Kenosha, WI Fair Housing

Type: Ordinance
Status: Adopted in 2006
Source File: http://www.kenosha.org/departments/court/ordinances/chapter22.pdf
Text: 
CHAPTER XXII
FAIR HOUSING
22.01 DECLARATION OF POLICY
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the City of Kenosha pursuant to the Constitution of the United States and the State of Wisconsin, and also its power to protect the public health, safety and general welfare, that all persons regardless of sex, race, color, physical condition, disability, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, marital status of the person
maintaining a household, family status, lawful source
of income, age or ancestry, are entitled to fair and
equal access to housing; and to that end, the City of
Kenosha hereby enacts the following Ordinance
which prohibits any person from discriminating
against any other person by impairing access to any
housing on the basis of sex, race, color, physical
condition, disability, sexual orientation, religion,
national origin, marital status of the person
maintaining a household, family status, lawful source
of income, age or ancestry.
22.02 DEFINITIONS
In this Section, unless the context requires
otherwise:
A. "City Attorney" means the City Attorney of
the City of Kenosha, and any Assistant City Attorney
of the City of Kenosha acting on his or her behalf.
B. "Commission" means the Kenosha
Commission of Human Relations.
C. “Disability" means a physical or mental
impairment that substantially limits one or more major
life activities, a record of having such an impairment
or being regarded as having such an impairment.
"Disability" does not include the current illegal use of
a controlled substance, as defined in §161.01(4),
Wisconsin Statutes, unless the individual is
participating in a supervised drug rehabilitation
program.
D. "Discriminate" and "discrimination" means
to segregate, separate, exclude, or treat any person
or class of persons unequally because of sex, race,
color, physical condition, disability, sexual orientation,
religion, national origin, marital status of the person
maintaining a household, lawful source of income,
family status, age or ancestry; and, for a person
engaged in the business of accepting mortgages on
real estate or insuring against hazards, because of
the atmospheric, economic, ethnic, racial or social
characteristics of the neighborhood in which housing
is located. It is intended that the factors set forth
herein shall be the sole basis for prohibiting
discrimination.
E. "Family Status" means any of the following
purchase housing or to a member or prospective
:1. A person is pregnant.
:2. A person is in the process of securing sole or joint legal custody, periods of physical placement or visitation rights of a minor child.
:3. A person’s household includes one or more minor or adult relatives.
:4. A person’s household includes one or more adults or minor children in his or her legal custody or physical placement or with whom he or she has visitation rights.
:5. A person’s household includes one or more adults or minor children placed in his or her care under a court order, under a guardianship or with the written permission of a parent or other person having legal custody of the adult or minor child.
F. "Housing" means any improved property,
including any mobile home park, which is used or
occupied, or is arranged, intended or designed to be
used or occupied, as a home or residence.
G. "Person" means any individual, partnership,
labor or other association, corporation, legal
representative, receiver, trustee manager, employee
or any other agent of any such person.
H. "Private Nonprofit Corporation" means a
corporation chartered under Chapter 181, Wisconsin
Statutes, and recognized as tax exempt under
Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Act of
1954, as amended.
I. "Sexual Orientation" means having a
preference for heterosexuality, homosexuality or
bisexuality, having a history of such a preference or
being identified with such a preference.
J. "Unimproved Residential Lot" means any
residential lot upon which no permanent building or
structure containing living quarters has been
constructed.
22.03 PROHIBITED ACTS
A. It is a prohibited act for any person to
discriminate:
:1. By refusing to sell, lease, finance or construct housing or by refusing to discuss the terms thereof.
:2. By refusing to permit inspection or exacting different or more stringent price, terms or conditions for the sale, lease, financing or rental of housing. development of housing designed specifically for
:3. By refusing to finance or sell an unimproved residential lot or to construct a home or residence upon such a lot.
:4. By publishing, circulating, issuing or displaying, or causing to be published, circulated, issued or displayed, any communication, notice, advertisement or sign in connection with the sale, financing, lease or rental of housing, which states or indicates any discrimination in housing.
:5. For a person in the business of insuring against hazards, by refusing to enter into, or by exacting different terms, conditions or privileges with respect to a contract of insurance against hazards to a dwelling.
