For the purpose of this article, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein unless the context otherwise indicates:

(a)   Financial Institution - means any bank, building and loan association, insurance company or other person, firm or enterprise, whose business consists in whole or in part in the lending of money or making or guaranteeing of loans on housing accommodations or real property;

(b)   Housing Accommodations - means any building or portion thereof whether such building or portion is constructed or is to be constructed, which is used or intended for use as the residence or sleeping place of one or more persons; (Exceptions: See Section 5-803: Applicability.)

(c)   Owner - means and includes the person, lessee, sublessee, assignee, manager, agent, or other person, firm or corporation, having the right to sell, rent or lease any housing accommodation or real property within the corporate limits of the city;

(d)   Person - includes one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, organizations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, fiduciaries, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations;

(e)   Real Estate Broker - means any person who, for a fee or other valuable consideration sells, purchases, exchanges, rents, negotiates, offers or attempts to negotiate the sale, purchase, exchange or rental of housing accommodations of real property of another person;

(f)   Real Estate Salesman or Agent - means any person employed by a real estate broker to perform, or to assist in the performance of any or all of the functions of a real estate broker;

(g)   Real Property - includes all real estate, leaseholds, all vacant or unimproved land offered for sale or rent, and any building or structure which is occupied or designed or intended thereof which is occupied or designed or intended for occupancy; (Exceptions: See Section 4-903: Applicability.)

(h)   Rent - means to lease, to sublease, to let and otherwise to grant for a consideration the right to occupy premises not owned by the occupant;

(i)    Unlawful Discriminatory Housing Practice - means any discrimination or segregation or separation in housing against any person or group of persons because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and shall include only those unlawful practices and acts as set forth below.

(Ord. 3334, Sec. 2; Code 2010, 4-601; Code 2018)

It shall be a discriminatory practice and unlawful:

(a)   For the owner, real estate broker, real estate salesman or employee, or agent thereof, or any person, having the right, responsibility or authority to sell, rent, lease, assign or sublease any dwelling unit, commercial unit or real property or any part or portion thereof or interest therein:

(1)   When in fact it is so available, to refuse to offer for sale, rental, lease, assignment or sublease, or to refuse to sell, rent, lease, assign, or sublease after the making of a bona fide offer, to fail to transmit a bona fide offer or refuse to negotiate in good faith for the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable, withhold, or deny, real property or any part or portion thereof to or from any person because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin;

(2)   To discriminate against any person because of his or her race, color, religion, sex or national origin in the terms, conditions, or privileges of the sale, rental, lease, assignment, or sublease of any housing accommodations or real property or part or portion thereof or in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith, or to require a higher sale price or rental or otherwise impose terms more burdensome upon any person because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin which would not be required of other persons;

(3)   To print, publish, circulate, issue, display, post or mail, or cause to be printed, published, circulated, issued, displayed, posted or mailed, any statement, advertisement, publication or sign, or to use any form of application for the purchase, rental, lease, assignment, or sublease of any housing accommodations or real property or part or portion thereof or to make any record or inquiry in connection with the prospective purchase, rental, lease, assignment, sublease of any housing accommodations or real property or part or portion thereof which expresses, directly or indirectly, any preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination as to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin or any intent to make any such limitation, specification or discrimination;

(4)   To directly or indirectly solicit the sale, lease or the listing for sale or lease of housing accommodations or real property on the ground of imminent or prospective entry into the neighborhood of a person or persons of a particular race, color, religion, sex or national origin or use such fact or suspicion as a sales or listing inducement or stimulant, or to distribute or cause to be distributed material or make statements designed to induce a property owner to sell or lease his property due to such fact, suspicion or imminent change in neighborhood, or to induce or attempt to induce such sale by representing that the presence or anticipated presence of persons of any particular race, color, religion, sex or national origin in the area will or may result in:

(A)  the lowering of property values;

(B)  a change in the racial, religious or ethnic composition of the block, neighborhood or area in which the property is located;

(C)  an increase in criminal or antisocial behavior in the area;

(D)  a decline in the quality of the schools serving the area.

(5)   To deny any person access to, or membership in, 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 housing or to discriminate against him or her in the terms or conditions of such access, membership, or participation because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin;

(6)   To include in any sale, rental, lease, assignment or sublease of any dwelling unit or real property or any part or portion thereof or interest therein, as a condition of the transaction that the purchaser, renter, tenant, occupant or assignee agree not to sell, rent, lease, assign or sublease the dwelling unit, commercial unit or real property or part or portion thereof or interest therein to any person, because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin of such person.

