Portland officials falsely accuse three developers in discrimination investigation, offer apology
The conductor of an audit for the city of Portland has apologized to three property management companies for incorrectly accusing them of discriminatory housing
Jul 31, 202047.3K Shares631K Views
The conductor of an audit for the city of Portland has apologized to three property management companies for incorrectly accusing them of discriminatory housing practices, all part of the city’s ongoinghousing discrimination imbroglio. The city of Portland has apologized to at least one company for the error.
Fair Housing Council of Oregon conducted the audit in 2010 on behalf of the city; its results, published in May of this year, caused a maelstrom of controversy and strong language from state legislators in Eugene. Of the 50 housing sites visited by the undercover investigators, 32 were noted for discriminatory behavior.
One of the firms, JB Equities, a low-income development company with over 500 units of housing that caters mostly to younger residents, received a letter of apology from City Commissioner Nick Fish’s office on Tuesday. JB Equities was named in several Metro Portland media outlets as one of the companies whose employees misled or treated differently undercover auditors posing as minority lease seekers.
Peter Fry, a planning consultant for JB Equities, contacted The American Independent to counteract the public fallout the disclosures caused the company. He explained that while JB Equities does not dispute the findings of FHCO, the home in question was privately owned and that the housing group’s interactions were with a proprietor unaffiliated with the property developer. Fry provided TAI a letter submitted to JB Equities from Commissioner Fish’s office confirming the correction. Here’s the City of Portland’s apology to JB.
He accused the commissioner’s office of being sloppy and rushing the public disclosure of the violating properties listed in FHCO’s report.
“We don’t discriminate,” Fry said. “We renovated virtual drug houses and prostitution homes and now they are new homes that are very affordable and available to younger people of all races.”
JB Equities receives no public money to subsidize the cost of their units. Instead, Fry explains, the company restores already standing buildings, augmenting the heating and electrical infrastructure, “which improves the equity of the building, and let’s us get loans at low rates.”
“It’s not the Taj Mahaj, but [we have] nice buildings,” Fry said. “We’re a free enterprise model, I guess.”
Rhyley Carney
Reviewer
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