Tipsheet

Here's Why a Disabled Woman Is Suing the City of Portland

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  May 14, 2026 2:15 PM

Michele Mei has cerebrovascular disease and other illnesses, conditions that limit her ability to work. She's struggled with unstable housing since 2018, when she left an abusive relationship. Despite her well-documented disabilities, Mei has been denied rent relief, and it's likely because of her race.

Mei is WHite, and on the city's prioritization rubric, she gets a low score because she's not Black, Hispanic, LGBTQ, or some other DEI demogrpahic.

Mei is suing.

Here's more:

A disabled woman is suing the homeless services department in Multnomah County, Oregon, after she was denied rent relief due to her low score on the county's race-based prioritization rubric, which awards more points for requesting "culturally specific services"—including "BIPOC"-focused housing—than for having a disability.

Michele Mei, a white woman with cerebrovascular disease, filed the lawsuit after she was told that she did not meet the cutoff for housing assistance, Fox 12 Oregon reported last month. The complaint came in the wake of an investigation by Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries, which found "substantial evidence of an unlawful housing practice on the basis of disability." Home Forward, Portland's public housing corporation, is also a defendant in the lawsuit.

Multnomah County uses a points-based rubric to prioritize applicants for housing assistance. Under the rubric, obtained exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon, having a disability only counts for 1 point, whereas "interest in culturally specific services" counts for 2.

Simply incredible.

The rubric is insane.

It's racism embedded into the city's policies.

"Equity" means the Left's preferred socioeconomic groups win, and those they dislike lose.

Of course, Mei could have lied and said she identified as LGBTQ+ or some other preferred demographic. Instead, she's pushing to enact change and fairness for all people.