WHEREAS, the month of April has been designated as Fair Housing Month by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity; and

WHEREAS, the Fair Housing Act enacted on April 11, 1968 prohibits discriminatory housing practices; and

WHEREAS, the Fair Housing Act ensures all individuals regardless of sex, race, color, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, marital status, lawful source of income, age, ancestry, familial status or domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking victims, receive equitable treatment in the pursuit of their housing choices; and

WHEREAS, in addition to federal Fair Housing laws, Oregon civil rights statutes and Portland city code state it is unlawful to discriminate based on marital status, sexual orientation, source of income (including housing assistance), military status, gender identity, or history of domestic violence, stalking or sexual assault; and

WHEREAS, members of protected classes are increasingly and disproportionately more vulnerable to displacement, poor quality housing, and barriers to opportunity due to rising housing costs, and

WHEREAS, the impacts of barriers to housing negatively impact household social, economic and personal health; and

WHEREAS, solutions to creating and protecting housing choice require all programs of government to affirmatively address the removal of barriers to housing choice; and

WHEREAS, the Fair Housing Act as enhanced by Executive Order 12892, as amended, requires federal agencies to affirmatively further fair housing and access to opportunity in their programs and activities; and

WHEREAS, the City of Portland, as a recipient of Federal Funding, extends the obligation to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing and access to opportunity to all bureaus, their partners, programs, activities and funding; and

WHEREAS, April 11, 2018 marks the 50^th anniversary of the signing of Title VIII of the federal Civil Rights Act (the Federal Fair Housing Act) of 1968, and the 30^th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act Amendments of 1988.

Now, therefore, I, Ted Wheeler, Mayor of the City of Portland, Oregon, the “City of Roses,” do herby proclaim April 2018 to be

Fair Housing Month

in Portland, and encourage all residents to observe this month by joining the effort to promote fair housing for all.