By Mr. Tarr, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate,
No. 778) of Bruce E. Tarr for legislation to improve the
quality of life in public housing. Housing. |
By Mr. Tarr, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate,
No. 778) of Bruce E. Tarr for legislation to improve the
quality of life in public housing. Housing. |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 32 of Chapter 121B is hereby amended by striking clause (e) in the third paragraph and inserting in its place the following clause:
“(e) There shall be no discrimination or segregation; provided, that if the number of qualified applicants for dwelling accommodations exceed the dwelling units available, preference shall be given to inhabitants of the city or town in which the project is located, and to the families who occupied the dwellings eliminated by demolition, condemnation and effective closing as part of the project as far as is reasonably practicable without segregation or discrimination against persons living in other substandard areas within the same city or town; provided further, that an authority shall, to the fullest extent logistically possible, attempt to place new tenants who smoke in apartments in close proximity to existing tenants who smoke, and place new tenants who do not smoke in apartments in close proximity to existing tenants who do not smoke; and provided further, that this clause shall not be interpreted to allow an authority to move an existing tenant to another apartment on the basis of the tenant’s status as a smoker or non-smoker. For all purposes of this chapter no person shall, because of race, color, creed, religion, blindness or physical handicap, be subjected to any discrimination or segregation. No inhabitant of the city or town or no person employed in the city or town in which the project is located shall be refused eligibility to a waiting list or occupancy based solely upon the grounds of a residency prerequisite.
