Secretary-Initiated Investigation of the Multnomah County Homeless Services Department

May 29, 2026
By Certified U.S. Mail and Email
Nathaniel VerGow, Director
Multnomah County Homeless Services Department
209 SW 4th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97204
hsd@multco.us
RE: Secretary-Initiated Investigation of the Multnomah County
Homeless Services Department
Dear Mr. VerGow:
I am the Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, and I
write to notify you that, pursuant to the Fair Housing Act,1 the United States
Department of Housing and Urban Development is initiating an investigation into
the Homeless Services Department (HSD) of Multnomah County, Oregon (the
County). Under the historic leadership of President Donald J. Trump, “it is the policy
of the United States to protect the civil rights of all Americans.”2 That mandate
includes ensuring nationwide compliance with the Fair Housing Act and Title VI of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Under the Fair Housing Act, it is illegal to “make unavailable or deny[] a
dwelling to any person because of race … or national origin.”3 It is also illegal to
“cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement,
with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference,
limitation, or discrimination based on” race or national origin.4 Homeless shelters
and supportive housing can be dwellings covered by the Act.5 Title VI prohibits racial
and national origin discrimination in “any program or activity receiving Federal
financial assistance.”6
According to the County, HSD provides “equitable services for people
experiencing or at risk of homelessness.”7 HSD operates a “Priority Housing Pool”
(PHP) to distribute housing resources to the City of Portland’s outsized homeless
1 42 U.S.C. § 3610(a)(1)(A)(iii).
2 Exec. Order No. 14173, 90 C.F.R. 8633 (Jan. 21, 2025) (cleaned up).
3 42 U.S.C. § 3604(a).
442 U.S.C. § 3604(c).
5 Turning Point, Inc. v. City of Caldwell, 74 F.3d 941, 942 (9th Cir. 1996); Boykin v. Gray, 895 F.
Supp. 2d 199, 207 (D.D.C.2012); 24 C.F.R. § 100.201.
6 42 U.S.C. § 2000d.
7 Multnomah Cnty., About the Homeless Servs. Dep’t, https://hsd.multco.us/who-we-are/,
[https://perma.cc/MN28-Q3W4] (last accessed May 18, 2026).
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
Office of Special Investigations
2415 Eisenhower Avenue
Alexandria, Virginia 22314

Mr. VerGow
May 29, 2026
Page 2 of 4
population.8 The PHP “is the list of prioritized households” eligible to be referred for
housing services.9
“In Fall 2024, Multnomah County introduced a new, locally designed screening
tool called the Multnomah Screening and Services Tool (MSST).”10 This tool
determines PHP eligibility by assigning points for various factors, and only 25% of
screened households score high enough for eligibility.11 According to recent credible
reporting, the MSST assigns points based on race and national origin.12
By the County’s admission, the “MSST is designed to prioritize” certain people
over others—namely, “BIPOC [black, indigenous, and people of color] households.”13
The MSST rubric awards a total of four points for “interest in culturally specific
services” and speaking “English as a second language”—apparent proxies for race
and national origin, respectively.14 By contrast, having “no income,” being “homeless
[for] 12+ months,” or having “a disability” garner citizens only one point each.15 Under
this reported rubric, the County’s points-based system prioritizes race over need
when determining who will receive housing resources.
Local housing providers reflect the County’s priorities by offering apartments
segregated by race or national origin. One apartment markets “culturally specific
housing for the chronically displaced BIPOC community,”16 and another states “[a]ll
units” in its building will house “people experiencing or at risk of homelessness who
request culturally specific services for BIPOC residents.”17 Another development with
150 units will “focus on immigrant and refugee communities, specifically Muslim and
East and North African households.”18
Given the County’s preoccupation with race and national origin, it is
unsurprising that Portland’s “culturally specific organizations” openly deliberate—
and potentially conspire—about overcoming the “challenges” of “Fair Housing rules”
8 Multnomah Cnty., Homeless Servs. Dep’t Inventory-Based Threshold Setting and Priority Housing
Pool FAQs, 1 https://hsd.multco.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Priority-Pool-FAQ-External-1.pdf,
[https://perma.cc/ZNY8-PEQ3] (last accessed May 18, 2026).
9 Id.
10 Id. at 2.
11 Id. at 3.
12 Aaron Sibarium, Exclusive: In Cities Across America, Homeless Services Are Doled Out Based on
Race and Sexual Identity, WASH. FREE BEACON, Apr. 29, 2026, https://freebeacon.com/america/
exclusive-in-cities-across-america-homeless-services-are-doled-out-based-on-race-and-sexual-
identity/.
13 Multnomah Cnty., supra note 8, at 3.
14 Sibarium, supra note 12.
15 Sibarium, supra note 12.
16 Sera Design, Hattie Redmond Apartments, https://www.seradesign.com/projects/hattie-redmond-
apartments/, [https://perma.cc/5C4C-W9N5] (last accessed May 18, 2026).
17 Home Forward, Kathleen Saadat Apartments, https://www.homeforward.org/kathleen-saadat-
apartments/, [https://perma.cc/NWN4-DJYP] (last accessed May 18, 2026).
18 Housing Bond Progress Report for City of Portland, 8, https://www.portland.gov/phb/documents/
2024-metro-bond-annual-progress-report/download, [https://perma.cc/F59F-SWRG] (last accessed
May 18, 2026).

