August 24, 2011

This Spring and Summer, Nick and the team at the Portland Housing Bureau (PHB) worked with a broad range of stakeholders to create Portland’s first-ever Fair Housing Action Plan, which  will come to Council for approval in September.

Our Plan includes bold steps to address housing discrimination. We've gotten very positive feedback from many partners both locally and nationally, including the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD.)

One source of information that informed the Plan was an audit test conducted for the City by the Fair Housing Council of Oregon (FHCO.) Over the past few months, we reviewed the test’s results. Unfortunately, we came to the conclusion that the audit results were unreliable.

Yesterday, the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) released its own analysis of the audit, confirming our concerns.

We are very disappointed in the performance of FHCO on this test. However, problems with the audit will not take away from our efforts to combat discrimination.

We will continue to move forward with the Fair Housing Action Plan and take concrete steps to remove barriers to housing choice in our community.

An Unreliable Housing Audit - Brent Walth in Willamette Week

Update on state's rejection of fair housing complaint - Joanne Zuhl in Street Roots

Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry finds flaws in Portland fair housing audit - Nikole Hannah-Jones in the Oregonian

Portland's Fair Housing Action Plan

Director Van Vliet's letter to Fair Housing Council of Oregon