Portland Property Complaints Higher In Community Of Color: Study

PORTLAND, OR — A new report says that Portland's system of enforcing complaints about property maintenance is tilted against people of color. Portland's Ombudsman found that people of color in racially diverse neighborhoods are more likely to have complaints filed against them.

The office of the Ombudsman, which is part of the City Auditor's Office examined 15,227 complaints filed from 2013 through 2018. They focused on complaints against owner-owned properties and found that the "system is rooted in history of racial oppression."

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The Ombudsman points out that enforcement is reactive to complaints and that complaints are more likely to be filed against people of color, something that can be traced back to the early 1940s when then-Mayor Earl Riley warned people that the city "can absorb only a minimum number of Negroes without upsetting the city's regular life."

The report states that while the city officially did away with race being a justifiable reason for filing and enforcing complaints, biases still exist.

"This is an example of an enforcement system that seems fair on the surface but ends up burdening some Portlanders more than others," City Auditor Mary Hull Caballero, said. "The City must be vigilant about analyzing outcomes and eliminating laws put in place long ago to favor wealthier white property owners."

The report also found that since enforcement is tied to complaints being filed, there is an inherent inequity in enforcement.

"For instance, a shed too close to the property line may bother a neighbor in Montavilla but not one in Bridlemile," the report states. "One homeowner can get cited for a fence that is too tall, while multitudes of other homeowners with similar fences do not, because no one complained about them."

The report included two maps side by side that show neighborhoods with complaints per 100 households and the city neighborhoods with the highest percentages of people of color.

The report recommends that the city do away with enforcement based on complaint and develop a more equitable system.