HUD announced on 23 October 2026 a Voluntary Compliance Agreement (VCA) with Multnomah County, Oregon (Portland) and the county’s Homeless Services Department (MCHSD). HUD’s investigation alleged violations of sections 804(a)–(c) of the Fair Housing Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. It alleged the county prioritised “BIPOC households” for homelessness services through a screening tool that “assigned points based on an applicant’s interest in culturally specific services, a proxy for race or national origin.”

What the county agreed to

  • Within 7 days: remove from the Multnomah Services and Screening Tool (MSST) any points or weighting “based in whole or in part on race, color, and national origin”, including points for interest in culturally specific services, and the questions about it. Change the language-barrier criterion from “English as a second language” to “language barriers”.
  • Within 30 days: certify the changes to HUD. Within 30 days of the new tool, rescore households assessed under the old one and set new Priority Housing Pool thresholds without regard to race, colour, national origin or a preference for culturally specific services.
  • No steering of people to or away from programs based on race, colour or national origin.
  • Within 90 days: at least four hours of fair-housing training for staff who run Coordinated Access, the MSST or the Priority Housing Pool. Website non-discrimination language and reporting to HUD.
  • Term: three years.
All Respondents deny the allegations and admit no wrongdoing … This Agreement does not constitute a finding by the Department. — VCA, HUD Inquiry 886542

It was signed for the county by MCHSD Director Nathaniel VerGow and Chief Operating Officer Chris Neal on 20 October, and for HUD by Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor on 21 October.

Citizen impact: People waiting for housing in the Portland area will be rescored under the revised tool, and where they rank in the Priority Housing Pool may change. The county keeps its federal funding eligibility as long as it does not breach the agreement.

What this piece refuses

HUD made no finding of discrimination, and the county admits none. We do not report this as a ruling or a penalty. We have not used advocacy claims about who will gain or lose placements, because the agreement contains no such figures.

Bottom line

Multnomah County will strip race-proxy points from its homeless-housing screening within a week and rescore applicants, under a three-year HUD agreement it signed without admitting wrongdoing.