By Jo Becker, Education/Outreach Specialist, Fair Housing Council of Oregon

This is the last in a series of blogs about April being the federal Fair Housing Month. Fair housing laws apply to all housing transactions—sales, mortgage lending, home insurance, HOA’s, rentals and neighbor-on-neighbor harassment. The law even applies to student housing, designated senior housing, assisted living facilities and nursing homes as well as adult foster care homes and shelters, etc.

We often think of fair housing in terms of “them.” But to be clear, we all belong to one or more protected class. Each of us has a sex, a race and a religion (or not). We all have the right to choose where we live and to enjoy our housing without regard to protected class status. The bottom line is that fair housing applies to everyone and running afoul of the law not only harms individuals, families and society, but it can also be a costly mistake.

Because discrimination continues and there is still a lack of working knowledge about fair housing laws by both housing consumers and providers, FHCO proactively provides information on the law, acts as a resource for questions about fair housing and responds to complaints of illegal housing discrimination throughout Oregon and SW Washington. Despite our efforts, one out of every ten Oregonians believes he or she has been a victim of illegal housing discrimination.

Please be proactive and ensure that you understand your rights and responsibilities under the law! Please make an attempt to learn about fair housing and also visit the Breaking News section of our entry page at www.FHCO.org to read about national and local cases surrounding these related issues.

Are you interested in attending a fair housing class (good for core credits!)?
We post upcoming classes on our entry page under the heading of Events and Classes.

Are you interested in having an in-house presentation or class for your office, company or organization? You can find our current class list along with pricing information at: www.FHCO.org/pdfs/classlist.pdf.
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This article brought to you by the Fair Housing Council; a nonprofit serving the state of Oregon and SW Washington. Learn more and/or sign up for our free, periodic newsletter at www.FHCO.org.

Qs about your rights and responsibilities under fair housing laws?
Visit www.FHCO.org or call 1-800-424-3247 Ext. 2.

Qs about this article? Do you want to schedule an in-office fair housing training program or speaker for corporate or association functions?
Contact Jo Becker at jbecker@FHCO.org or 503-453-4016.

Have property to promote?
Advertise vacancies or for-sales free across the Portland/Vancouver market at: www.HousingConnections.org