15:08:21 .

With that being said, I will go

ahead and begin recording

15:08:30 .

15:08:34

Thank you, Ryan.

Also saying welcome,

15:08:37

everyone, to the August meeting

of the fair housing

15:08:39 advocacy

meeting.

My name is in this casey

 

15:08:43

15:08:46 Nicky

Gillespie.

We will

15:08:49 begin by doing roll

call.

When your

15:08:52 name is called, unmute

and indicate you are

15:08:55 present.

We'll start with Ashley Miller.

>> Present

15:08:59 .

>> Rachel Nehse.

>>

15:09:02 Present

15:09:05 .

>> Lauren.

15:09:10

Taylor Smiley.

>> Present

15:09:13 .

>> Ada

15:09:20 .

Allen Laz

15:09:23 o.

>> Present.

>> Barbara, if you can

15:09:26 indicate

your presence again

15:09:29 .

15:09:39

I can't hear you, Barbara, but I

heard you earlier.

15:09:41

I'll mark you as present.

>> This is Barbara.

 

15:09:43 I'm here.

Thank you.

Sorry.

 

15:09:46 >> No worries.

Becky Stra

15:09:50 us.

>> Here

15:09:53 .

>> [INDISCERNIBLE]

>> Present.

 

15:09:56 >> Ellen

15:10:05 .

Pauline Stevens

15:10:09 .

Camilla

15:10:15 Tai.

Maura Romero.

15:10:19

>> Here.

15:10:22

>> Marissa Espinoza.

>> Present

15:10:26 .

>> Maura Warren

15:10:31 .

And lastly

15:10:34 , May Chop

15:10:38 .

Thank you.

We did have enough committee

15:10:42

members here to meet quorum, so

the meeting is officially

15:10:45 called

to order.

Ryan

15:10:48 has our agenda up here on

the screen.

I should also have received

15:10:51 a

copy of it yesterday via email.

15:10:54

I am just going to do a quick

review of the agenda before we

 

15:10:57 get started.

We do have a few updates and

15:11:00

housekeeping items that I will

begin with followed by two

 

15:11:03 different presentations.

And there should be time for any

questions

15:11:07 and discussion

15:11:10 that is

built into the time slot for

each presentation.

 

15:11:13 For any members of the community

that are in attendance, thank

you for

15:11:16 joining us today.

We do have a public comment

period

15:11:19 that's scheduled at

had 15:00 p.m.

We look forward to hearing

15:11:23 from

you at that time.

After public comment

15:11:26 , Matthew

Ts

15:11:29 chabold is going to

give us a brief update

15:11:32 on fair

housing planning before moving

forward.

 

15:11:36 Before launching into the agenda

items, Matthew and the bureau

would like to do a quick

15:11:38

introduction of our newest

manager to the committee

 

15:11:41 members.

I will pass that off to Matthew

15:11:45 .

>> Thank you, Niki.

15:11:48

Good afternoon, members

15:11:52 of FHAC.

I am pleased to

15:11:55 introduce our

new rental services manager

PWRAOE on decker

15:11:59

Brionn

15:12:02 e Decker.

She has been with us since

15:12:04 the

spring but we haven't had a

meeting.

 

15:12:07 She comes to us from Louisiana.

She has experience in affordable

housing

15:12:11 , landlord tenant and

fair housing.

And so I'm going to

15:12:14 pass it over

to Br

15:12:17 eonne to

introduce herself, but we're

very

15:12:21 fortunate to have her and

she is -- she's

15:12:24 taking on a lot

in her first six months here on

the job

15:12:27 and we appreciate that

and you'll be engaging with her

as well

15:12:30 as Niki as you

move forward.

With that,

15:12:33 Breonne.

>> Hi,

15:12:37 folks, good afternoon.

I'm really excited to be here.

I

15:12:40 see a lot of familiar faces

and names and some unfamiliar

ones

15:12:43 .

As Matt mentioned, I come to

portland from

15:12:46 New Orleans,

Louisiana, where I did work

around

15:12:49 affordability, community

land trust, disaster and

resiliency

15:12:53 planning, and tenant

rights.

I'm very excited

15:12:56 to be in

Portland.

I

15:12:59 am looking forward to

supporting the extremely

important work of this

15:13:03 advisory

committee.

So thank you so much.

 

15:13:06 I am looking

15:13:09 forward to

learning from all of you.

>> Thank you.

 

15:13:12 And thank you, Matthew, for the

introduction

15:13:16 .

15:13:22

Give me one moment to share my

screen

15:13:26 .

If I can get a few thumbs up to

15:13:28

make sure everybody can see that

slide.

 

15:13:31 Great.

15:13:40

A few housekeeping items.

Two of them revolve around

15:13:43 some

updates from HU

15:13:46 D.

The first I'm going to give just

a real brief overview

15:13:49 of this

and Matthew will come back in

towards the end of our

15:13:52 meeting

and provide more details.

But we did get some updated

15:13:55

guidance from HUD regarding

requirements

15:13:58 around

affirmatively furthering fair

housing.

 

15:14:01 So there is a new interim role

in

15:14:05 the 2021 interim rule is

entitled restoring affirmative

15:14:08 ly

furthering fair housing

definitions and certifications

15:14:12 .

As anticipated, it is moving us

back

15:14:15 to the standards around a

more comprehensive fair housing

15:14:18

planning process.

At this time the

15:14:21 fair housing

planning process is voluntary,

but it did

15:14:25 reinstate in

technical assistance and

15:14:28 support

for jurisdictions that we'd like

to engage

15:14:31 in that work.

Matt will come back and talk to

us about the

15:14:34 impacts and

implications, what that means

for

15:14:37 us and what that means for

this committee.

The

15:14:41 second piece from HUD is

regarding the disparate

15:14:44 a.m.

account rule.

The disparate

15:14:48 impact rule is

also known as the discriminatory

effects

15:14:51 rule and similar to the

FFH housing

15:14:55 rule the ho

administration made some

15:14:57 changes

here.

I know many of you are probably

 

15:15:01 familiar, but for the benefit of

anyone who is not, I'm just

15:15:04

going to give some brief

background.

 

15:15:06 So this rule is what allows

cases of fair housing violations

15:15:10

to be brought forward if a

policy has

15:15:14 discriminatory

effects on a protected class.

 

15:15:17 And it doesn't serve any sort of

substantial

15:15:21 or legitimate

nondiscriminatory interest.

Or if there

15:15:24 is some sort of

other less discriminatory

15:15:27

alternative policy that could be

put in place that hasn't been

15:15:30

enacted.

So 2020 the changes from the

15:15:34

last administration made it

harder to establish that the

 

15:15:37 policy had that discriminatory

effect and it also created

15:15:40

multiple new defense

15:15:43 s that could

be used

15:15:48 against a planning.

HUD is proposing

15:15:51 a return on

this front as well back to the

2013 standard

15:15:55 .

Currently, it is at the end of a

15:15:58

60-day public comment period,

15:16:02

but the indication is that it

will be restored back

15:16:05 to the

Obama era administration

policies

15:16:10 .

Additionally we did

15:16:13 have one

committee member resign since

our last

15:16:17 April meeting, so I

wanted to let you all know that

we do have a

15:16:20 vacancy.

I will be working on outreach

and

15:16:24

recruitment for a new

15:16:26 committee

member.

We will be reaching out to a lot

 

15:16:30 of our community organizations,

including a

15:16:34 large list of police

specific organizations in order

to recruit

15:16:37 for this committee

member, but I want to offer you

all

15:16:40 an opportunity to shoot me

an

15:16:43 email if you feel like there

is a specific organization you

want to

15:16:46 make sure is included.

Do send that to me and

15:16:49 I will

make sure that they're on a

list.

 

15:16:52 If you have a specific contact,

all the better.

15:16:55

Once that outreach plan is

15:16:58

conceded and there is a posting,

I will forward that to all the

15:17:00

committee members as well, so

you'll have a second opportunity

 

15:17:04 to share that with your networks

or ensure that you show it to

15:17:07 a

colleague or someone that would

15:17:10

like to potentially put in an

application.

15:17:13

I'll give you an up date on that

as well at the next meeting

15:17:16 in

terms of how that is going and

where we're at with that

15:17:19

recruitment process, but it is

one vacancy for the community at

15:17:23

large.

And also it's

15:17:27 been just I feel

like kind of a quick -- we're

almost hitting

15:17:30 a year, but with

 

15:17:33 these quarterly

meetings, they seem to be

tipping right by

15:17:37 .

After everybody got appointed,

we had those first

15:17:39 initial few

meetings.

At this point we haven't

 

15:17:42 actually picked a committee

chair or a vice chair.

So

15:17:46 that is something that needs

to be done.

And so I would like

15:17:49 to ask all

of you that may be interested in

fill

15:17:52 ing one of those positions

to shoot me an email and let me

15:17:56

know of your interest and I will

compile a list of interested

15:17:59

committee members that will be

available for

15:18:02 the director's

review and final selection.

 

15:18:06 The committee chair and the vice

chair will help assist bureau

staff

15:18:09 in setting work plans and

agendas as well as managing

15:18:12 and

facilitating the meetings moving

forward

15:18:16 .

