Fair Housing & Illegal Housing Discrimination
Fair Housing is the name for the federal, state and local civil rights laws that protect all of us from illegal discrimination in housing transactions based on our race, color, national origin, religion, age, gender, physical or mental disability, the presence of children under age 18 (familial status), marital status, sexual orientation, domestic violence survivors, legal source of income, or domestic partnership status.
City of Pendleton Housing Strategy Summary
- Input from the Housing Committee, made up of housing stakeholders and the public, shaped the Housing Strategies in 2023.. The general themes of this input included:
- There was broad support for more flexible zoning allowances to encourage a wider range of housing types. These were adopted in 2021.
- There is support for financial incentives such as tax abatements or land donations to help facilitate housing development.
- There is a need for more ownership housing options for upper-low, middle- and upper-income households that may move to Pendleton or seek to upgrade from existing homes.
- There is a need for more housing for low and very low-income households, particularly those in unstable housing situations
Resources
City of Pendleton Rules and Ordinances
The City of Pendleton has a Fair Housing Resolution that strives to assure that persons of a protected class have choice in the location of their housing.
- City Administrative Rule 21
- Resolution 2478 adopted by the City Council
- Housing Strategies Report 2023
- Housing Strategies Executive Summary
- State of Oregon Fair Housing, Accessibility (Section 504)
Fair Housing Help
Fair Housing Council of Oregon
Fair Housing Council of Oregon operates a hotline for housing discrimination and maintains a website with fair housing information. Anyone with a fair housing question can contact the hotline.
Fair Housing Council of Oregon - Hotline: 1-800-424-3247, ext. 2.
Messages and online inquiries are accepted and returned promptly, even though the telephone hotline hours are limited to Fridays from 9 am to 12 pm, noon.
Fair Housing inquiries and complaints may be submitted online, or by sending an email to: [Information [at] fhco.org (Information[at]fhco[dot]org)](“mailto:Information [at] fhco.org”. More information is available on the Fair Housing Council of Oregon’s website: http://fhco.org
Center for Non-profit Legal Services
The Center for Non-profit Legal Services serves the low-income community throughout Grant County. While they do intakes on a wide variety of issues, the cases typically handled are related to housing, benefits, family law and issues of domestic violence. For more information, visit Center for Non-profit Legal Services.
Center for Non-profit Legal Services: 541-779-7291(9 am to noon, and 1-5 pm), https://cnpls.org/.
Bureau of Labor and Industries
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) protects your civil rights at home. You may file a housing discrimination complaint or email help [at] boli.state.or.us (help[at]boli[dot]state[dot]or[dot]us) for housing discrimination questions.
BOLI: 971-673-0761 (staffed Mon-Fri, 8 am - 5pm; messages can be left any time).
Housing and Urban Development Additionally, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) can be contacted directly at https://www.hud.gov with discrimination complaints.