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Olympia advances protections for diverse family and relationship structures, enacts new nondiscrimination code on first reading
Summary
Council unanimously approved amendments to unfair housing practices to add family/relationship structure protections and advanced a new city discrimination code (OMC 7.01) to second reading as amended. The measures create civil remedies for discrimination claims based on family relationship structures, including non‑traditional and consensual relationship arrangements.
The Olympia City Council voted on Feb. 24 to add legal protections for diverse family and relationship structures and to forward a new city code against discrimination to a second reading.
City manager Jay Birney and the city attorney presented two companion actions: an amendment to OMC chapter 5.8 (unfair housing practices) to prohibit discrimination on the basis of family relationship structure, and a proposed new chapter 7.01 — the city’s code against discrimination — to codify additional protected categories and provide civil remedies.
“Folks in the community are the reason for this change,” Council member Vanderpool, who sponsored the referral, said. Vanderpool described the proposal as a response to testimony from residents who experience bias and barriers tied to family structure, including polyamorous, multigenerational, blended and single‑parent households.
Mayor Pro Tem Nguyen, a co‑sponsor, said the ordinance gives the policy “teeth” by creating enforceable civil remedies rather than only symbolic declarations. The city manager noted that the final ordinance text will be returned on second reading with a small drafting correction (adding the new family/relationship definitions to a second subsection) as noted on the record.
Both the housing amendment (OMC 5.8) and the new discrimination chapter (7.01, first reading as amended) passed unanimously. The adopted changes add family relationship structure to the list of protected categories and clarify that enforcement is available through civil action rather than city enforcement alone.
Next steps: the discrimination code will return for second reading with the drafting correction; housing protections take effect per city ordinance procedures. Officials said the changes are intended to reduce barriers in housing, services and daily life for residents with nontraditional family arrangements.
Vote note: both measures passed on council voice votes with unanimous support recorded in the meeting transcript.