So please if you have any

interest whatsoever, send

15:18:19 me an

email and let me know.

I don't want to volunteer anyone

 

15:18:23 on their behalf.

So please let me

15:18:26 know.

Finally, the next meeting that

we

15:18:30 have scheduled is on Tuesday,

October 12th

15:18:33 , 2021.

Please keep an eye on your inbox

and

15:18:36 Ryan will be sending that

event invite as well as

15:18:40 the Zoom

details and information

15:18:44 .

Does

15:18:47 anybody have any questions

on the update

15:18:51 ?

Feel free to unmute

15:18:54 .

15:19:00

Okay.

I will just move us on along

15:19:03 .

The next item on our agenda is

to

15:19:07 review the first section,

subsection

15:19:10 A of the table of

recommendations from that

15:19:14 2011

analysis of impediments.

15:19:17

Fair housing choice.

So if we kind of reach back to

 

15:19:21 April at our last meeting, I had

put together a table

15:19:24 for you

guys that listed all of the

recommendations

15:19:27 from the

15:19:30 2011

report analysis and I gave you a

brief

15:19:33 overview of, you know,

actions or programs or whatever

15:19:37

whether that recommendation had

any movement on it over the last

 

15:19:40 decade.

It was very high level and kind

of just giving you a yes or

15:19:43 no.

When we were discussing how we

wanted

15:19:47 to move forward and what

type of approach that you guys

would

15:19:50 like to take in terms of

getting more information, and

15:19:53 in

terms of thinking about where

these recommendations

15:19:57 were, I

heard that we wanted to start

back at the

15:20:00 top of that table

and dig in a little bit deeper

15:20:03

and then potentially make

comments, have questions

15:20:06 , or

mark whether we thought

recommendations were still

15:20:10

appropriate or needed

verification

15:20:14 .

I'm going to start with the

first four items that

15:20:17 were in

subsection A.

The first

15:20:20 item was to commit

funding and support to the

education of

15:20:24 fair housing laws.

The second is to commit funding

15:20:27

and support of enforcement of

fair housing laws

15:20:31 .

The third is to conduct audit

testing

15:20:34 to document

discrimination.

And the fourth is

15:20:37 to partner

with housing providers to modify

screening and

15:20:41 credit criteria

such as requiring a social

security

15:20:45 number that have an

inadvertent

15:20:49 impact on protected

classes.

For this presentation I'm

15:20:52 just

going to give you a little bit

more detail for items

15:20:56 one, two,

and four.

Item three regarding audit

15:21:00

testing we'll actually address

at the next

15:21:03 meeting.

The fair housing council of

Oregon, the plan

15:21:06 is that we will

be providing more information

about what audit testing

15:21:09 looks

like and their findings on their

report from testing from this

 

15:21:13 last fiscal year.

So rather than get into that

today

15:21:16 , we already have that

slated for our next meeting

15:21:20 .

So let's start with just kind of

education and

15:21:23 enforcement.

Last time I told you yes, we

have

15:21:26 contracts for that.

15:21:30

So what does that look like?

What types of services are

 

15:21:33 available in the jurisdiction?

Here is, again

15:21:37 , still pretty

high level, but to give you more

15:21:39

understanding and context around

what are those services, what

 

15:21:43 has been implemented, and what

has continued to be supported

since the

15:21:46 2011 recommendations.

We have direct classes that

15:21:49 are

available to tenants and

landlords.

 

15:21:52 These are free of charge.

They

15:21:55 are conducted by community

partners and community-based

15:21:58

organizations.

Some of these,

15:22:01 you know, are

going to cover specific subjects

within

15:22:05 landlord tenant law in a

more

15:22:08 general sense, but all of

them are going to have fair

housing elements

15:22:11 and general

fair housing education available

in them as

15:22:15 well.

We have

15:22:18 call in services.

Some of these call lines

15:22:20 are

just generally available for

housing providers and for

 

15:22:24 tenants, but they can flag fair

housing issues and make referral

15:22:28

referrals over to intake

services that are fair housing

 

15:22:33 specific.

There are trainings and

educational questions provided

 

15:22:36 to other housing and social

service organizations within the

15:22:40

jurisdiction to ensure that

housing

15:22:43 counselors, housing

providers and those working

within the

15:22:46 housing community

have information on fair housing

law

15:22:50 .

We have workshops, fairs and

events, obviously

15:22:54 , that are

being put on by different

organization that focus

15:22:57 on

elements of fair housing and

have resources related

15:23:00 to fair

housing as well.

Culturally specific supports

15:23:03 and

connections of fair housing

enforcement

15:23:08 .

We have services that are

designed

15:23:11 to provide that

additional layer to folks

15:23:14 that

have a disconnect from dominant

culture to

15:23:18 assist them through

what can be a bit of a tedious

process in a lot

15:23:22 of different

administrative processes around

various organizations.

15:23:25

So having a support person and

culturally specific services

15:23:28 has

been addressed in that narrow

way

15:23:32 .

Beyond

15:23:36 that, there is extended

legal service for community

members that are dealing with

15:23:39

fair housing.

15:23:43

In terms of modifying screening

and credit criteria

15:23:47 , this has

had quite a bit of movement

since

15:23:51 2011 when these

recommendations

15:23:56 .

Committee members are familiar

with what I'm about to talk

 

15:23:59 about, but again, giving high

level overviews of what has

15:24:02

happened in terms of policy

around screening,

15:24:06 credit

criteria for renters.

15:24:09

The earliest change that we saw

in this regard that was a

15:24:12 major

overhaul is within Portland city

code

15:24:16 and it was an ordinance

that adjusted requirements

15:24:17

around application and screening

criteria.

 

15:24:21 This was within the State of

Portland, also KWOEPB

15:24:24 known as

the fair ordinances.

This was one piece

15:24:27 of that

two-piece package of policy

15:24:31 .

There's a lot of pieces and

parts.

 

15:24:34 If you read this code.

But I am just giving a few

15:24:37 of

the points that address most

directly the fair housing

 

15:24:41 concerns that I saw reflected

within the analysis

15:24:45 .

The first is that any post

15:24:48 ing of

a unit available for rent that's

made

15:24:51 to the public needs to

indicate whether that unit is

15:24:54

type A accessible.

And type A accessible means that

 

15:24:58 it's designed and accessible for

15:25:01

wheelchair users.

It mandates a first come first

 

15:25:04 serve policy for most publicly

advertised units

15:25:08 .

But for everyone else, it's the

first come first serve.

 

15:25:11 The caveat being that mobility

disabled

15:25:14 community members are

prioritized for

15:25:17 accessible

units.

A matching process

15:25:21 there.

And again, it's indicated within

the advertise

15:25:24 ment for any rental

unit as well

15:25:27 .

Multiple forms of ID or

combination of ID has

15:25:30 to be

accepted by housing providers in

15:25:33

order to establish identity.

A landlord cannot

15:25:36 reject an

application as incomplete due to

the lack of

15:25:40 a social security

number being provided by an

applicant

15:25:44 .

It created a tenant right to

submit supplemental

15:25:47 evidence to

mitigate negative screening

results

15:25:50 .

So what that means is that an

KHRAPBLT can submit

15:25:54 applicant

can submit a variety of

15:25:56

different types of

recommendation that can provide

 

15:26:00 context or otherwise mitigate

issues that a housing provider

15:26:02

may see while they're doing a

screening.

 

15:26:05 That could be related to their

credit history.

It could be related to criminal

15:26:08

history.

Or it could be related to the

 

15:26:11 rental history.

It

15:26:14 also in terms of criminal

history issues requires THRA

15:26:17 that a housing provider

has

15:26:20 consideration of the

supplemental evidence

that's provided and an

 

15:26:23 individualized assessment before

denial.

All these elements are part

15:26:27 of

Portland city code in

application and screening

15:26:32 .

On the state level, more

recently,

15:26:35 some of that has

actually been mirrored

15:26:39 within

ORS 90.

Senate Bill

15:26:43 291 and ORS 90 and

these changes will go into

effect

15:26:46 January 1st, 2022.

It requires that a

15:26:49 statement of

denial with reasons for denial

are provided to

15:26:52 applicants

within 14 days rather than being

provided

15:26:55 upon request.

Again, statewide.

 

15:26:58 It has limitations on

considering previous arrests

15:27:03 .

Whatever the conduct was that

led to the arrest must present

15:27:06 ly

be legal in Oregon.

And the

15:27:09 housing provider cannot

15:27:13

consider any pending charges.

If

15:27:16 that applicant is

participating in something like

a

15:27:19 diversion program, there is a

conditional discharge or there

is a deferral

15:27:22 program

15:27:25 that they're

working from.

Criminal history issues require

 

15:27:29 a landlord to consider

supplemental evidence and

conduct individualized

15:27:32

assessments.

15:27:35

All these pieces kind of going

back and connecting to that

15:27:38

recommendation from 2011

movement in

15:27:42 the local

jurisdiction as well as

statewide

15:27:45 .

Finally, there are some things

that I felt

15:27:49 were relevant.

Specifically to the credit

criteria

15:27:52 and screening when it

came to COVID.

I expect a

15:27:55 lot of us also know

this.

