住房与城市发展部与俄勒冈州 Multnomah 县达成自愿合规协议：无家可归服务不得按种族国籍分配
美国住房与城市发展部（HUD）10月23日宣布，已与俄勒冈州 Multnomah 县及该县无家可归服务部门达成自愿合规协议（VCA）。协议认定，该县此前按种族、肤色和国籍向无家可归人群分配援助的做法，违反《公平住房法》与1964年《民权法》第六章，县方同意停止这一做法。
HUD 表示，其公平住房与平等机会办公室（FHEO）今年5月启动调查，发现该县使用一套带 DEI 积分的制度为居民申请无家可归服务排序，以不合法的考量决定谁先获得住房资源。HUD 称，联邦伙伴机构在短时间内完成调查并促成协议解决。
按协议，Multnomah 县必须删除以种族、肤色和国籍优先排序的登记问题与评分细则；对可能曾因种族或美国国籍出身被排除的申请人重新评分；并确保相关雇员与服务提供者接受公平住房培训。HUD 表示将继续监督该县的合规情况。
HUD 在公告中说，该县名为「Multnomah Services and Screening Tool」的工具设立了住房资源「优先池」，对申请者「有兴趣接受文化特定服务」、以「英语为第二语言」等项加分，HUD 认为这些实际上是种族与国籍的替代指标。
住房与城市发展部长 Scott Turner 表示，HUD 要确保地方政府用联邦资金按需要服务弱势公民，而不是以新的非法 DEI 歧视形式分配。公平住房与平等机会助理部长 Craig Trainor 表示，歧视不会因为被塞进评分系统、筛选工具或官僚变通办法里就变得合法。
来源：GSM·美国
HUD Announces Voluntary Compliance Agreement With Multnomah County, Oregon
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced on October 23 that Multnomah County, Oregon, and the Multnomah County Homeless Services Department have agreed to stop dispensing assistance to the county's homeless population based on race, color, and national origin, which HUD said violated the Fair Housing Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
HUD said its Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) launched an investigation in May into the county for prioritizing residents for homelessness services using a DEI points system that, in HUD's words, picked winners and losers based on unlawful considerations. HUD said it investigated and resolved the matter in record time with its federal partners.
Under the Voluntary Compliance Agreement, the county is required to remove intake questions and scoring rubrics that prioritize applicants for housing assistance based on race, color, and national origin; to rescore applicants who may have been excluded based on their race or American national origin; and to ensure relevant employees and service providers receive fair housing training. HUD said it will continue to monitor the county for compliance.
HUD said the county's Multnomah Services and Screening Tool created a Priority Housing Pool for housing resources and awarded points to applicants for interest in culturally specific services and speaking English as a second language, which appeared to be proxies for race and national origin.
"HUD is ensuring that local governments use federal dollars to serve vulnerable citizens based on need, not new forms of unlawful DEI discrimination," Secretary Scott Turner said. Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor said discrimination does not become lawful because it is smuggled into a scoring system, screening tool, or bureaucratic workaround.
Source: GSM·America
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：美国住房与城市发展部总部 Robert C. Weaver 联邦大楼，位于华盛顿。 Photo: Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
