Summer Promise of Opportunity🏡🏢🏠🗻🏫🚤

Director's Update

Just a little more than two months removed from the 50th anniversary of the passing of the federal Fair Housing Act, we still are basking in the wake of a month of thought-provoking and engaging events.

We held events from Medford to Portland and many points between that recognized the history of housing discrimination and segregation, the community-driven efforts to combat those acts, and the continuing impacts and efforts in communities throughout the state.

In southern Oregon a panel of experts and community members detailed the history of intense racial discrimination, including the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Similarly, a panel of researchers in Portland outlined the history of racial segregation in the city and historic efforts to fight against that discrimination. This racial discrimination led to widespread housing segregation in the mid-20th century that the Fair Housing Act intended to end.

Other stories of communities finding ways to make homes in the face of that discrimination and segregation was the subject of another panel that our partners at the Oregon Historical Society organized in Portland during April.

Fair Housing Month events also reached out to children and their families with story time readings of books with fair housing themes in Eugene, Corvallis, Tigard, and Portland.

Cities and counties also recognized this landmark anniversary with proclamations and presentations in Corvallis, Portland, and Washington, Multnomah, and Clackamas counties.

The main event of our 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act was an evening in Portland with Richard Rothstein, author of “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America.”

In addition to the 300-plus people who heard Rothstein’s presentation about his research into the many ways segregation had been perpetuated and even created by past government policies, two other smaller groups had the opportunity to inform their efforts with Rothstein’s work.

A group of local housing policy advocates and activists from several community groups met with Rothstein to discuss how recognizing this history of segregation might inform today's efforts to create equitable housing policies. Similarly, a group of elected officials and staff members from entities that included the state of Oregon, Metro, Multnomah County, and the cities of, Portland, Gresham, Beaverton, and Milwaukie also had the opportunity to explore how Rothstein’s research might transform their housing policy development processes as government entities.

The events statewide highlighted for us how far we have come since the April 11, 1968 passage of the Fair Housing Act and its intent to end rampant racial discrimination and segregation in housing – and also how far we still have to go to achieve the open, integrated and inclusive communities that the fair housing movement’s originators, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., envisioned.

This celebration wouldn’t be complete without recognizing the highly professional and tireless efforts of our entire FHCO staff, whose dedication to the movement and committed expertise is the engine that drives us forward every month of every year.

Likewise, the contributions of our numerous partners, especially the Oregon Historical Society, not only helped lift us up to new levels, but also helped us spread our message far and wide.

To further help us spread that message statewide, we could not have undertaken these events without the generous support of our Fair Housing Month presenting sponsors – including Kaiser Permanente, Multnomah County, Portland Housing Bureau, Princeton Property Management, and RMLS.

And of course, this commemoration would not have been a such a resounding success without the interest of hundreds of you from across the state. In addition to engaging in events during Fair Housing Month in April, record numbers of you also signed up to continue following our work through this newsletter. So welcome to all of you! As you undoubtedly realized during the events of this momentous Fair Housing month, there is plenty of work and ample room for all in the fair housing movement as we face the next 50 years and beyond.

Oregon, like the rest of the country, has experienced this spike in hateful attacks on individuals because of their race, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. Statistics of reported incidents are only an indicator of this growing problem as only a fraction of these acts are ever reported. There has also been a simultaneous rise in the number of active hate groups. There are now 11 such groups operating in Oregon.

FHCO is committed to actively opposing hate through our outreach, education and enforcement work. We are working collaboratively with other organizations to improve the reporting and tracking of hate and bias crimes, provide assistance to victims, and educate communities on how best to respond to and prevent acts of hateful harassment. FHCO is an active member of Portland United Against Hate, a partnership of community based organizations, neighborhood associations and the City of Portland. The coalition is developing a rapid response system that combines tracking hateful acts and providing support and protection to impacted communities. FHCO is also a member of the statewide Coalition Against Hate Crimes, composed of civil rights groups and government organizations, which has been providing resources to victims, carrying out community education, and organizing community responses to acts of hate for more than 20 years.

“Harassment, threats and intimidation” in housing based on protected class violate the federal Fair Housing Act (Section 818). This includes acts carried out by housing providers, their staff and vendors, and also by neighbors. All housing providers, including landlords, managers of manufactured/mobile home parks and home owner association (HOA) boards have the legal responsibility to intervene and address harassment based on protected class when both parties live in their communities. In 2016, HUD issued a ruling reiterating the prohibition on harassment and clarifying the liability for housing providers who neglect to intervene.

FHCO’s discrimination hotline has experienced an increase in complaints of hateful harassment based on protected class. These include verbal attacks, written hateful messages, swastikas, graffiti, and harassment through social media. A few examples include a property manager using racial slurs against Hispanic and African American tenants; residents in a senior property taunting a resident with a traumatic brain injury and purposely trying to hit her service dog, and residents of a mobile park shouting homophobic slurs at their lesbian neighbors and leaving dog feces on their front porch.

In Oregon, landlord tenant law provides generally for the “right of peaceful enjoyment of housing”. Issues of harassment may arise in communities over noise, parking, animal waste and disputes between residents’ children. Addressing disputes between residents can be a challenge for housing providers who may opt for mediation, warnings, fines (in HOAs) or notices to terminate tenancy (for rentals).

When harassment between residents is based on protected class, it becomes a fair housing issue and potentially a violation of the Fair Housing Act. If a resident is being harassed based on their protected class by another resident in the community and reports it to their housing provider, the provider must act immediately to investigate and take whatever action is needed to end the problem. There have been cases against providers who knew of persistent hateful harassment and took no action; damages have been as high as $550,000.

Different responses may be utilized in different situations. In one example, a property manager in a building where a resident hung up swastika curtains notified all residents they were required to use the blinds that came with their units. HOAs may utilize fines and other consequences. Landlords may follow warnings with notices of termination. There are times when it is necessary to involve law enforcement. After taking action to remedy the problem, providers are required to follow up with the victim of the harassment to ensure the problem has ended.

FHCO recommends housing providers have a clear policy against resident on resident harassment. The policy instructs residents to notify the provider if they experience harassment based on protected class and explains that such harassment will not be tolerated on the property. FHCO has developed a sample policy that has been adopted by many providers in Oregon.

Beyond legal requirements, now is a time for all of us to explore what we would do if someone near us experiences hateful harassment, threats or intimidation. What if a neighbor or the person sitting behind us on the bus or the student at the next desk is harassed because she is Latinx or trans or wears a hijab? This is something to think through in advance-when and how we would intervene and offer support. One strategy that may yield results is to engage the person being harassed in conversation on a random subject, ignoring the harasser, and then escort the person to a safe place. Clearly, we all need to be aware of our own safety and there may be times when the best strategy is to contact law enforcement.

If you encounter a violent hate crime, report it to 911. Non-criminal harassment should be reported to local law enforcement, the non-emergency number. Police keep track of these incidents and they could be evidence if hate crimes that were committed by the same individual or group.

Director's Update

Please watch or listen to Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law, discuss de jure segregation, and thoughts on how to repair the past that holds us back from racial equity in housing.