These aren't

15:27:59 necessarily

long-term system

15:28:02 ic changes that

are happening, but things that

do

15:28:06 mitigate COVID specific

impact

15:28:09 s that tenants may have

experienced.

The

15:28:13 landlord cannot report a

tenanty

15:28:16 not current rate,

charges or fees that were

accrued during

15:28:19 what's considered

to be the emergency period of

COVID-19

15:28:22 .

Those dates are April 1st,

2020, and July

15:28:25 1st, 2021.

None of

15:28:28 that can be reported to

a credit reporting agency

15:28:32 .

The landlord cannot

15:28:36 consider eviction plans

that arose between April 1st

15:28:39 ,

2020, and March 1st, 2022.

That

15:28:43 will be after the period

has finished.

And the landlord cannot

15:28:46 consider

an applicant's unpaid rent,

including rent

15:28:49 reflecting

judgments that accrued during

this time as well

15:28:53 .

Again, COVID specific, but

touching

15:28:57 on that rental history

and that credit history for

applicant

15:29:01 s in regards to fair

housing.

With

15:29:04 that said, does anyone have

any questions

15:29:08 ?

about

15:29:11 those items

presented?

15:29:16

Or comments or general

discussion

15:29:19 ?

>> I have a question

15:29:22 .

I'm not sure if we're going to

get into this right away,

15:29:26 but --

well, thank you, first of all,

for the presentation

15:29:29 .

I think what I am seeing as far

as,

15:29:33 like, the slides that talk

about modifying screening and

credit

15:29:37 criteria, there's so much

in there that's been really I

think

15:29:41 helpful for tenants.

It makes me

15:29:44 wonder about where

our

15:29:49 current fair housing

education and enforcement

includes some of

15:29:52 those changes.

Specifically around the fair

ordinance

15:29:56 .

I just feel like that's kind of

been -- it's too

15:29:59 bad that it

kind of went into effect right

at the beginning of the

15:30:01

pandemic.

Obviously, that's a problem PW-P

 

15:30:05 .

But how do

15:30:08 we adjust that is

what comes to mind for me.

>>

15:30:11 That is part of the

education.

When I was kind of talking about

 

15:30:14 that more general landlord

tenant, those subjects

15:30:17 are

definitely included in the

educational offerings

15:30:21 .

Actually a large focus as well

as more

15:30:24 jurisdictional policies

and relocation assistance and

the

15:30:27 security deposits.

And that would be in

15:30:31 addition to

general fair housing information

about protected

15:30:34 classes, sorts

of income, what to do if you

15:30:37

believe you experienced

15:30:40

discrimination.

That general fair housing

 

15:30:44 information is incorporated in

the classes

15:30:47 .

In terms of looking at fair, it

is often present

15:30:50 presented as

subject specific.

There's a lot of

15:30:54 information

too.

It's not even reflected on that

15:30:56

slide.

It's quite a bit.

 

15:30:59 But those resources are

available additional

15:31:03 ly for folks

in terms of O

15:31:07 8 of, we have the

services hotline for

15:31:10 landlords

and tenants to contact.

We have translated materials

15:31:14

available on our website and

brochures on

15:31:17 application

screening.

I believe it's about a 20-page

15:31:20

booklet that covers everything

and we have it translated into

 

15:31:24 nine other languages.

15:31:36

That said, it's interesting, I

don't know of anything at this

 

15:31:39 point yet that covers those

statewide changes

15:31:43 .

It will be interesting to see

what

15:31:48 is available for folks to

build some awareness

15:31:51 around

that, especially when that's the

coverage that they're

15:31:54 getting in

terms of supplemental evidence

and

15:31:57 individual act assessments.

15:32:01

>> Niki and Marissa,

thanks for that question

15:32:05 .

One of the things I'd say, for

us in the fair housing trainings

15:32:08

we do, much of what's reflected

in the fair

15:32:11 ordinance and in SB

291, especially

15:32:14 around the use

of criminal history and

screening criteria, are elements

15:32:17

that are part of what we

15:32:20 think

are the federal guidelines

around

15:32:24 , for instance, use of

criminal history, you know,

15:32:27

accepting alternative forms of

ID other than social security

 

15:32:30 numbers, so they're not

necessarily specific to those

two ordinances.

 

15:32:33 We think they are both part of

federal

15:32:37 fair housing law and

best practices, so we tend to

train on those

15:32:40 .

We have trainings that we do

specifically around use of

15:32:42

criminal history at that level

also.

 

15:32:45 But we don't train specifically

on the fair ordinance because

there's

15:32:48 also a really high

percentage of that that is

related to

15:32:52 landlord tenant law.

I know that there is a team of

folks at

15:32:55 PHB that are doing fair

ordinance

15:32:58 specific trainings in

the community right now also

15:33:02 .

>> If I can respond to that

15:33:06 ,

thank you Allan.

I guess part of my question

15:33:09 ,

too, is about enforcement as

well, because I know

15:33:12 that that's

one of the hardest things to do,

obviously

15:33:15 .

Providing not even just actual

legal

15:33:18 representation in court,

but just legal advice can be so

15:33:21

difficult.

I'm wondering how does

15:33:24 that

figure into this picture as

well?

 

15:33:27 So for example, I'll just give

an

15:33:30 example, from where I'm at as

a social service

15:33:34 provider that's

connecting folks to existing

housing resources, when

15:33:37 we see a

housing provider that we believe

is

15:33:41 not exempt from fair,

obviously we do our due

diligence

15:33:44 to try to educate them

about that, but we

15:33:47 can't

necessarily be the ones to tell

them hey, you

15:33:50 need to be

providing these materials in

your

15:33:54 application.

You cannot screen in this way,

15:33:56

et cetera.

I'm just kind of wondering,

 

15:33:59 like, to what rate, you know,

services,

15:34:03 rental services office

are utilized in

15:34:06 that vein or

could be expanded, you know

15:34:09 ,

just to ensure that, like, at

the point of

15:34:12 contact we are

seeing that enforcement

15:34:15 happen

when not just

15:34:18 folks

being aware of them but when we

see potential back of compliance

15:34:22

with those rules.

>>

15:34:25 Thank you, Marissa.

I know that is a question

15:34:28 that

comes up a lot

15:34:31 .

I still make note of it and I

think that question of

 

15:34:34 enforcement is a great one.

I also want

15:34:38 to make sure, I know

Mara, you had your hand

15:34:41 up

for a while and after that if we

could let Taylor have a

15:34:45 moment

as well.

15:34:50

>> Thank you.

I was actually just going to

 

15:34:53 touch a little bit on what we've

been talking about

15:34:57 .

I was just going to add that I

15:35:00

appreciate the

15:35:02 Portland Housing

Bureau's training that they do

offer around this.

 

15:35:05 I know there haven't been some

since, like, May or so of this

15:35:07

year.

One of the things I really like

 

15:35:10 about them is that they're

geared towards different

audiences which

15:35:13 I think is

really important.

15:35:16

Geared towards a landlord,

geared towards a case manager,

15:35:19

geared towards a tenant, and

that way we all

15:35:22 kind of

understand, because yeah, you

know, as

15:35:25 a social worker, I walk

a fine line every

15:35:29 day around

legal advice and not giving that

15:35:32

that.

So, you know, if you do fair

 

15:35:35 housing work and you work around

the landlord tenant law, it's

really

15:35:38 hard sometimes to feel

like you can give people good

information about how

15:35:41 to

advocate for themselves without

getting them in

15:35:44 danger, so

again, having that perspective

of

15:35:47 , like, what do you have the

right to do, what can you do,

what should

15:35:50 you say in the

moment.

You know, not just reporting,

 

15:35:54 but also how can we prevent

folks from being denied housing

in the

15:35:57 moment instead of just

reporting on it.

Thanks

15:36:00 for bringing that issue

up

15:36:03 .

>> Thank you, Mara.

Taylor

15:36:08 ?

15:36:11

>> I was struggling to unmute

there.

 

15:36:15 I just wanted to agree with

15:36:18 what

Allan said around the sort of

application

15:36:22 of the federal

guidance around screening

criteria

15:36:26 and criminal background

in particular and just share

that, you know,

15:36:30 when home was

implementing the fair ordinance,

we

15:36:33 used that as an opportunity

to

15:36:37 reduce -- beyond the low

screening criteria and move to

universal

15:36:41 IAs individual

assessments as well, so there's

15:36:44

outside of the two HUD sort

15:36:47 of

permanent bans for folks, folks

always

15:36:50 have an IA performed and

we significantly reduce those

15:36:54 .

I am sure that, because I know

with the application bill

15:36:57 of

Senate Bill 291 it's possible

that landlords may no longer

15:37:00

do -- or may avoid the low

barrier path.

 

15:37:03 Will I'm not sure.

In terms of the lower look

15:37:06 back

period since they have to do the

IA anyway.

15:37:10

I was just curious if the city

or leaders in the city

15:37:13 are

considering revisiting

15:37:16 the fair

ordinance and requiring both the

15:37:19

IA and the lower look back

theory

15:37:23 .

>> I don't have any comment on

that right now

15:37:27 .

