title
Proposed Revisions to Chapter 8 Titled "Discrimination" of the City Code of Ordinances (B)
Ordinance No. 190814
An ordinance of the City of Gainesville, Florida, amending Chapter 8 of the Code of Ordinances, relating to discrimination by revising definitions; by renaming the Equal Opportunity Office; by eliminating redundant code language; by revising the definition of disability and adding new classes protected against discrimination for purposes of Fair Housing; providing directions to the codifier; providing a severability clause; providing a repealing clause; and providing an immediate effective date.
recommendation
The City Commission adopt the proposed ordinance.
explanation
One of the recommendations of the Rental Housing Subcommittee was updates to the Fair Housing Code to include new protected classes of gender identity, citizenship status, and lawful source of income. On July 25, 2019, the General Policy Committee voted to direct staff to draft revisions to the Code and present the same to the Commission for discussion. In addition, the Office of Equal Opportunity requested a revision to rename the office the Office of Equity and Inclusion.
On November 7, 2019, a draft of the revised ordinance was presented to the Commission and the Commission requested to add language tracking the Alachua County Ordinance in regards to prohibited citizenship status discrimination.
On February 20, 2020, Staff presented the revised ordinance on first reading. At the first reading, the Commission requested additional changes, adding veteran status and victim of domestic violence, dating violence and stalking as protected classes for purposes of fair housing, and modifying the definition of disability to replace language from the Code of Federal Regulations (29 CFR 1630.3(d)) with language from the Alachua County Code of Ordinances.
Because of the number of requested revisions and revisions to the title, this ordinance was re-advertised for a fir...
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