Mr. VerGow
May 29, 2026
Page 3 of 4
that “prohibit landlords from targeting housing to specific cultural communities (or
to, say, refugees).”19
Whatever the County’s motivations, the United States Supreme Court recently
reaffirmed that the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause “almost never permits …
a State to discriminate on the basis of race.”20 With two exceptions not relevant here,
race cannot “play any part in government decisionmaking.”21 Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 “bears independent force beyond the Equal Protection Clause,”
prohibiting recipients of federal funds from engaging in “racial discrimination to any
degree or for any purpose.”22 The Fair Housing Act brings the same force to bear
against housing providers. Under that Act, “discrimination based on intentional
consideration of race is illegal, even if the defendant was not motivated by personal
prejudice or racial animus.”23 The County’s housing services must comply with the
Equal Protection Clause, Title VI, and the Fair Housing Act.
Ultimately, the County’s MSST scheme lays bare its failure to learn “the
lessons of the great decisions of the Supreme Court” and “contemporary history” that
“discrimination on the basis of race is illegal, immoral, unconstitutional, inherently
wrong, and destructive of democratic society.”24 For these reasons, “our Constitution
is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.”25 And yet,
without a hint of self-awareness, while the County fixates on “racial equity,”
“structural racism,” and “equitable outcomes,” it appears to systematically racially
discriminate against a disfavored subset of its homeless residents.26
Based on the publicly available evidence of race- and national origin-based
eligibility criteria for Multnomah County’s housing services, I have directed my Office
of Special Investigations to investigate the County for fair housing and other civil
rights laws violations. Our investigation will determine the extent to which the
County has violated or intends to violate 42 U.S.C. § 3604 and other statutes.
Upon completion of our investigation, the Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity (FHEO) may file a complaint against the County for discrimination
based on race or national origin under the applicable statutes. If FHEO finds
reasonable cause to believe the County has or intends to violate the civil rights of its
19 Housing Development Center, Seven culturally specific organizations grow their knowledge of
affordable housing ownership—together., https://www.hdc-nw.org/news-and-
updates/2025/06/25/seven-culturally-specific-organizations-prepare-for-their-journeys-as-housing-
owners, [https://perma.cc/BT9P-MCYR] (last accessed May 18, 2026).
20 Louisiana v. Callais, Nos. 24-109, 24-110, 2026 WL 1153054, *10 (April 29, 2026).
21 Id. at *4 (emphasis added).
22 Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard Coll., 600 U.S. 181, 310
(2023) (Gorsuch, J., concurring).
23 Hall v. Lowder Realty Co., Inc., 160 F. Supp. 2d 1299, 1318 (M.D. Ala. 2001) (cleaned up).
24 Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 469, 521 (1989) (Scalia, J., concurring) (quoting Alexander
Bickel, The Morality of Consent 133 (1975)) (internal quotation marks omitted).
25 Id. (quoting Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, 559 (1896) (Harlan, J., dissenting)) (internal
quotation marks omitted).
26 Multnomah Cnty., supra note 7.

Mr. VerGow
May 29, 2026
Page 4 of 4
citizens, we will file charges of discrimination or refer the matter to the United States
Department of Justice for further enforcement.
Additionally, this letter serves as a formal demand to preserve all existing and
future records and materials related to the County’s Priority Housing Pool and
related services. You should construe this preservation notice as an instruction to
take reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or alteration, whether intentionally
or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other information, including
electronic information and metadata, that are or may be responsive to the
Department’s investigation. This instruction includes all electronic messages sent
using official and personal accounts or devices, including records created using text
messages, phone-based message applications, or encryption software.
Within ten (10) business days of this letter’s date, FHEO will issue initial
requests for information from the County. Please reach out to
with any questions.
Sincerely,
Craig W. Trainor
Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing
and Equal Opportunity