But I'll ask,

15:37:30 Taylor, and bring

it back.

Becky

15:37:33 ?

>> On that question, apologies

15:37:36

for kind of -- I'm on two

different screens right now

15:37:40 .

In two different places.

So sorry about

15:37:43 that.

On that topic, we've talked

15:37:47

about whether there's

opportunity to really assess

 

15:37:51 what's going on with fair.

Like, to kind of picking

15:37:54 up on

Taylor's question,

15:37:57 and maybe I'm

not seeing Molly in the room, I

would love

15:38:01 some perspective and

don't have any way of getting it

on what's

15:38:04 happening with

landlords in terms of whether

they're implement

15:38:07 ing a low

barrier option for people or

whether they're

15:38:10 consistently

sticking with their own criteria

and

15:38:13 doing an individualized

assessment.

I think some of

15:38:18 that kind of

context might help figure

15:38:21 out

would we want to advocate that

council

15:38:24 revisit the fair

ordinance or how are we

15:38:27

integrating Senate Bill 291,

kind of all those questions

15:38:31 .

I feel like I'm lacking a lot of

context that I don't

15:38:34 know where

to get those, other than

15:38:37

anecdote from some of our

partners

15:38:41 .

>> Well, I don't know of

anything

15:38:45 formal in regards to

that, Becky, that's been put

15:38:48 out

like any sort of data report

around that.

15:38:51

I do know that it's a question

that

15:38:54 has been asked in terms of

looking at the

15:38:58 impact from fair

and I'm noting it down and I

will

15:39:02 see if I can have something

that's within that realm to

bring back to you

15:39:06 .

The other part

15:39:09 in

terms of integrating Senate Bill

15:39:12

291 couples with Taylor's

question, too, and I'll see

15:39:15 what

I can find out.

>> Thanks

15:39:19 .

15:39:27

Any other questions or comments?

15:39:30

>> This is Mara.

I was just going to respond to

 

15:39:34 that quickly and say I think

fair has been pretty

overshadowed

15:39:37 by COVID and it has

been hard

15:39:40 to -- as just a

housing advocate and a social

worker

15:39:43 in the community, a lot

of it has been helping landlords

understand

15:39:46 this other piece

that's been going on.

When the fair stuff comes up

15:39:49

around the screening, it doesn't

really sound like people have

 

15:39:52 really developed any systems or

organization around it.

But

15:39:56 definitely people have been

receptive and open to changing

policies

15:39:59 based on once they

learn.

15:40:02

But yeah, it's mostly been very

overshadowed by

15:40:05 COVID.

>> I think

15:40:08 that's a great point.

I think even with being at the

15:40:11

market, just speaking

personally, everyone

15:40:15 -- it's

very hard to ESZ what's going on

at all

15:40:18 assess what's going on

right now because of

15:40:21 all the

impacts COVID has had and given

that fair

15:40:24 and COVID were

going -- PHREPT

15:40:28

implementing it at pretty much

the

15:40:31 exact same time of March,

2020, that may be a barrier

15:40:34 to

analysis.

Let's flag that as well.

 

15:40:37 I think that's a great point

15:40:40 .

15:40:44

Okay.

The next item on our

15:40:48 agenda is

an enforcement overview

15:40:51 .

So again, based on the meeting

15:40:55

in April

15:40:58 , the fact that I

received is we would like more

information and

15:41:01 grounding and

what enforcement looks like,

mechanism

15:41:04 s for enforcement, and

from a community member's

15:41:07

perspective what that process

may look like.

 

15:41:10 The fair housing consult of

15:41:13

Oregon has graciously

volunteered to provide a

 

15:41:16 presentation for us and their

expertise.

We have

15:41:20 Kirsten Bloom available.

I know you're a few minutes

15:41:24

early, Kirsten, if you don't

mind me calling on

15:41:27 you.

>> No.

That's great.

 

15:41:30 I'm also joined by our executive

director

15:41:34 Allan Lazo who

15:41:37

will be add something content

here and our testing

15:41:40 accorder

will be joining us too.

Thanks for having us to

15:41:44 speak to

enforcement activity in the

15:41:47 City

of Portland and throughout the

state.

 

15:41:50 We're happy to be able to

provide this context to you all.

Just to

15:41:53 give you some grounding,

I'd love to start by just

sharing a bit

15:41:57 more about the

fair housing council of Oregon.

So

15:42:00 our -- we're a statewide

civil rights organization that

works to

15:42:04 promote justice, equity

and inclusion in housing in

Oregon.

15:42:06

And our mission is to end

housing discrimination

 

15:42:10 throughout the state.

We do that through education and

outreach

15:42:13 , enforcement and public

policy.

So also

15:42:16 to set some framework,

really the laws

15:42:20 in the main

legal scheme that we're working

under

15:42:23 , we're not a law office,

but we

15:42:27 are ensuring enforcement

to the main federal, state, and

15:42:30

local fair housing.

So the main is the fair housing

 

15:42:33 act that was passed in 1968 and

currently in its current state

15:42:37

covers seven protected classes.

So race,

15:42:40 color, national origin,

sex, disability, religion

15:42:43 and

TPAPLial

15:42:47 familial

status.

15:42:50

We have marital status, sexual

orientation

15:42:54 and domestic

violence survivorship.

Those are the main protected

15:42:57

classes we work within.

Our three departments within

15:43:00 the

fair housing council of Oregon,

education and

15:43:03 outreach, provides

trainings to housing providers

and landlords

15:43:07 throughout the

state.

Our public

15:43:11 policy department

monitors fair housing based

issues and helps try

15:43:14 to shed

light on the fair housing laws

15:43:18

and advocate on issues that have

fair housing

15:43:21 implications,

particularly around historical

harm and protected

15:43:26 proof.

Our enforcement group receives

inquiries from

15:43:30 throughout the

state and we respond to those

inquiry

15:43:33 ies in quite a few

different ways.

I'll provide more

15:43:36 context about

that.

So just to give you a sense

15:43:39 ,

too, of how many inKWURy

15:43:42

inquiries we received statewide

15:43:46

in the 2020 to 2021 year, we

received over

15:43:50 1,300 inquiries

throughout the state.

Of those,

15:43:53 174 were bona fide

allegations.

What I mean when I say

15:43:56 bona fide

allegation is that they had fair

housing implications

15:43:59 in that

they had a protected class

15:44:03 at

play as well as an allegation

under the statutory

15:44:06 scheme of

the fair housing laws.

So those

15:44:09 can be things like

misrepresentations of

availability,

15:44:12 applying to an

apartment based on protected

15:44:16

class, neighbor on neighbor

harassment or

15:44:19 discrimination.

So that's what I referred to

when I mean a

15:44:23 bona fide

allegation.

In

15:44:26 the city of PORD

15:44:29

City of Portland we had 269 fair

15:44:32

housing

15:44:35 inquiries

and 52 were bona fide

15:44:39 .

15:44:43

Some of that is attributed to

the education efforts we've

15:44:46 had

ongoing in relationship with

entities like the 73 of

 

15:44:49 Portland to ensure that

education piece and that

15:44:53

landlords know and tenants know

their rights related to fair

 

15:44:56 housing laws.

What we do when we

15:44:59 receive these

in

15:45:03 inquery, we

have an email hotline.

Folks can

15:45:07 always email us.

We also have a phone hotline.

15:45:10

That number is 1-

15:45:13 800-424-3247,

extension

15:45:17 2.

You can find all this on our

website

15:45:21 FHCO.org.

And we receive

15:45:24 referrals so

partner agencies throughout the

state and partner

15:45:27 jurisdictions

from throughout the state who

send us direct

15:45:30 inqueris to

either my email or to

15:45:34 our

information email.

When we receive those, we

 

15:45:37 conduct intakes to determine

whether or not there is a bona

fide allegation at play

15:45:41 related

to fair housing laws.

And then we decide

15:45:44 as an

enforcement team what the best

path

15:45:47 forward is based on what

the tenant

15:45:50 or person reaching

out to us wants to have happen.

 

15:45:53 So our main routes of responding

are both

15:45:57 informal and formal

processes.

Our informal

15:46:00 process includes

writing

15:46:03 advocacy letters to

housing providers and landlords

to inform them of the

15:46:08 fair

housing laws and to their

obligation

15:46:11 s and

expressing concerns of

situations arising where fair

 

15:46:14 housing laws don't seem to be

protected and making asks on

15:46:17

behalf of tenants for things

like reasonable accommodations

15:46:21

or for intervention where there

is neighbor on neighbor harass

15:46:24 ment

based on

15:46:28 protected class.

And then we have more formal

processes too.

15:46:31

Our formal processes include

drafting complaints on

15:46:34 tenants

behalf and we submit those

complaints both

15:46:37 through the

department of housing and urban

development at the federal

15:46:41 level

and to the bureau of labor and

industries of the

15:46:44 statewide

level.

And then at times we also

15:46:47 help

represent folks in those

administrative processes.

15:46:50

We also conduct further

15:46:53

investigations to support those

complaints or

15:46:56 to support legal

action that we sometimes partner

with private

15:46:59 attorneys and we

have an attorney pool made up of

private

15:47:03 attorneys throughout the

state that then we can partner

with on cases

15:47:06 to provide and

hand off the investigations that

we've conducted

15:47:11 .

