DISCRIMINATION

Many discriminatory practices in the rental of housing are illegal. Based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin. Federal, State and City laws prohibit the following discriminatory practices:

• Refusing to sell, rent, sublease or negotiate for, or otherwise refusing to make housing available.

• Discrimination in the terms, or privileges of a transaction (e.g. by charging higher rent).

• Representing that housing isn’t available for purchase or rental when it is available.

• Advertising that there is an intention to discriminate.

There are exceptions to these rules. The principle one allows owner-occupants (owners who live in the same building as the tenants) to discriminate. This exemption does not hold for state law. If the building has no more than 4 units, Columbia law and Federal law also exempt owner-occupants from the above. But if such discriminatory practices are based on race, they are also prohibited by the 1966 Civil Rights Act.

If you think you have been discriminated against in the sale or rental of housing, you have 30 days to file a complaint with the Columbia Human Rights Commission. You can do this by filing your complaint in the City Counselor’s Office, or by contacting a commission member through the office. You can obtain help in filling out the complaint form there and learn about other actions you can take.

You may also take your complaint to Magistrate or Circuit Court, or file it with the Missouri Human Rights Commission. You must do this within 180 days of the alleged discrimination.

Under the Fair Housing Act, you can take your problem to the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), or file it in Federal District Court. You have one year from the date of occurrence to file the complaint.

If the discrimination is based on disability, call the Missouri Protection and Advocacy Service at 1-800-392-8667 or TDD 1-800-537-8099.

If you have a discrimination complaint, BCT recommends you file it with all three agencies, Federal, State, and City. And do it as soon possible, before the property in question is sold or rented. You can file a compliant in court, but you will need stronger evidence for a court than you would for the other methods.

City Counselors 
874-7223

City Human Rights Commission 
 874-7223

State Human Rights Commission      
1-800-877-6247 or 314-751-3325

State HUD Regional Office (KC, KS)
913-236-3960

State HUD Field Office (STL)        
314-539-6322

National HUD Office (Wash, DC)
1-800-424-8590

Fair Housing Office                
703-962-1323

For help in referral to fair housing for the disabled call 874-1646.

If the discrimination is based on race, there is another remedy: the 1966 Civil Rights Act. This act allows a person to file a discrimination complaint in Federal Court. According to a HUD pamphlet, a Supreme Court case states that the act bans “all racial discrimination, private as well as public, in the sale or rental of property.

REFERENCES:

- Title VIII, Civil Rights Act of 1968, as amended, Sections 803, 804.
- Revised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 213.
- Columbia City Ordinances, Article VI, Section 7.2050
- Fair Housing USA, HUD Pamphlet HUD-63-ED(7), September 1975.