:6. By refusing to renew a lease, causing the eviction of a tenant from rental housing or engaging in the harassment of a tenant.
B. It is a prohibited act for any person to induce
or attempt to induce any other person to sell, rent or
lease any dwelling by representatives regarding the
present or prospective entry into the neighborhood of
a person or persons of a particular race, color,
religion, national origin or economic status or by
representatives to the effect that such present or
prospective entry will or may result in:
:1. The lowering of real estate values in the area concerned;
:2. A deterioration in the character of the area concerned;
:3. An increase in criminal or antisocial behavior in the area concerned; or,
:4. A decline in the quality of the schools or other public facilities serving the area.
C. No person may coerce, intimidate, threaten or
interfere with any person in the exercise or enjoyment
of any right granted or protected by this Section, or
with any person who has aided or encouraged
another person in the exercise or enjoyment of any
right granted or protected by this Section.
22.04 ACTS NOT PROHIBITED
A. Nothing in this Chapter shall prohibit
discrimination on the basis of age in relation to
housing designed to meet the needs of elderly
individuals.
B. Nothing in this Chapter shall prohibit a person
from exacting different or more stringent terms or
conditions for financing housing based on the age of
the individual applicant for financing if the terms or
conditions are reasonably related to the individual
applicant.
C. Nothing in the Chapter shall prohibit the
persons with a handicap and discrimination on the
basis of handicap in relation to such housing.
D. Nothing in this Section shall be deemed to
prohibit an owner, or his or her agent, from requiring
that any person who seeks to buy, rent or lease
housing supply information concerning his or her
family, marital, financial and business status, but not
concerning race, color or creed. It shall not be
discrimination based on family status to act as
otherwise prohibited in Section 22.03 A.1., 4., or 6.
if the number of individuals under eighteen (18) years
of age equals or exceeds the number of bedrooms in
the unit.
22.05 ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT
Any person who claims to have been injured by
a discriminatory housing practice or who believes that
he/she will be irrevocably injured by a discriminatory
housing practice that is about to occur (hereinafter
"person aggrieved"), may file a complaint with the
Department of Neighborhood Services and
Inspections (hereinafter "Department"). Upon receipt
of such a complaint, the Department shall conduct an
investigation of the complaint. The Department may
request assistance in its investigation of any private
nonprofit corporation maintaining an office within
Southeastern Wisconsin which has staff trained to
supervise such an investigation.
If the Department finds reason to believe that a
discriminatory practice has occurred or is about to
occur, it shall attempt through conciliation or
persuasion, to obtain compliance with this Chapter. If
all such attempts at conciliation or persuasion fail, the
Department shall notify the City Attorney of its
findings. If probable cause is found, the City Attorney
shall then issue a complaint if, in his/her judgment, an
action of discrimination is sustainable in court.
The City Attorney shall file with the Human
Relations Commission a semi-annual report of all
complaints and dispositions processed by the City
Attorney’s Office.
22.06 PENALTIES
(See §432 (2) in Statutes and Chapter 188,
Laws of 1979)
A. Any person who willfully violates this Section
shall, for the first such violation, forfeit not less than
$100.00, nor more than $1000.00. In default of such
payment, the violator shall be imprisoned in the
County Jail for not less than five (5) days, nor more
than thirty (30) days.
B. Any person adjudged to have violated this Section within five (5) years after having been
adjudged to have violated this Section, for every
violation committed within the five (5) years, shall
forfeit not less than $1000.00, nor more than
$10,000.00. In default of such payment, the violator
shall be imprisoned in the County Jail for not less
than thirty (30) days, nor more than one (1) year.
C. Payment of any forfeiture under this
Ordinance shall be stayed during pendency of any
appeal.
22.07 SEVERABILITY
The provisions of this Ordinance are severable.
If any provision of this Ordinance is invalid, or if the
application to any person or circumstance is invalid,
such invalidity shall not affect the other provisions of
this Ordinance which can be given effect without the
invalid provisions and/or application.
22.08 TITLE
This Ordinance shall be known as the Kenosha
Fair Housing Ordinance.
Category:City Governments
Category:Fair Housing
Category:Ordinances
Category:Wisconsin