Let's see.

In that investigation realm

15:47:14 , one

of the things that we do is we

conduct testing

15:47:17 and

Anirban will get into this

in

15:47:21 further detail.

In our testing, what we have the

ability

15:47:24 to do is send in secret

shoppers that then help to

15:47:29

identify if we get an inquiry in

the

15:47:32 application phase of

applying to an apartment think

they were treated different

15:47:35 ly

based on race, we can send in a

white applicant and a black

15:47:38

applicant to see if they receive

the same information and

15:47:41 the

Supreme Court has held that that

evidence can then be

15:47:45 used to

show different

15:47:48 treatment in

court cases.

And

15:47:51 that organizations can have

standing, too, to be able to

15:47:54

bring complaints alongside folks

that have been harmed

15:47:58 or tenants

that have gone through those

experiences

15:48:01 .

As I mentioned, we also private

partnered with --

15:48:05 we partnered

with private attorneys and in

that

15:48:09 context you know, in some

of the more egregious cases, we

will

15:48:12 reach out to our partnering

attorneys and share

15:48:16 the case and

then also kind of make a plan

for moving the

15:48:19 case through

potential litigation.

I can give an

15:48:22 example of a case

that we recently

15:48:25 had filed and

you can find more information

about that complaint online

15:48:29 , but

in the City of Portland area

related

15:48:32 to source of income

15:48:35 and

tenants being refused housing

because

15:48:38 they had a federal

subsidy

15:48:42 for rent assistance

coming through a nonprofit and a

15:48:45

nonprofit that predominantly

serves folks with disabilities

15:48:48

related to HIV.

And so

15:48:51 we found that that

outright denial

15:48:55 of the two-year

secured source of income rent

15:48:58

assistance was a pretty

egregious example of source of

15:49:01

income discrimination as well as

some dissipate rat

15:49:06 some

15:49:09 -- that's an

15:49:12 example of a

case we had come through our

office that seemed there was a

 

15:49:15 lot of evidence around pretty

distinct different treatment

15:49:18 .

We were able to then partner

with private attorneys

15:49:22 .

We also, in collaboration

15:49:25 with

the City of Portland and

multiple other group

15:49:30 s, through

our testing reports that we

15:49:32

partnered with the City of

Portland for, and we'll talk

 

15:49:36 more about and we'll also be

joining you all in I believe

15:49:39 in

October, November, to present

on, the

15:49:42 City of Portland, we

also identified

15:49:45 a couple of

years ago that it seemed like

there was

15:49:48 an underreporting of

cases based on national origin

15:49:52

and race.

15:49:55

What we know is that likely

those incidents are

 

15:49:58 underreported because of

historical harm and mistrust of

reporting those incidents

15:50:02 to

government agencies or to, you

15:50:05

know, semi government funded

agencies like ourselves

15:50:09 .

So in partner with the urban

league of Portland and having

15:50:12

conversations and identifying

that it was likely

 

15:50:15 underreporting of these national

origin and race claims, we came

15:50:18

to the City of Portland and we

received fundings for the

15:50:21

collaborative effort led by the

urban league and in

15:50:25 partnership

with ourselves

15:50:28 fair housing

council, legal aid

15:50:31 to help

create an ability for direct

referrals to come through

15:50:34

culturally specific trusted

partnering agency

15:50:37 ies to our

legal entities to be able to

then work

15:50:42 together to create a

legal plan and to respond to

race

15:50:45 and national origin claims.

15:50:48

Along those lines we've been

able to expand on this

 

15:50:51 collaborative approach where we

meet as a

15:50:55 group every month and

do case management together.

And it's really an

15:51:00 incredible

multi facetted approach to

sharing a

15:51:03 trusted entity and

advocate is with you from an

cultural

15:51:07 ly specific agency while

also partnering with the

15:51:10 legal

entities and being able to

address multiple housing

15:51:13 needs

at once.

So say, for instance, some of

 

15:51:16 the culturally specific agencies

received funding as well for

15:51:19

various types of housing

resources, then we can partner

15:51:23

as a group that our agency can

represent the

15:51:26 legal part and the

culturally specific agency can

also

15:51:29 help kind of navigate

housing needs like finding

housing

15:51:33 or rent assistance.

So that's

15:51:36 another piece of

enforcement effort that's been

really remarkable

15:51:41 .

With that, I will hand it over

to An

15:51:44 irban to speak a

little bit further about our

testing

15:51:48 program and the

importance of testing.

15:51:53

>> Thanks, Kirsten.

Hi, everyone.

 

15:51:56 I am Anirban Pal

15:51:59 .

I am one of the testing and

enforcement coordinator

15:52:04 s.

So I was asked to

15:52:07 talk very

briefly about our fair housing

testing

15:52:11 program, what testing

is,

15:52:14 why we do testing, how do we

do

15:52:17 them, and different types of

testing that we do.

15:52:21

So what is testing?

It's a means

15:52:24 of -- means to

uncover evidence of

discrimination and

15:52:28 housing

context.

It happens

15:52:31 in other context as

well and employment context

15:52:34 .

Other agencies are doing it

15:52:36 .

Academic researchers are doing

it.

 

15:52:39 Now there is a longstanding

15:52:45 test

-- testing has become a very

standardized process

15:52:48 across the

country.

We are part of a network

15:52:51 of fair

housing organizations throughout

the

15:52:55 country that do these kinds

of tests

15:52:58 .

They're essentially

15:53:02 -- our test

is essentially secret shoppers

who

15:53:06 respond to advertisements

for rental housing and

15:53:09 then they report

back to

15:53:12 us the information that

was provided to them by the

housing provider and

15:53:15 we

determine whether there was any

15:53:19

different treatment that was

offered

15:53:23 to testers who are I

dents cal

15:53:26 are identical

15:53:30 in

most attributes except perhaps

their member

15:53:33 ship to a particular

protected class.

Why do we do testing

15:53:36 ?

Well, the nature of

discrimination has changed,

15:53:40 so

we see less of

15:53:43 overt slamming

the door saying

15:53:46 that we don't

rent

15:53:49 to blacks or to people with

15:53:52

disabilities.

We now see more

15:53:56 covert

discrimination.

So it

15:53:59 sometimes becomes hard for

even a person who has been a

15:54:02

victim of discrimination to know

that they were treated different

15:54:06

differently based on a protected

class.

15:54:10

So like Kirsten mentioned in

15:54:15

1982 in a landmark Supreme Court

decision

15:54:19 that approved

15:54:23 fair

housing testing as a legitimate

way

15:54:26 to uncover evidence of

discrimination.

 

15:54:29 So since then, this has become a

15:54:32

very standard practice that many

organizations are doing around

 

15:54:36 the country.

So how do we do them?

We have a pool of trained

15:54:40

testers.

15:54:43

Both here in Portland and we try

to recruit new

15:54:46 testers

throughout

15:54:50 Oregon wherever

we are doing testing.

 

15:54:53 They belong to different

protected classes, so we have

15:54:56

testers from different race,

national o

15:54:59 origin,

15:55:03 foreign

accent, and people of different

religions

15:55:06 .

And we use these testers

depending

15:55:09 on the kind of tests

we are doing

15:55:13 .

We identify properties to test,

either based on

15:55:16 a complaint

15:55:20 that we

have received against a

particular housing provider, or

 

15:55:25 if it's a test which I will talk

about soon.

We

15:55:28 would go through

15:55:32 our

apartment

15:55:35 .com

ads and places where people

generally post

15:55:38 for housing.

We do a vacancy check by calling

them

15:55:42 to see if there is a

vacancy.

We

15:55:45 identify testers and prepare

a script to give to our test

15:55:48 ers

which have a list of questions

that

15:55:51 they need to ask the

housing provider

15:55:54 .

And then the tester contacts

15:55:58 the

housing provider and

reports back to

15:56:03 us and reports

what they were told about the

15:56:06

availability or about attributes

of the

15:56:09 housing.

And then we as test coordinator

15:56:13 s

then gather these reports,

compare these

15:56:16 reports, and

15:56:19

determine if different treatment

has happened and the nature of

 

15:56:22 different treatment and

determine if there is any either

enforce

15:56:25 ment action that needs to

be taken, then

15:56:28 we follow-up with

15:56:32

those or in some cases we

15:56:35

write to the housing provider

alerting that we tested them

15:56:38 and

that the test came positive and

15:56:42

that we might take enforcement

15:56:46

action if they continue to

discriminate people

15:56:49 on the basis

of protected

15:56:52 class.

15:56:58

What are the different types of

testing?

 

15:57:01 We do 95% of rental test but we

also do a limited

15:57:04 number of

tests

15:57:07 for -- in sales.

So housing

15:57:11 sales.

We test real estate agents, both

seller

15:57:15 's agent and buyer's agent

to see

15:57:18 whether they are

discriminating on the basis of

any of the

15:57:21 protected classes.

