(A) To receive and investigate complaints of, and to forthwith transmit by ordinary mail for filing with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (“MCAD”) a copy of said complaints filed with the Commission, and to initiate its own investigation of:
(1) The denial of equal access to, and discrimination in housing (regardless of the public or private source of such denial and discrimination), where such denial or discrimination against either an individual or a group is based on race, color, religious creed, marital status, handicap, military status, children, national origin, sex, gender identity or expression, age, ancestry, sexual preference or source of income; and
(2) The presence in the city of prejudice, intolerance, bigotry, discrimination in the area of housing.