[quote author="Nude" date=1255770467][quote author="bkshopr" date=1255769517][quote author="Minimorty" date=1255768405]I am not saying at all that people who live in Irvine are <em>better</em> than people living in other areas. All I am saying is that Irvine housing costs X. If you cannot afford X to live in Irvine, then that is too bad. I dont think we have an obligation to provide housing for lower income families.</blockquote>
The Democrats see this as discrimination by using price.</blockquote>
Fixed that for you</blockquote>
You know, that might be humorous if it were actually true. From the relevant portions <a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=gov&group=12001-13000&file=12955-12956.2">Government Code section 12955</a>, California's housing discrimination law (emphasis added):
<blockquote>It shall be unlawful:
(a) For the owner of any housing accommodation to discriminate
against or harass any person because of the <strong>race, color, religion,
sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry,
familial status, source of income, or disability</strong> of that person.
(b) For the owner of any housing accommodation to make or to cause
to be made any written or oral inquiry concerning the <strong>race, color,
religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin,
ancestry, familial status, or disability</strong> of any person seeking to
purchase, rent or lease any housing accommodation.
(c) For any person to make, print, or publish, or cause to be
made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement,
with respect to the sale or rental of a housing accommodation that
indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on
<strong>race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status,
national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, or
disability</strong> or an intention to make that preference, limitation, or
discrimination.
(d) For any person subject to the provisions of Section 51 of the
Civil Code, as that section applies to housing accommodations, to
discriminate against any person on the basis of <strong>sex, sexual
orientation, color, race, religion, ancestry, national origin,
familial status, marital status, disability, source of income, or on
any other basis prohibited by that section</strong>.
(e) For any person, bank, mortgage company or other financial
institution that provides financial assistance for the purchase,
organization, or construction of any housing accommodation to
discriminate against any person or group of persons because of the
<strong>race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status,
national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, or
disability</strong> in the terms, conditions, or privileges relating to the
obtaining or use of that financial assistance.
. . .
(h) For any person, for profit, to induce any person to sell or
rent any dwelling by representations regarding the entry or
prospective entry into the neighborhood of a person or persons of a
particular <strong>race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital
status, ancestry, disability, source of income, familial status, or
national origin.</strong>
(i) For any person or other organization or entity whose business
involves real estate-related transactions to discriminate against any
person in making available a transaction, or in the terms and
conditions of a transaction, because of <strong>race, color, religion, sex,
sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, source
of income, familial status, or disability.</strong>
(j) To deny a person access to, or membership or participation in,
a multiple listing service, real estate brokerage organization, or
other service because of <strong>race, color, religion, sex, sexual
orientation, marital status, ancestry, disability, familial status,
source of income, or national origin.</strong>
(k) To otherwise make unavailable or deny a dwelling based on
discrimination because of <strong>race, color, religion, sex, sexual
orientation, familial status, source of income, disability, or
national origin.</strong>
(l) To discriminate through public or private land use practices,
decisions, and authorizations because of <strong>race, color, religion, sex,
sexual orientation, familial status, marital status, disability,
national origin, source of income, or ancestry.</strong> Discrimination
includes, but is not limited to, restrictive covenants, zoning laws,
denials of use permits, and other actions authorized under the
Planning and Zoning Law (Title 7 (commencing with Section 65000)),
that make housing opportunities unavailable.
Discrimination under this subdivision also includes the existence
of a restrictive covenant, regardless of whether accompanied by a
statement that the restrictive covenant is repealed or void. This
paragraph shall become operative on January 1, 2001.
(m) As used in this section, "race, color, religion, sex, sexual
orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial
status, source of income, or disability" includes a perception that
the person has any of those characteristics or that the person is
associated with a person who has, or is perceived to have, any of
those characteristics.
To use a financial or income standard in the rental of housing
that fails to account for the aggregate income of persons residing
together or proposing to reside together on the same basis as the
aggregate income of married persons residing together or proposing to
reside together.
(o) In instances where there is a government rent subsidy, to use
a financial or income standard in assessing eligibility for the
rental of housing that is not based on the portion of the rent to be
paid by the tenant.
(p) (1) For the purposes of this section, "source of income" means
lawful, verifiable income paid directly to a tenant or paid to a
representative of a tenant. For the purposes of this section, a
landlord is not considered a representative of a tenant.
(2) For the purposes of this section, it shall not constitute
discrimination based on source of income to make a written or oral
inquiry concerning the level or source of income.
</blockquote>
I would also point you to <em>Harris v. Capital Growth Investors</em> (1991) 52 Cal.3d 1142, where the California Supreme Court found that that the Unruh Act (this is the Civil Code section 51 referred to above) does not prohibit all forms of arbitrary discrimination. The Court found that a landlord's policy of rejecting rental applicants who did not have income equal to three times the rent was not arbitrary discrimination prohibited by the Act. Further, the Court held, among other things, that:
1) <strong>Arbitrary discrimination based on a person's income or economic status
is not prohibited by the Act;</strong> and
2) <strong>Even if arbitrary economic discrimination was prohibited by the Act,
the landlord's policy to refuse to rent to applicants who did not have
income of at least three times the rent is a reasonable rather than an
arbitrary business practice and, therefore, not prohibited by the Act.</strong>
There are plenty of <u>true</u> things that one can criticize the government and Democrats about that I don't think we need to misrepresent the law to do so.