We

15:57:24 test mortgage lenders,

homeowners insurance, providers

15:57:28 ,

and we used to do design and

construction

15:57:31 tests which

are tests

15:57:34 that are a specialized

kind of test

15:57:37 for disability as a

protected class to go and

15:57:40 take

measurements to see

15:57:45 if new

reconstructed housing unit is

15:57:48

meeting all the standards of

accessibility for a

15:57:53 person in a

wheelchair, for instance.

So those

15:57:56 -- so primarily mostly

rental tests

15:57:59 , but some of those

advanced tests

15:58:03 .

We can also classify the kind

15:58:06 of

tests we do whether they are

complaint-based tests

15:58:10 or audit

tests.

A complaint-based test is

15:58:13 where

we have a complainant who comes

and

15:58:16 reports a case of housing

discrimination and then in the

15:58:19

process of our investigation we

use testing as

15:58:22 a means to gather

more evidence in support

15:58:26 of

either bringing a

15:58:29 case in

partnership with

15:58:33 a private

attorney or to file

15:58:36 an

administrative complaint with

either

15:58:39 the bureau of labor and

industry

15:58:43 .

So -- and the audit tests

15:58:47 are to

generally see

15:58:50 if there are

impediments

15:58:54 that people looking

for housing in a particular

jurisdiction are

15:58:57 facing because

of a protected class

15:59:00 .

So complaint-based test is more

15:59:03

for enforcement purposes whereas

audit testing

15:59:08 is magnifying

patterns of general

impedimentses

15:59:11 iments

15:59:14 pediments,

access to housing based on a

protected

15:59:17 class from a

jurisdiction.

We just completed, as

15:59:20 Kirsten

mentioned, we completed our

2020/

15:59:24 2021 City of Portland

product testing and we are in

the process of finalizing

15:59:28 for

that, so stay tuned and we'll be

presenting

15:59:31 that -- the findings

of that report sometime

15:59:35 in

October or November

15:59:38 .

The

15:59:41 way we can classify these

tests is based on how we do

15:59:44

these tests.

So we can either ask

15:59:47 our testers

to make phone calls

15:59:52 to housing

providers

15:59:55 and interact with them

on the

15:59:58 phone to find what

information is provided.

 

16:00:01 We do those kinds of tests

mostly for a

16:00:05 source of income

test

16:00:09 or national origin tests.

So we would ask a

16:00:13 tester who has

a foreign accent to call a

housing

16:00:17 provider and then see

what was told to that person

16:00:20

versus another tester who

16:00:24 has --

who is a native English speaker,

for instance

16:00:29 .

We also do email tests which we

have

16:00:33 been using a lot in the

past year during

16:00:36 the pandemic.

We are not able to send test

16:00:39 ers

in person, so most of

16:00:43 our tests

are where we send a white and

16:00:46 a

black tester to a

16:00:49 property to do

tests so that it's clear

16:00:52 to the

housing

16:00:55 provider the race of the

person interested in the housing

16:00:57

housing.

We haven't been able to do that

 

16:01:01 during the pandemic.

We don't want to send out

testers

16:01:04 out to do tests when

16:01:07 we

ourselves are not returning to

office yet

16:01:10 .

So we have used email as a way

to do those kinds

16:01:13 of tests where

we have created

16:01:17 email addresses.

So

16:01:20 census bureau publishes a

list of

16:01:24 most common

African-American names

16:01:28 .

First names and last names.

So we have created

16:01:33 fake email --

tester email addresses with

those names

16:01:37 that easily can be

the race of the person

16:01:40 .

We also add

16:01:43 the nature of the

email a code from a

16:01:46 civil rights

leader,

16:01:50 say a code from Malcolm

X

16:01:53 or Martin Luther King, Jr.

And in

16:01:56 some cases we also put

16:01:59 a

photograph of a black person in

the

16:02:02 signature.

So those are the ways by which

we try to

16:02:06 make it explicit that

the person contacting is a black

tester

16:02:11 -- black applicant versus

another applicant who is

16:02:14 a white

applicant.

And

16:02:18 we also do -- usual

circumstances,

16:02:21 we will do

in-person tests

16:02:27 for space tests.

That was all that I had prepared

16:02:29

to talk about.

If any of you have questions, I

 

16:02:33 can take those.

Otherwise, I'll pass it to Allan

for

16:02:36 the next part of the

presentation.

16:02:40

>> I actually do have just two

quick questions

16:02:42 .

>> Sure.

>> The first is I was interested

 

16:02:47 in that split of 95% of testing

16:02:50

being done in the rental

environment versus

16:02:54 5% it sounds

like calling

16:02:57 in from ownership.

Is that just due to the funding

sources

16:03:00 that are available for

testing, or is there another

reason for

16:03:05 that heavy percentage

going towards

16:03:07 rental?

>> Yeah.

It's primarily most

16:03:11 of our

jurisdiction funds that

16:03:14 we get

are for rental tests

16:03:17 , so

Portland Housing Bureau

16:03:24 will

receive a grant to do audit

tests which are rental

16:03:28 tests,

and we also have other

jurisdictional grants that

16:03:32 are

similar rental tests.

The only

16:03:35 grant that we have

currently that

16:03:38 pays for advanced

tests like sales, mortgage

lending

16:03:41 ,

16:03:45 homeowners insurance

are through heart funded

advanced

16:03:48 tests.

And that's a very limited number

compared

16:03:51 to most of our other

testing

16:03:55 .

>> Just quickly, I'd also shire

16:03:58

that part of that is also

because those tests require a

 

16:04:02 bit more time and design in

terms of they're a bit more

complicated

16:04:05 in terms of, you

know, comparing and applying.

16:04:08

We also do mortgage lending, so

going through that process

16:04:11 of

providing that information and

designing those tests are

16:04:15 a bit

more detailed, so they

16:04:17 require

more of our staff time.

That's probably why only one of

 

16:04:21 our grants really covers it

16:04:24 .

>> My other question was

16:04:27 if you

could just give the committee a

general idea

16:04:30 of what type of

civil penalties a housing

16:04:34

provider might face if they're

found in

16:04:38 violation or take it to

any other sort of resolution or

16:04:41

mediated agreement about how to

address the issue during

16:04:44 the

process and we've really got to

take it all the way up

16:04:48 .

What does that look like for a

housing

16:04:52 provider?

16:04:57

>> Yeah.

So part of one of

16:05:00 the main roles

that we work through in the

16:05:03

administrative process with HUD

16:05:06

does include providing a damages

worksheet.

 

16:05:09 Being able to determine what the

harm is

16:05:12 and monetary wise what

people have experienced

16:05:16 is part

of what the process we go

through with the

16:05:19 administrative

experience.

And

16:05:23 so sometimes our

intervention can include things

like

16:05:26 having an application

rereviewed and reconsidered in a

place

16:05:30 where they have -- where

an applicant was denied for

16:05:32 ,

say, something like criminal

history.

 

16:05:35 Or, you know, had an RA denied

and then were

16:05:38 denied the

housing.

So sometimes our interaction

16:05:42

will be to change that outcome.

And then

16:05:45 in other cases it is

to, especially

16:05:49 in administrative

process, to determine what the

monetary

16:05:52 damage and harm was and

be able to help walk folks

16:05:56

through that process to

articulate that to

16:05:59 hud.

16:06:02

>> I think part much that is the

act

16:06:06 doesn't prescribe sort of

damages.

It's not

16:06:09 $100 per violation.

So it really depends on what the

16:06:13

damage that was done in the

violation and that can be

 

16:06:16 determined as part of a

conciliation processor through a

16:06:19

court process.

There are other statutes, local

16:06:23

state statutes that do

prescribe, you know, sort of

16:06:26 a

dollar amount per violation, but

for much

16:06:29 of the work we do, I

think Kirsten, tell me

16:06:32 if I'm

framing that properly, it really

is

16:06:35 that comes through the

enforcement process and

16:06:39 can be

significant in some cases where

the damage is extensive

16:06:42 that has

been done by the violations

16:06:45 .

>> Yeah.

I can provide an example.

 

16:06:48 In the example I shared earlier

16:06:52

with a couple that was denied

housing based on their source of

16:06:55

income through a nonprofit, in

that

16:06:58 instance, you know, they

had to stay in a hotel for

16:07:01 a

period of time, so damages

included hotel costs.

16:07:04

They also, you know, were trying

to move

16:07:08 closer to the apartment

they were

16:07:11 denied at was close to

their doctor's office

16:07:14 , to their

 

16:07:17 community, to family

caregivers.

There were

16:07:20 multiple ways they

were harmed monetarily that were

included

16:07:23 within the damages and

complaint process.

16:07:28

>> Mara also has a

question and I do want to

16:07:31 flag

everyone for time.

It's 4:07 and we

16:07:35 do have public

comment in 4:15.

I'll give

16:07:38 a minute warning and

we will pause if we are in

discussion of presentation

16:07:42 .

Mara

16:07:45 .

>> No comment.

Sorry about that

16:07:49 .

16:07:59

>> Okay.

It sounded like Allan still had

 

16:08:02 part of the presentation.

Is that correct?

>> Yeah

16:08:06 .

Thanks for those questions.

The only piece I was going to

 

16:08:09 bring forward is that in

addition to the work that's

16:08:12

pertinent to this group, in

addition to the work that we do

 

16:08:17 with the Portland Housing Bureau

and of course work that's

supported by HUD at the

16:08:20 federal

level, we also this year are

embarking on fair housing

16:08:21

specific work with Multnomah

County.

