Amending Chapter 2 South Bend Municipal Code

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AL k 1 f A SUBSTITUTE ORDINANCE NO. if 7 7- °k AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND AMENDING CHAPTER 2 OF THE SOUTH BEND MUNICIPAL CODE STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND INTENT Both Congress and the Indiana General Assembly have enacted comprehensive legislation prohibiting housing discrimination based on handicap and familial status, among other bases. This legislation is. known as the Fair Housing Act. Although the present South Bend Human Rights Ordinance prohibits handicapped discrimination in housing, it does not include familial status based discrimination, nor does it include the full range of prohibited acts of discrimination in housing. This ordinance, as amended, will define the terms "handicapped" and "familial status" by adopting the Federal and State law definitions, and will specifically designate acts and conduct which constitute discrimination in housing. The proposed amendments seek to conform the South Bend Human Rights Ordinance to the content of the Federal and State housing legislation, thereby providing rights and remedies substantially equivalent to those granted under State and Federal law. This ordinance, as amended, also seeks to enlarge compensatory damages in employment discrimination cases to include non-pecuniary losses such as emotional pain, suffering and inconvenience, consistent with the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The following bill is in the best interest of the citizens of the City of South Bend, Indiana. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CI'T'Y OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, as follows: Section I . Chapter 2, Article 9, Section 2-127 of the Municipal Code of the City of South Bend, Indiana, is hereby amended to read as follows: (a) It is the public policy of the City of South Bend to provide all of its citizens equal opportunity for education, employment, access to public conveniences and accommodations, and acquisition through purchase or rental of real property, including but not limited to housing, and to eliminate segregation or separation based solely on race, religion, color, sex, handicap, national origin or ancestry, and familial status in housing, since such segregation is an impediment to equal epperttiiiies-aid opportunity. Equal education and employment opportunities and equal access to and use of public accommodations and equal opportunity for acquisition of real property including but not limited to housing are hereby declared to be civil rights. (b) The practice of denying these rights to properly qualified persons by reason of the race, religion, color, sex, handicap, national origin or ancestry, or familial status in the case of housing is contrary to the principles of freedom ..„.3 4-71r,i 4-17 >na n 1"111YP1dmT 1-htm