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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFair Housing Council Presentation LU 25-00011/28/2025 1 AFFH: How to Build an Inclusive Community January 27, 2025 Public Policy Manager, Samuel Goldberg www.fhco.org ©2025 1 Fair Housing Discrimination Treating a person differently in any housing transaction because that person is a member of a “protected class” LU 25-0001 PAGE 1 OF 20 1/28/2025 2 Federal Protected Classes •Race •Color •National Origin •Religion •Sex •Familial Status (families with children) •Disability Oregon Protected Classes •Marital Status •Source of Income –Section 8 –Agency rent payments –TANF, SSI, SSDI* •Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity •Local protected classes LU 25-0001 PAGE 2 OF 20 1/28/2025 3 History of Residential Segregation in Oregon Early Segregation in Oregon •White settlement of Oregon Territory relied on decimation of 80% of native population. Most of those who remained were forced onto reservations. •Donation Land Claim Act (1850) gave 320 acres to single men, 640 acres to married couples. Limited to whites. •State constitution of 1859 prevented African Americans – enslaved or free – from settling in Oregon. Nullified in 1927. •Constitution also barred Chinese from owning property or mining claims. Nullified in 1943. 1/28/2025 6 LU 25-0001 PAGE 3 OF 20 1/28/2025 4 Harassment and Displacement •Laws limited, but did not prevent, African Americans and new immigrants from coming to Oregon •Economic boom of timber, mining, agriculture, and fisheries led to stable communities forming across the state •Minority communities were scapegoated during recessions, and driven out by violence, intimidation, and “sundown laws” 1/28/2025 7 Impact of Race and Nationality on Real Estate Valuation American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers ranking, from most to least favorable (1920s through 1940s): •English, Germans, Scotch, Irish, Scandinavians •North Italians •Bohemians or Czechs •Poles •Lithuanians •Greeks •Russians, Jews (lower class) •South Italians •Negroes •Mexicans 10/8/2021 8 LU 25-0001 PAGE 4 OF 20 1/28/2025 5 Restrictive Covenants •Prevented owner of real estate to sell or transfer property to non-Whites •Supreme Court declared such restrictive covenants unenforceable (Shelley v Kraemer, 334 USA 1948) 9 FHA Loans 1/28/2025 10 •Racist practices incorporated into FHA loan standards •Between 1934 and 1962, of $120 billion in loans made by the FHA, less than two percent went to non-whites LU 25-0001 PAGE 5 OF 20 1/28/2025 6 Zoning Fosters Segregation •From the start, zoning has separated more than just land uses. It has also separated people •In the early 20th Century, many communities explicitly used zoning ordinances to racially segregate neighborhoods. Ended by Buchanan v. Warley (1917) •Regulations on the form and function of buildings then locked-in segregation. Upheld by Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. (1926) 1/28/2025 11 Fair Housing Act •1968 Fair Housing Act enacted •HUD named to enforce Fair Housing laws •Penalties instituted for violations •Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) required 12 LU 25-0001 PAGE 6 OF 20 1/28/2025 7 AFFH “All executive departments and agencies shall administer their programs and activities relating to housing and urban development (including any Federal agency having regulatory or supervisory authority over financial institutions) in a manner affirmatively to further the purposes of the purposes of this subchapter and shall cooperate with the Secretary to further such purposes.” 1/28/2025 13 Racial segregation did not happen organically. It was the result of decades of violence, intimidation, and prejudice, then cemented by institutional action. Learn the specific history of your area, then press for institutional actions to redress that harm. 1/28/2025 14 LU 25-0001 PAGE 7 OF 20 1/28/2025 8 1/28/2025 15 Jurisdictions and Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Fair Housing and Land Use Laws Fair housing law prohibits land use regulations, restrictive covenants and conditional or special use permits that may limit housing choice based on protected class 1/28/2025 16 LU 25-0001 PAGE 8 OF 20 1/28/2025 9 Common Fair Housing Land Use Violations •Requiring projects to undergo additional approval steps, hearings, or meetings with neighbors not required of other housing projects •Requiring projects to have extra screening, setbacks or other design modifications not required of other housing projects •Requiring burdensome public safety requirements 1/28/2025 17 Refusing to provide reasonable accommodations to land use or zoning policies when such accommodations