GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2009

S                                                                                                                                                    D

SENATE DRS55232-LM-90  (03/11)

Short Title:        Affordable Housing/No Discrimination.		(Public)
Sponsors:	Senator McKissick.
Referred to:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT providing that it is a violation of the state's fair housing act to discriminate in land-use decisions or the permitting of developments based on the fact that a development contains affordable housing units.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 41A‑4 is amended by adding a new subsection to read as follows:

"(f) It is an unlawful discriminatory housing practice to discriminate in land-use decisions or in the permitting of development based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicapping condition, familial status, or, except as otherwise provided by law, the fact that a development or proposed development contains affordable housing units for families or individuals with incomes below eighty percent (80%) of area median income."

SECTION 2.  G.S. 41A‑5(a) reads as rewritten:

"(a)       It is a violation of this Chapter if:

(1)        A person by his act or failure to act intends to discriminate against a person. A person intends to discriminate if, in committing an unlawful discriminatory housing practice described in G.S. 41A‑4 he was motivated in full, or in any part at all, by race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicapping condition, or familial status.familial status, or, in the case of land-use decisions or in the permitting of development, he was motivated in full, or in any part at all, by the fact that a development or proposed development contains affordable housing units for families or individuals with incomes below eighty percent (80%) of area median income. An intent to discriminate may be established by direct or circumstantial evidence; or

(2)        A person's act or failure to act has the effect, regardless of intent, of discriminating, as set forth in G.S. 41A‑4, against a person of a particular race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicapping condition, or familial status.familial status or, in the case of land-use decisions or in the permitting of development, he was motivated in full, or in any part at all, by the fact that a development or proposed development contains affordable housing units for families or individuals with incomes below eighty percent (80%) of area median income.  However, it is not a violation of this Chapter if a person whose action or inaction has an unintended discriminatory effect, proves that his action or inaction was motivated and justified by business necessity."

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.