Monitoring Local Ordinances on Anti-Children Rental Practices

摘要

This report guides California localities considering legislation to protect housing rights for families with children. It analyzes the content and effectiveness of existing local legislation and suggests remedies for recognizable problems. It reviews eight anti - child - discrimination rental ordinances and identifies differences in their provisions. Their treatment of occupancy standards is a major loophole by which families with children are discriminated against. The ordinances prescribe criminal misdemeanors or infractions in addition to civil remedies. Identifying the appropriate enforcement agency in the text of the ordinance is a good reminder that an enforcement commitment is being made. The text reports successful cases of rental child - discrimination, which used a variety of settlement techniques, including self - enforcement, private attorneys in both legal actions and informal mediation, government enforcement, and dispute avoidance through education. Tenants' reluctance to pursue their cases against discriminatory landlords, presumably for financial reasons, is frequent. The ordinances provide the best protection for families with children who currently have a rental unit, for persons who rent their units prior to having children, for families being denied services available to other tenants, and for families looking for units in areas where a normal or high vacancy rate exists. Public reaction to the ordinances, particularly in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, was mixed. Although discriminatory advertising disappeared after the enactment of the ordinances, child - related discrimination complaints continued and landlord harassment of unwanted tenants increased. Footnotes and tables are given. A draft model ordinance is appended, as are the six existing ordinances and official press releases.