may be necessary to allow persons with disabilities to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the housing 1/28/2025 18 Land Use Violations Continued LU 25-0001 PAGE 9 OF 20 1/28/2025 10 Definition (HUD Rule): A practice that results in a disparate impact on a group of persons or creates, increases, reinforces, or perpetuates segregated housing patterns because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin Disparate Impact Policies That May Have a Disparate Impact A Local zoning ordinance restricts housing with more than 3 bedrooms Result: disparate impact on people with larger families (discrimination based on familial status) •Urban renewal •Code enforcement •Exclusionary zoning •Residency preferences LU 25-0001 PAGE 10 OF 20 1/28/2025 11 Texas Dept. of Housing & Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project (2015) 1/28/2025 21 Salem-Keizer AI, 2019 22 LU 25-0001 PAGE 11 OF 20 1/28/2025 12 Salem-Keizer AI, 2019 23 Disparate Impact 24 LU 25-0001 PAGE 12 OF 20 1/28/2025 13 AFFH means that where housing is located is as important as how much there is. Push for good analysis to unearth existing patterns of segregation and then make investments that will disrupt those patterns. 1/28/2025 25 1/28/2025 26 Goal 10 and Fair Housing LU 25-0001 PAGE 13 OF 20 1/28/2025 14 Planning Goal 10 To provide for the housing needs of citizens of the state: Buildable lands for residential use shall be inventoried and plans shall encourage the availability of adequate numbers of needed housing units at price ranges and rent levels which are commensurate with the financial capabilities of Oregon households and allow for flexibility of housing location, type and density 1/28/2025 27 Housing Needs Analysis (HNA) A housing needs analysis (HNA) is one of the components a city needs to consider to satisfy the housing needs of its residents over a 20-year period. A HNA is both a product and a process that the city goes through to determine areas of need in their current inventory of housing and their buildable land supply. 1/28/2025 28 LU 25-0001 PAGE 14 OF 20 1/28/2025 15 Contextualized Housing Need •Cities need to go beyond topline housing need and look at who has been underserved by current housing environment •Housing Production Strategies must address these needs and result in Fair and Equitable Housing Outcomes 1/28/2025 29 Housing Challenges Faced by People Living with a Disability •Percentage of people with mobility-related disabilities increases as population ages •Oregon needs to be producing 6,781 wheelchair-ready units a year, every year just to meet new growth •Much more affordable to make units accessible from the beginning than to retrofit LU 25-0001 PAGE 15 OF 20 1/28/2025 16 Strategies for Developing Accessible Housing •Most accessible units are in multi-family developments, where they have been required since 1991 •HB 2001 (2019) could change that, as at least one fully accessible unit must be built in quadplexes and other large middle housing types •Cities can offer incentives to developers for building accessible units •Accessible units can also be prioritized for people with disabilities as a preference policy (Portland FAIR Ordinance) Goal 10 means that producing adequate quantities and types of housing which meet the actual needs of current and future residents should be central to every land use decision jurisdictions make. 1/28/2025 32 LU 25-0001 PAGE 16 OF 20 1/28/2025 17 1/28/2025 33 If cities and counties must plan for needed housing, why is there an affordable housing crisis? Barriers to Development •Procuring funds •Finding available land •Updating infrastructure •NIMBYism 1/28/2025 34 LU 25-0001 PAGE 17 OF 20 1/28/2025 18 Discrimination & Needed Housing •Fear based – who will live there •Misconceptions Like –How will the building look? –Home values –Crime –Magnetism myth Free Speech & Public Decisions •Public decisions about housing –Community members have the right to express opposition to projects (not illegal intimidation) –Can’t be based on protected class –Can’t cause disparate impact on protected classes LU 25-0001 PAGE 18 OF 20 1/28/2025 19 Help resistant community members to understand how new housing will help meet the needs of the whole community, including neighbors they might not know exist. But also remind policymakers that prejudicial comments from the public are not adequate reasons to reject a project. FHCO Is Here To Help •Help to look at code and zoning changes through a fair housing lens •Identifying discrimination •Provide education –Provide fair housing material •Provide advocacy and enforcement services LU 25-0001 PAGE 19 OF 20 1/28/2025 20 Thank You information@fhco.org www.fhco.org LU 25-0001 PAGE 20 OF 20