Although Tel-Law information is periodically reviewed, it is important for you to realize that changes may occur in this area of law. This information is not intended to be legal advice regarding your particular problem, and it is not intended to replace the work of an attorney.

If you do not have an attorney, the Oregon State Bar Lawyer Referral Service can help you. Online Lawyer Referral Service information and a fill-in form is available. Or you may contact the service by phone: The number to call from the Portland area is 503-684-3763 or toll-free from anywhere else in Oregon, 1-800-452-7636.

The following information regarding housing discrimination is brought to you as a public service by the lawyers of the State of Oregon. The material presented is general legal information intended to alert you to possible legal problems and solutions.

You may be protected by federal, state or local laws that shelter certain categories of people from being discriminated against when it comes to renting, buying or financing a home. Federal law protects you from being discriminated against for your race, color, national origin, religion, sex, family status, and physical and mental disability. Oregon law also forbids these kinds of discrimination. In addition, Oregon law forbids discrimination based on your marital status, the source of your income, or if you have won an eviction case brought by a former landlord. Some cities in Oregon protect people from discrimination on such grounds as age, type of occupation, and sexual orientation. Those cities include Portland, Salem, Corvallis, Eugene and Ashland.

To qualify for protection from discrimination based on a disability, you would have to have an impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. You would not qualify as being disabled if you currently use an illegal drug.

"Family status" laws protect families with children; women who are pregnant; guardians of children; and those who are in the process of getting custody of children, such as by adoption. At least one case has concluded that landlords who evict victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking crimes for the reason they are crime victims has a discriminatory effect on women. In response to this ruling, state law now makes it unlawful for landlords to evict on that basis.

State law also makes clear that housing discrimination is unlawful whether it is deliberate and intentional or has the effect-intentional or not-of having a disparate impact on people who are in a protected group.

In most cases, neither federal nor state housing law protects people from discrimination based on age if the person being discriminated against is 18 years or older. However, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits discrimination based on age in credit transactions that include the purchase of a home.

Federal and state laws cover most kinds of residential housing. There is one limited exception involving protection of people with children; that exception is "senior housing." In senior housing, either all the residents must be age 62 or older; or the housing is part of a federal or state program that provides housing for seniors; or 80 percent of the units have at least one resident over age 55. However, the regulations controlling senior housing do not always make it impossible for elders to have children living with them. Elders should get specific legal advice on this question.

Housing providers are allowed to set rental criteria and make reasonable rules for their tenants. They are not allowed to apply criteria or rules that would be unfair to a person who is a member of one of the categories described earlier. Therefore, it is illegal to:

- refuse to provide the opportunity to rent or buy;

- refuse to negotiate a rental or purchase;

- lie about the availability of housing;

- treat an individual differently concerning the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental in providing services;

- make statements or advertise about intending to exclude certain protected categories of people;

- evict or attempt to evict, or harass, intimidate, or threaten the individual, a guest, or a member of that person's household.

Fair housing laws cover landlords, their managers, property management companies, mortgage companies, financial institutions, homeowners' insurance companies, cities, counties, housing authorities, and any other entity that provides housing.

People with disabilities have the right to make physical changes--such as ramps, grab bars, or widened doorways--to their housing unit if such changes are needed, but most landlords do not have to pay for these changes. Landlords do have that obligation in certain subsidized housing. Landlords must make other reasonable exceptions to rules that interfere with a disabled person's ability to live comfortably in his or her home.

A housing provider may establish reasonable occupancy limits. Landlords may set reasonable rules about the behavior of tenants; those rules cannot single out children for restrictions that do not apply also to adults.

More information about fair housing laws is available for both landlords and tenants from the Fair Housing Council of Oregon at 503-223-8295 in the Portland Metropolitan Area or 1-800-424-3247 elsewhere in Oregon; landlords can also call Multifamily Housing Council; the Oregon State Bar Lawyer Referral Service or Metro Multi Family Housing hotline.

This information is from the Oregon State Bar's Tel-law service, a collection of recorded legal information messages prepared by the lawyers of Oregon. In addition to being online, the Tel-law service is accessible by telephone at 503-620-3000 or toll-free in Oregon only, 1-800-452-4776. A touch tone phone allows direct access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To receive a free Tel-law brochure listing the subjects available call 503-620-0222, ext. 0.