[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 660 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 660

  To amend the Fair Housing Act to modify the exemption from certain 
  familial status discrimination prohibitions granted to housing for 
                             older persons.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 24, 1995

 Mr. Shaw (for himself, Mr. Bono, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Goss, Mr. Lewis of 
  California, Mr. Canady of Florida, Mr. Gallegly, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. 
    Emerson, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Miller of 
 Florida, and Mrs. Schroeder) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Fair Housing Act to modify the exemption from certain 
  familial status discrimination prohibitions granted to housing for 
                             older persons.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Housing for Older Persons Act of 
1995''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF HOUSING FOR OLDER PERSONS.

    Subparagraph (C) of section 807(b)(2) of the Fair Housing Act (42 
U.S.C. 3607(b)(2)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(C) that meets the following requirements:
                    ``(i) The housing is in a facility or community 
                intended and operated for the occupancy of at least 80 
                percent of the occupied units by at least one person 55 
                years of age or older.
                    ``(ii) The housing facility or community publishes 
                and adheres to policies and procedures that demonstrate 
                the intent required under clause (i), whether or not 
                such policies and procedures are set forth in the 
                governing documents of such facility or community.
                    ``(iii) The housing facility or community complies 
                with rules made by the Secretary for the verification 
                of occupancy. Such rules shall allow for that 
                verification by reliable surveys and affidavits and 
                shall include examples of the types of polices and 
                procedures relevant to a determination of compliance 
                with the requirement of clause (ii). Such surveys and 
                affidavits shall be admissible in administrative and 
                judicial proceedings for the purposes of such 
                verification.''.

SEC. 3. GOOD FAITH ATTEMPT AT COMPLIANCE DEFENSE AGAINST CIVIL MONEY 
              DAMAGES.

    Section 807(b) of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3607(b)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(5) An individual who engages in conduct with a reasonable good 
faith reliance on the existence of the exemption of this subsection 
relating to housing for older persons is not personally liable for 
money damages for a violation of this Act that such an exemption would 
have vitiated. For the purposes of this paragraph, a person engaged in 
the business of residential real estate transactions is presumed to 
have such a good faith reliance if that person has no actual knowledge 
that the facility or community is not or will not be eligible for such 
exemption and the facility or community gives such person a written 
certification stating the compliance of the facility or community with 
the requirements for such exemption.''.
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