 

16:08:25 So extending the reach of our

work,

16:08:28 particularly out into the

outer part of

16:08:35

East

16:08:38 County.

It is an opportunity for us as

16:08:41

we know, given the dynamics

we've seen in the housing

16:08:45

marketplace, for us to look into

what's happening out

16:08:49 in east

Multnomah County and some of

those areas that may have

 

16:08:52 received less attention in the

past.

So we're grateful for that

 

16:08:56 opportunity.

We'll be doing both education

16:08:59

enforcement and including

testing out in those

16:09:02 areas of

the city.

So kind

16:09:05 of expanding the

horizons of the work that we're

doing in

16:09:08 these areas here.

16:09:12

>> Hi, this is Barbara on the

phone.

 

16:09:15 Can I ask a couple questions,

please

16:09:19 ?

>> Go ahead,

16:09:22 Barbara.

>> I'm sorry, I couldn't hear.

>> Go ahead,

16:09:25 Barbara.

>> Okay.

Hi

16:09:30 .

On testing, first of all

16:09:34 , do you

have for buildings or in

buildings

16:09:38 that have these long

wait lists?

I think I've raised that once

 

16:09:41 before.

I'm just wondering if you

mentioned it and I missed

16:09:45 it

somehow.

16:09:49

But -- okay.

Do you know how -- do

16:09:52 you do

that?

Have you -- how is that

 

16:09:56 accomplished?

You know, so a building has two,

three

16:09:59 , four year wait list for

tenants

16:10:04 .

>> Yes.

Thanks, Barbara.

16:10:09

We do do tests in properties

16:10:12

that have wait lists and usually

these

16:10:15 are income restricted

properties,

16:10:20 so they're only --

16:10:24

you can be for the housing if

16:10:26

your income is under a certain

limit.

 

16:10:29 They usually have long wait

lists and we do tests there.

16:10:32

We give a different set of

script to our

16:10:35 testers in

those situations.

We ask them to

16:10:39 engage with the

property manager

16:10:43 or whoever

they're talking to to ask about

the

16:10:46 length of the wait list.

16:10:51

About other processes,

pre-PHRABGZ phase,

16:10:54 application

phase, what

16:10:57 sort of information

we're looking for to find if the

property management

16:11:00 company is

discriminating on the basis of

16:11:03 a

protected class.

We would find other alternative

16:11:08 s

script to

16:11:11 see whether -- if they

are being told of a longer

waiting

16:11:15 time than a person who

is not a member of a protected

16:11:19

class, for instance.

16:11:22

>> Or a more desirable continue

ant.

16:11:25

>> Right.

>> Can often circumvent those

 

16:11:28 long waiting lists and we know

of and

16:11:32 hear of tenants getting

an apartment in a

16:11:36 year and a

half while someone else

languishes for four

16:11:39 years

waiting.

So

16:11:43 yeah.

Thanks.

The second question I had

16:11:46 was

for Kirsten.

I thought I heard, KREURS ten,

 

16:11:49 Kirsten, that you said

16:11:53 it

was felt that race

discrimination

16:11:56 or discrimination

based on national origin

16:12:00 was

underreported.

Can

16:12:03 you say why you think it's

underreported

16:12:06 or why you thought

it was -- it is underreported

16:12:10 .

>> Yeah.

Sure PH-P

16:12:13 .

Thanks, Barbara.

I might ask Allan for

16:12:16 his

perspective on this, too,

because he has more of the

 

16:12:19 historical knowledge on this.

I also wanted to follow-up

16:12:22 , I

was just reviewing tests

yesterday and analyzing tests

16:12:26

related to one of our grants and

16:12:29

had an example of a wait list

test

16:12:32 where one applicant with

a --

16:12:35 without a discernible

accent was told

16:12:38 six months for

the wait list where

16:12:42 the

applicant with an

16:12:45 accent was

told over a year.

We see a distinction

16:12:48 between

given information about how to

get on the weight list given

16:12:51 to

the nonprotected class person

versus

16:12:54 the person in protected

class not being given that

information.

 

16:12:57 That's a great question on that

front.

Thanks for asking

16:13:01 .

In terms of the race and

national

16:13:05 origin, the largest

number of

16:13:09 inquiries we received

to our office based on protected

class

16:13:13 revolve around disability.

What we know is that it's not

necessarily

16:13:16 that folks with a

disability are being

discriminated

16:13:20 against more.

It's probably more likely they

just have received more

16:13:23

information about how to or

potentially more advocacy or

16:13:26

access to report those claims of

16:13:29

discrimination.

And so in conversations

16:13:32 with

culturally specific agencies

like the urban

16:13:36 league, you know,

when we were talking about how

many instances

16:13:39 they were seeing

of folks coming into their doors

that

16:13:43 had experienced

discrimination in the housing

process in either

16:13:47 applying to or

during their housing experience,

what we're

16:13:50 seeing is that likely

our numbers weren't consistent

with

16:13:53 what was coming into the

culturally specific agencies

with trusted relationship

16:13:56

relationships and community.

And so that's where

16:14:00 we started

to think, like, it does appear

that

16:14:03 our numbers related to

what's getting

16:14:06 reported to us

are likely underreporting

related to race

16:14:09 and national

origin, which makes sense when

we look at historical

16:14:13 harm.

And what has happened

16:14:16 public

policy wise, institutionally

with

16:14:19 institutional racism and

has happened in terms of dis

PHRA*EUS

16:14:26

displacement or impacted

communities of color.

 

16:14:29 It makes sense folks are

hesitant to have less access to

report

16:14:32 incidents based on race

and national origin.

So I

16:14:35 think that's part of what

led us to want to try to address

the

16:14:38 issue and to ensure

partnership with culturally

specific agencies

16:14:41 where there

are those trusted relationships.

I'll also

16:14:44 share that I think as

for

16:14:47 differing reasons, last year

after the murder

16:14:50 of George Floyd

and the protests, we did see an

16:14:53

increase in reporting to our

office of race-based

16:14:56

discrimination, particularly

neighbor on neighbor harassment.

 

16:14:59 And we spoke to attorneys in the

employment realm who similar

16:15:02 ly

said that they were seeing an

increase in reporting

16:15:07 and heard

from folks that was because they

felt stronger

16:15:11 about reporting or

having more access to do so with

the

16:15:14 issues being raised.

I think it does ebb and flow a

bit

16:15:17 more.

And the relationship with

cultural

16:15:20 ly specific agencies is

really crucial.

Allan

16:15:24 , are there pieces or

historical parts to that you

could add

16:15:26 ?

>> I think that's great,

Kirsten.

 

16:15:29 I appreciate that.

I'll give a brief answer because

I know

16:15:32 we're getting up against

time.

The other thing I would

16:15:35 say is

as you said, it's not

necessarily that

16:15:39 more

discrimination might be

happening in one protected class

16:15:41

or another, but for instance in

some of the protected classes,

 

16:15:45 it's easier to tell when

discrimination has occurred for

people

16:15:48 that are living with

disabilities very often it is a

16:15:51

question about an assistance

animal

16:15:54 or something like that

that's been actually denied.

And we

16:15:57 can actually have a

housing provider that

16:16:00 will -- we

can see that discrimination

happening.

 

16:16:03 Or families with children.

They've been denied -- we just

heard

16:16:07 a story about that.

Based on having children

16:16:11 .

So we don't very often these

days see

16:16:14 folks that say we're

not going to rent to you because

you're black

16:16:17 or because you're

Hispanic or Latinx

16:16:20 .

It becomes much more difficult

to actually know that

16:16:24 that's

happened to you which makes

something

16:16:27 like match pair

testing an

16:16:30 important

opportunity to gather evidence

like that.

 

16:16:33 >> Great.

Thank you.

I'm just going to put

16:16:37 a pause on

this real quick and we can jump

back

16:16:40 in.

It may not be too long.

We did not

16:16:44 have anyone

registered for the public

16:16:48

comment period that was

pre-registered for the meeting.

16:16:51

However, there may have been

folks that joined us that did

16:16:54

not register, so I do want to

take a moment to

16:16:57 pause here and

offer that up as it is our

scheduled

16:17:00 time.

16:17:06

Feel free to unmute or you can

put something in the chat, any

 

16:17:09 members of the public that would

like to provide comment

16:17:14 .

16:17:23

>> This is Mara.

I have a

16:17:26 public comment on

behalf of someone who provided

information to me and just

16:17:29

wanted to forward.

I had encouraged them to come to

 

16:17:32 this meeting, but they decided

not to.

I've been having folks

16:17:35 with

visual disabilities basically

test out all the

16:17:38 different

housing applications that pop up

online and we've been seeing a

16:17:41

lot of improvements to that and

folks are now able to more

 

16:17:45 independently complete their own

housing applications.

We saw it happen with

16:17:49 the

Washington County housing choice

that

16:17:52 just opened.

It's some good news to see that

community is

16:17:55 doing a little bit

more included in the affordable

housing

16:17:59 process.