(b)   For any person, engaged in lending money, guaranteeing loans, accepting mortgages or otherwise making available finds for the purchase, acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair or maintenance of any dwelling unit, commercial unit or real property or any part or portion thereof or interest therein:

(1)   To discriminate because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin of any person applying for loans or guarantees or mortgages, in lending money, guaranteeing loans, accepting mortgages or otherwise making available funds for the purchase, acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair or maintenance of any dwelling unit, commercial unit or real property or any part or portion thereof or interest therein, or in the fixing of the rates, terms, conditions or provisions of any such financial assistance or in the extension of services in connection therewith;

(2)   To use any form of application for such financial assistance or to make any record or inquiry in connection with applications for such financial assistance which expresses directly or indirectly any limitation, specification or discrimination as to race, color, religion, sex or national origin or any intent to make any such limitation, specification or discrimination;

(3)   To make any representations to any prospective seller, real estate broker, salesman, agent, owner, or to any financial institution for the purpose of obtaining facts or evidence of a discriminatory practice when such representations are not made for a bona fide purchase, rental or lease of real property; provided, however, this section shall not apply to any person employed by the city or the state whose duty it is to assist in the prosecution of violations of civil rights relating to open housing.

(c)   For any person to engage in any form of threats or reprisal, or to engage in, or hire, or conspire with others to commit acts or activities of any nature, the purpose of which is to harass, degrade, embarrass, or to cause physical harm or economic loss to any person because such person complies with the provisions of this article or has opposed any practice forbidden under this article, or has filed a complaint, testified or assisted in any proceeding under this article.

(d)   For any person to aid, abet, incite, compel, coerce, cooperate or participate in the doing of any act declared to be a discriminatory practice under the provisions of this article, or to obstruct or prevent compliance with the provisions of this article, or to attempt directly or indirectly to commit any act declared by this article to be a discriminatory practice.

(e)   To discriminate against any person in his or her use or occupancy of real property because of the race, color, religion, sex or national origin of the people with whom such person associates.

(Ord. 3334, Sec. 3; Code 2010, 4-602; Code 2018)

The provisions of this article shall not apply to the following:

(a)   The sale, rental, assignment, lease or sublease of a one family dwelling owned by an individual in which that individual or a member of his immediate family resides, and the dwelling is offered for sale, rental, assignment, lease or sublease, without the use of a real estate broker or real estate salesman or agent;

(b)   A rental or leasing of a dwelling unit in a building which contains housing accommodations for not more than two families living independently of each other if the owner resides in such dwelling unit;

(c)   A rental or leasing to less than five persons living in a dwelling unit by the owner if the owner resides therein;

(d)   Nothing in this act 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 real property which it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose to persons of the same religion, or from giving preference to such persons. Nor shall anything in this article prohibit a non-profit private club in fact not 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. 3334, Sec. 4; Code 2010, 4-603; Code 2018)

(a)   Any person claiming to have been subjected to any discriminatory practice as defined by this article may file a complaint by appearing before the city attorney of the city and furnishing such information as the city attorney may require. Any complaint filed pursuant to this section must be filed with the city attorney within 60 days of the date of the alleged incident.

(b)   Every complaint of a violation of this article shall be referred to the city attorney of the city. The city attorney shall forthwith notify the person against whom the complaint is made. The identity of the aggrieved person shall be made known to the person against whom the complaint is made at that time. If the city attorney, after his or her investigation and the investigation, if any, conducted by authorized employees of the city, finds that there is no merit to the complaint, the same shall be dismissed. If the city attorney finds that there is merit to the complaint, in his or her opinion, then and in that event, the city attorney will endeavor to eliminate the alleged discriminatory practice by conference and conciliation

(c)   If the city attorney is unable to eliminate the alleged discriminatory practice by a conference and conciliation, then and in that event, the city attorney shall make the final determination of whether or not to prosecute on the complaint. Failure to prosecute the complaint shall not constitute an act of discrimination as defined herein.

(Ord. 3334, Sec. 5; Code 2010, 4-604; Code 2018)

(a)   Any person convicted of a violation of this article shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500.00, or by confinement in the city jail for not more than 30 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(b)   The city attorney, instead of filing a complaint in municipal court of the city, may, as an alternative remedy, seek to have the alleged discriminatory practices abated by an action for an injunction to be maintained in the appropriate district court of the State of Kansas.

(Ord. 3334, Sec. 6; Code 2010, 4-605; Code 2018)

The provisions of this article are severable and if any provision, sentence, clause, section or part thereof is held illegal, invalid or unconstitutional or inapplicable to any person or circumstance, such illegality, invalidity, unconstitutionality, or inapplicability shall not affect or impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses, sections, or parts of this article or their application to other persons or circumstances. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the governing body that this article would have been adopted if such illegal, invalid or unconstitutional provision, sentence, clause, section, or part had not been included therein, and if the person or circumstances to which the ordinance or any part thereof is inapplicable had been specifically exempted therefrom.

(Ord. 3334, Sec. 7; Code 2010, 4-606; Code 2018)