Housing discrimination: applications.

Existing law generally prohibits housing discrimination with respect to various personal characteristics including source of income. Existing law defines "source of income" for these purposes as lawful, verifiable income paid directly to a tenant or paid to a representative of a tenant, which does not include a landlord. This bill would amend the definition of "source of income" to also include specified federal, state, or local housing assistance or subsidies paid either to the tenant or directly to the landlord on behalf of the tenant. Existing law permits a person who holds an ownership interest of record in property that he or she believes is the subject of an unlawfully restrictive covenant based on, among other things, source of income, to record a Restrictive Covenant Modification, which is to include a copy of the original document with the illegal language stricken. Before recording the modification document, existing law requires the county recorder to submit the modification document and the original document to the county counsel who is required to determine whether the original document contains an unlawful restriction. This bill, by revising the definition of source of income, would increase the requirements on a county counsel to determine if there exists an unlawfully restrictive covenant based on source of income, as described above. By creating new duties for county counsels, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.