Title
Special Recognition - Proclamation Recognizing Fair Housing Month
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Proclaim April 2026 as Fair Housing Month.
Report
Issue:
Whether to proclaim April 2026 as Fair Housing Month.
Staff Contact:
Christa Lenssen, Senior Housing Program Specialist, Community Planning & Economic Development, 360.570.3762
Presenter(s):
Christa Lenssen, Senior Housing Program Specialist, Community Planning & Economic Development
Adria Buchanan, Executive Director, Fair Housing Center of Washington
Steve Chung, President, Thurston County Realtors Association
Background and Analysis:
Congress passed the Fair Housing Act on April 11, 1968, just one week after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Act was meant to be a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited segregation in public places and employment discrimination. Civil rights organizers, including Dr. King, had advocated for open housing and an end to housing segregation and discrimination. The highly contentious bill had been proposed and failed to pass from 1966-1967.
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing and housing-related transactions based on protected classes. The Fair Housing Act has been amended over time and protects individuals from discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability and family status.
In addition to barring housing discrimination, the Fair Housing Act requires HUD and its funding recipients, such as local jurisdictions, to also take affirmative steps to remedy fair housing issues such as racially segregated neighborhoods, lack of housing choice, and unequal access to housing-related opportunities. This is known as the mandate to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing.
On April 30, 1968, Olympia City Council passed its Unfair Housing Practices code (OMC 5.80) to prohibit housing discrimination and establish a Thurston County Human Rights Commission to investigate complaints, in collaboration with Thurston County, City of Lacey, and City of Tumwater.
Current Landscape
Fair housing month is celebrated nationally in the month of April. Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Washington State Human Rights Commission enforce fair housing protections by investigating complaints filed by Washington State residents. These enforcement agencies can also provide information and technical assistance to both housing consumers and providers. The Fair Housing Center of Washington is a nonprofit agency dedicated to providing fair housing education, outreach, and enforcement services to the residents of western and central Washington. They help individuals to file housing discrimination complaints, provide education and technical assistance, and assist residents with disabilities to request reasonable accommodation or modifications in their housing.
Recently, HUD’s Office of Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity (FHEO) has challenged efforts to address historical harms and disparate impact claims. Earlier this year, HUD released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the removal of HUD’s Fair Housing Act’s discriminatory effects regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations, in furtherance of HUD’s policy of refusing to fully enforce the Fair Housing Act with respect to disparate impact. This would end longstanding practices and case law that has established that a policy or practice can be neutral on its face but have discriminatory impacts in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The City of Olympia submitted a public comment in opposition to the proposed rule. HUD also launched an investigation into Washington State’s Covenant Homeownership Program, which HUD believes may violate the Fair Housing Act. Washington State’s program provides downpayment and closing cost assistance to individuals who are direct descendants of Washington State residents who were denied opportunities to purchase a home prior to 1968. HUD alleges that the program unfairly excludes individuals on the basis of race and ethnicity.
Every jurisdiction has an obligation to affirmatively further fair housing under the Fair Housing Act. As the Washington State Governor looks to create a department of housing, there is an opportunity to embed practices and policies to affirmatively further fair housing into the department’s work. Fair housing advocates call for the new department of housing to engage communities to ensure that the policies and practices created do not disproportionately impact people based on their protected class and instead incentivize development of policies and practices that lift up those furthest from opportunities so that everyone may benefit.
City’s commitment to Fair Housing
The City of Olympia wishes to recognize the anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act, as well as reiterate the City’s commitment to affirmatively furthering fair housing, undoing past harms of segregation, and addressing ongoing housing disparities and discrimination. The City has provided resources to educate community members about fair housing and is working to advance equity through strategies identified by the Assessment of Fair Housing, Housing Action Plan, Social Justice & Equity Commission, and related efforts. The City has provided public comments to HUD when notice of proposed rulemaking is issued. The City of Olympia joined the Black Home Initiative in 2025 to participate in focused efforts to increase homeownership for Black households. The City of Olympia is co-hosting a homeownership fair with the Thurston County Realtors Association on April 18 at the Olympia Center to increase access to homeownership for Thurston County residents.
Climate Analysis:
This action is expected to have no significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Providing more housing choice to members of protected class groups means that households may be able to live closer to their work or schools their children attend, decreasing commute times.
Equity Analysis:
The goal of this recognition is to celebrate the passage of the Fair Housing Act, while acknowledging the ongoing work that must take place to ensure equal housing access for all.
Between 2017 and 2022, there were 32 total fair housing complaints in Olympia that were filed with HUD or the Washington State Human Rights Commission. According to data from the Thurston County Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH), people of color, people with disabilities, people who are transgender, and single mothers are:
• cost burdened at higher rates (pay more than 30% of their income on housing costs);
• more likely to be renters;
• at higher risk of displacement (being forced to move due to eviction, increasing costs, etc);
• more likely to experience homelessness; and/or
• face continuing gaps in homeownership in Thurston County.
According to American Community Survey data referenced in the AFH, about 82% of single female-headed households with children in Olympia rent their homes. The City of Olympia has enacted multiple protections for renters, which are intended to stabilize housing access, costs, and decrease risk of displacement for renting households. Over 600 community members participated in the online survey to inform the AFH. About 39% of respondents who completed the online community survey were housing cost burdened. Of those respondents, about 62% have disabilities or a disabled family member living with them. There were 15 total transgender respondents to the survey, and of those 15, 9 (or 60%) experience housing cost burden. Ten of 24 single mothers (42%) who responded to the community survey are severely cost burdened, spending over 50% of their income on housing costs.
The City is taking several actions to decrease housing discrimination and promote integration. These include multiple steps to increase supply of more affordable housing, including incentives for developers to include affordable units, financial support through the local Home Fund, and adaptation of zoning and permitting requirements to make it easier to build more affordable homes. Black households have the lowest rate of homeownership of any racial/ethnic group in Thurston County. The City of Olympia has joined the Black Home Initiative to increase homeownership among low-to-moderate income Black households. All members of our community will benefit from increased housing stability, diverse and inclusive neighborhoods, and equal access to housing.
Financial Impact:
There is no financial impact related to this special recognition.
Options:
1. Recognize Fair Housing Month.
2. Recognize Fair Housing Month at another time.
3. Do not recognize Fair Housing Month.
Attachments:
Proclamation