or control of the
housing accommodation, on their own behalf or on behalf of another.
(7) "Occupant" includes any person who has established
residence or has the right to occupancy in a housing accomodation.
(8) "Prospective Occupant" includes any person who seeks
to purchase, lease, sublease or rent a housing accommodation.
(9) "Real Estate Broker" includes any person who for a
fee, commission, or other valuable consideration, lists for sale,
sells, purchases, exchanges, leases or subleases, rents, or
negotiates or offers or attempts to negotiate the sale, purchase,
exchange, lease, sublease or rental of a housing accommodation of
another, or holds himself out as engaged in the business of selling,
purchasing, exchanging, listing, leasing, subleasing, or renting
a housing accommodation of another, or collects the rental for the
use of a housing accommodation of another.
(10) "Real Estate Agent, Salesman, or Employee" includes
any person employed by or associated with a real estate broker to
perform or assist in the performance of any or all of the functions
of a real estate broker.
(11) "Lender" includes any bank, insurance company,
savings or building and loan association, credit union, trust company,
mortgage company, or other person engaged wholly or partly in the
business of lending money for the financing or acquisition, construc-
tion, repair, or maintenance of a housing accommodation.
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(12) "Prospective Borrower" includes any person who
seeks to borrow money to finance the acquisition, construction,
repair, or maintenance of a housing accommodation.
(13) "Unfair Housing Practice" means any act prohibited
by this ordinance.
Section 3. Unfair Housing Practices as hereinafter
defined in the sale and offering for sale and in the rental and
offering for rent of housing accommodations are contrary to the
public peace, health, safety and general welfare and are hereby
prohibited by the City of Bremerton in the exercise of its police
power.
Section 4. Unfair Housing Practices Forbidden
(1) No owner, lessee, sublessee, assignee, real estate
broker, real estate salesman, managing~agent of, or other person
having the right to sell, rent, lease, sublease, assign, transfer,
or otherwise dispose of a housing accommodation shall refuse to
sell, rent, lease, sublease, assign, transfer, or otherwise deny to,
or withhold from any person or group of persons such housing accom-
modations, or segregate the use thereof, or represent that such
housing accommodations are not available for inspection, when in
fact they are so available, or expel or evict an occupant from a
housing accommodation because of the race, color, sex, religion,
ancestry or national origin, of such person or persons, or discrimin-
ate against or segregate any person because of his race, color,
sex, religion, andestry or national origin, in the terms, conditions,
or privileges of the sale, rental, lease, sublease, assignment,
transfer or other disposition of any such housing accommodations or
in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith.
(2) A real estate broker, agent, salesman, or employee
shall not, because of race, color, sex, religion, ancestry, or
national origin of an occupant, purchaser, prospective occupant, or
prospective purchaser:
(a) Refuse or intentionally fail to list or discriminate
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in listing a housing accommodation for sale, rent, lease or
sublease.
(b) Refuse or intentionally fail to show to a prospective
occupant the housing accommodation listed for sale, rental, lease
or sublease.
(c) Refuse or intentionally fail to accept and/or trans-
mit to an owner any reasonable offer to purchase, lease, rent or
sublease a housing accommodation.
(d) ~therwise discriminate against an occupant, prospec-
tive occupant, purchaser, or prospective purchaser of a housing
accommodation. /
(3) No person, bank, banking organization, mortgage
company, insurance company, or other financial institution or lender,
or any agent or employee thereof, to whom application is made for
financial assistance for the purchase, lease, acquisition,
construction, rehabilitation, repair, or maintenance of any
housing accommodation shall:
(a) Discriminate against any person or group of persons
because of race, color, sex, religion, ancestry, or national origin of
such person or group of persons or of the prospective occupants or
tennants of such real property in the granting, withholding, extending,
modifying, or renewing, or in the rated, terms, conditions, or pri-
vileges of, any such financial assistance or in the extension of ser-
vices in connection therewith; or
(b) Use any form of application for such financial assis-
tance, or make any record in inquiry in connection with applicgtion
for such financial assistance which expresses, directly or indirectly,
any limitation, specification, or discrimination, on the ground of
race, color, sex, religion, ancestry, or national origin.
(4) An owner, person, real estate broker, agent, salesman,
employee, or lender shall not:
(a) Publish, circulate, issue, or display, or cause to be
Published, circulated, issued, or displayed, any communication, notice,
advertisement, or sign of any kind relating to the sale, rental, lease,
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- sublease, assignment, transfer, or listing of a housing accomo-
dation or accommodations which indicate any limitation, speci-
fication, or discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion,
ancestry, or national origin.
(b) Aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of
any act defined in this ordinance as an unfair housing practice;
or obstruct or discriminate against a person in any manner because
he has complied or proposes to comply with the provisions of this
ordinance or has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any
proceeding under this ordinance, or any other issued thereunder,
or attempt, either directly or indirectly, to commit any act de-
fined in this ordinance to be an unfair housing practice or apply
any economic sanctions or deny any membership privileges because
of compliance with the provisions of this ordinace.
Section 7. Exclusions. Nothing in this ordinance shall:
(1) Apply to the renting, subrenting, leasing or sub-
leasing of single family dwellings, wherein the owners or persons
entitled to possession thereof normally maintain, or intend to
maintain, their residences, homes or abodes.
(2) Be interpreted to prohibit any person from making a
choice from among prospective purchasers or tenants of property on
the basis of factors Other than race, color, sex, religion, ancestry or
national origin.
Section 8. Penalty.
Upon conviction of violation of this ordinance,
the guilty party, or parties, shall be subject to a fine of not more
than Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00).
APPROVED on first reading this ~-9~a day of-~n~, ~-9~.
PASSED AND APPROVED by the City Council of the City of
Bremerton, signed by the Mayor, attested by the City Clerk in authen-
tication of such passage this 4~%4~ day of ~, ~.
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ATTEST: GLENN K. JARSTAD, MayOr
City~ Clerk, -5-