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 Baytown
 Code of Ordinances
 Chapter 46. HUMAN RELATIONS
 Article II. FAIR HOUSING

  § 46-34. Complaints.  

Latest version.

  • (a)

    Any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice or who believes that he will be irrevocably injured by a discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur (referred to in this section as "person aggrieved") may file a complaint with the administrator. Such complaint shall be in writing and shall identify the person alleged to have committed or alleged to be about to commit the discriminatory housing practice and shall set forth the particulars thereof. The administrator is directed to prepare and adopt from time to time standard complaint forms and to furnish them without charge to any person aggrieved.

    (b)

    The administrator shall receive and accept notification and referral of complaints from the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to Title VIII, Fair Housing Act of 1968, PL 90-284, as well as from the Texas Commission on Human Rights pursuant to V.T.C.A., Property Code § 301.068, and shall treat such complaints in the same manner as complaints filed directly by the person aggrieved.

    (c)

    The administrator shall notify the commission of all complaints received and the commission will review and convene a time for discussion of the allegations.

    (d)

    If at any time the administrator or the commission shall receive or discover credible evidence and shall have probable cause to believe that any person has committed a discriminatory housing practice as to which no complaint has been filed or is about to be filed, the administrator may prepare and file a complaint upon his own motion and in his own name or in the name of the commission, and such complaint shall thereafter be treated in the same manner as a complaint filed by a person aggrieved.

    (e)

    Upon the filing or referral of any complaint, the administrator, on behalf of the commission, shall furnish a copy of the complaint to the person named in the complaint.

    (f)

    A complaint under subsections (a) and (d) of this section shall be filed within 180 days after the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurred. Complaints shall be in writing and state the facts upon which the allegations of a discriminatory housing practice are based. Complaints may be reasonably and fairly amended at any time. A respondent may file a written answer to the complaint against him/her. Both complaints and answers shall be signed under oath.

( Ord. No. 13,226 , § 2, 7-14-16)