I just wanted to put that out

there to some -FPT folks on this

16:18:02 of the folks on this

16:18:05 call.

>> Does anyone else have any

public comments

16:18:10 to share?

16:18:16

Okay.

Then

16:18:19 we are now ahead of the

agenda.

Good news for us.

16:18:21

I'll return back.

Does anybody have any further

 

16:18:25 questions or, Barbara, did you

want to jump back in and provide

16:18:28

any follow-up to the answers

provided by Allan and Kirsten

16:18:31 ?

Or anything else related to

16:18:36 fair

housing

16:18:40 ?

16:18:47

No one?

Okay

16:18:51 .

I think we can go ahead and move

on

16:18:54 there.

I did make some notes, but I do

want to

16:18:57 talk about next steps.

And kind of return

16:19:00 back to the

beginning of the meeting.

We were talking about

16:19:03 the

guidance and the new interim

rules.

 

16:19:06 We have Matthew here to talk us

through that

16:19:10 and the

implications, so Matthew, I will

hand it

16:19:13 over to you.

We can do some discussion

16:19:16 or

questions after that, but it

looks like

16:19:19 we maybe will end the

meeting about 10 minutes early

16:19:22 .

>> Hey, everybody.

My update

16:19:26 should be pretty

quick.

16:19:30

So I guess just to take a step

back to make sure that we're all

 

16:19:35 working off the same foundation

16:19:38 of

information, under the Trump

Transportation,

16:19:41 administration,

the requirements under the H

16:19:45 UD's

affirmatively furthering

16:19:48 fair

housing guidance were rolled

back and what had been the

 

16:19:51 analysis of impediments and what

was becoming the

assessment of

16:19:55 fair housing was

no longer a requirement for

jurisdictions around

16:19:58 the

country.

And kind of if

16:20:01 you want to

PW-PBG it

16:20:04 think

about it in two components,

16:20:07 it's

an assessment process that any

jurisdiction can take

16:20:10 to

affirmatively further fair

housing.

16:20:13

The requirement to do the

assessment of fair housing which

 

16:20:16 is the new process under the

Obama administration, that

requirement went

16:20:19 away.

In its place a self-

16:20:22 local

certification form needed to be

16:20:24

completed and that was the

requirement.

 

16:20:27 So I think many people on F

16:20:30 HAC

will recall when we talked about

this

16:20:34 last year, FHAC said

regardless we want to go

16:20:37 ahead

and pursue some sort of

assessment of

16:20:40 fair housing in

Portland and/or Multnomah County

and then

16:20:43 we want to come up with

our own recommendations

16:20:47 for some

fair housing actions that could

be pursued in

16:20:50 response to that

assessment

16:20:53 .

And going through that process,

the bureau we said that

16:20:57 we would

support you in that effort and

we would help to staff that

16:21:01 and

provide any sort of data

analysis and research work that

 

16:21:04 you needed to develop those

recommendations for the city of

port

16:21:07 City of Portland.

What has happened

16:21:11 as Niki

mentioned at the beginning of

the meeting,

16:21:14 we now have the

Biden administration interim

rule which does

16:21:18 not require an

analysis of impedimentses or

16:21:21 an

assessment of fair housing, but

it has

16:21:24 reprovided the guidance

for jurisdiction

16:21:27 s around the

country.

It has reproduced some

16:21:32 of the

data mapping tools, data

analysis tools that

16:21:36 had been

removed and is reinstituting its

technical

16:21:39 assistance for

jurisdictions in completing

either the analysis of

16:21:43

impedimentses or the assessment

of

16:21:46 fair housing for those that

choose to do

16:21:50 so and we do

anticipate or are hoping the

Biden

16:21:54 administration is moving

in the direction to reestablish

that

16:21:57 requirement.

So because of that,

16:22:00 the bureau

is preparing to put together a

team, a

16:22:03 project team at the

bureau in order

16:22:07 to kind of map

out a scope and a timeline

16:22:10 to

complete an assessment and

develop action

16:22:14 items

16:22:17 .

We do not have the -- we don't

have the capacity to

16:22:20 do an FHAC

16:22:25

process freight from an agency

process to do different

 

16:22:28 assessments and two different

action T developments

16:22:30 .

It makes sense to do it

together.

 

16:22:34 And so the update we wanted to

provide is that we will be

coming back

16:22:37 at your next meeting

to share with

16:22:40 you our draft

16:22:44 plan

to put together an assessment

and

16:22:47 then fair housing actions

that the city can commit

16:22:50 to that

will also -- the

16:22:53 draft plan will

include how we're involving the

community in

16:22:56 this process, how

we're involving agencies in

that

16:23:00 process as well as some

thoughts that we have

16:23:03 on how FHAV

is involved in

16:23:06 that process in

terms of completing reviews

16:23:09 of

various components of work we're

going to be developing and

 

16:23:12 developing recommendations for

the

16:23:16 assessment part of the

process and the action plan part

of the process

16:23:19 .

So I know it's been a bit of a

kind

16:23:22 of unclear and stagnant

year

16:23:26 because of the changes in

administration, so I just want

to first

16:23:29 say thank you to

everyone for hanging in there,

but now that

16:23:32 we're starting to

see the federal guidance move

16:23:35 ,

we are preparing locally and so

FH

16:23:38 AC will be a part of that

process as we do

16:23:43 that work at

the housing bureau.

So I'm happy to answer any

 

16:23:47 questions.

It does a little bit mean that

this affects

16:23:50 your work plan.

Hopefully that's okay with

folks, but I think in

16:23:53 the end

we'll get a better product, a

better set

16:23:56 of recommendations.

Yeah.

With that, that's

16:23:59 all the time I

need.

16:24:09

Lots of thumbs up from Zoomed

out people

16:24:13 .

Great.

>> Well, if anyone does have

16:24:17 any

questions regarding that slight

change in direction, feel

16:24:20 free

to reach out.

It is

16:24:24 4:24.

So it is

16:24:28 a bit earlier than

5:00, but I think we made

16:24:31 it

through all the agenda items and

had some good discussion in

16:24:34

there.

So unless somebody has anything

 

16:24:37 else that they would like to

discuss or bring to the

attention of the committee,

16:24:40 I

will just have a few reminders

and

16:24:44 sinus off.

Mara, I see a hand up?

16:24:46

>> Sorry.

I apologize.

 

16:24:49 I was wondering about -- I'm

excited

16:24:53 for guidelines and

clarification, but also

16:24:56 just

want to make sure this committee

is going to have some space to

 

16:24:59 make some decisions on our own

about things we may want

16:25:02 to

support or push forward or that

kind of thing, or is it

16:25:05 more

like this will really tell us

what we're going to do and

16:25:09 what

we need to focus on?

>>

16:25:12 I'll answer that one

16:25:15 .

It is -- FHAC will

16:25:19 definitely

have the opportunity to say

great, we see the city's

16:25:22

assessment and we think also we

need to be looking at these

16:25:25 data

points or these sets of

16:25:28 anal

sees

16:25:31 an-- this

16:25:34

body may say we see that the

bureau is proposing

16:25:38 or the city

is proposing they commit to on

16:25:41

action items, but also bureau

and

16:25:44 city council FHAC is

recommending -- or potentially

not

16:25:48 recommending some things,

but FHAC is recommending

16:25:51 in

addition to what is being

committed to in this plan

16:25:54 at the

bureau and the city have

developed, the city should

16:25:58

pursue these additional things.

And we will take that

16:26:01 to council

with the assessment and

16:26:04 action

items.

16:26:07

>> That makes complete sense.

Thank you so much

16:26:11 .

>> I just wanted

16:26:14 to express

appreciation, Matt, for where

you all are

16:26:18 headed.

I think this is -- given

16:26:21 the

winding road we're been on, I

think this is the place that we

 

16:26:24 were hoping we would end, right?

I appreciate the city's and the

bureau

16:26:27 's commitment to all of

that and the commitment for the

16:26:31

work of this group here.

I

16:26:34 think that's something that

this group can mirror back to

the

16:26:37 bureau in being committed to

really looking at

16:26:40 what elements

of the plan are and the action

plan

16:26:44 are important to members of

the communities that we all work

with

16:26:47 .

So we're looking forward to that

process.

 

16:26:50 But I think that's the direction

that we were all headed

16:26:53 and hope

to be heading down the line

here.

 

16:26:56 So let's hope we don't see any

more turns

16:26:59 in the road coming

up, but we think the future is

ahead

16:27:02 of us.

16:27:08

>> Great.

Well, just a few reminders, then

16:27:11

then, to please keep an eye out

for the event invite with

16:27:15 the

Zoom details that will be coming

from Ryan

16:27:18 .

Please also keep an eye out for

information on

16:27:21 recruitment for a

new committee member that I will

be sending out to

16:27:25 you folks and

push that forward to your

networks.

16:27:28

For things that you can send me,

if you feel so inclined

16:27:32 to

volunteer for the chair or the

vice

16:27:35 chair position, please

shoot me a quick email special

let me know

16:27:39 that you're

interested and then I can

follow-up with you on next

16:27:42 step

there is.

Also, if you have any suggested

16:27:45

organizations or specific

contacts that you would like

16:27:48 to

ensure are included in the