Landlord association brought action against city, a home rule municipality and city of the second class, for injunctive relief and declaratory judgment that city lacked authority to enact ordinance generally prohibiting denial of access to housing based on a tenant’s source of income.
City filed motion for judgment on the pleadings, and association filed motion for summary judgment. The Court of Common Pleas denied city’s motion, granted association’s motion, and declared ordinance invalid and unenforceable under Home Rule Law. City appealed. The Commonwealth Court affirmed. Supreme Court granted city’s petition for allowance of appeal, vacated order of Commonwealth Court, and remanded for reconsideration with instructions. On remand the Commonwealth Court affirmed.
The Supreme Court held that:
- General police powers provision of Second Class City Code (SCCC) did not expressly authorize home rule municipality to enact ordinance prohibiting residential landlords from discriminating against tenants based on source of income, and
- Provision of Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) authorizing municipalities to establish their own human relations commissions to combat discriminatory practices did not explicitly authorize home rule municipality to enact ordinance prohibiting residential landlords from discriminating based on tenants’ source of income.