Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has rightly announced she will declare a housing state of emergency in Oregon on her first day in office. State lawmakers also have identified the housing crisis as a top priority for the 2023 legislative session.
This is welcome news as too many of our neighbors live in cars or tents due to the lack of affordable housing in our communities. As we work towards long-term solutions by increasing housing supply, and to address the immediate crisis of people living outside, we must take swift and decisive action to prevent even more people being forced to live in cars, tents or shelters. Too many Oregonians are teetering on the edge of homelessness with potentially a few hundred dollars meaning the difference between sleeping under a tarp or under their own roofs.
The problems with rental housing in our state are becoming more stark. Evictions have skyrocketed after expiration of pandemic related protections for tenants. In September, the state announced that the 2023 allowable rent increase will be 14.6%. This has sent shockwaves throughout the state. Notices have already started arriving. How can people on fixed incomes and low-wage jobs ever hope to pay such an increase?
In reality, a notice of a rent increase this high can be a defacto eviction notice for many, and in a state with high rents and low vacancy rates, replacement housing is hard to come by. According to the Government Accountability Office a $100 median rent increase is associated with a 9% increase in the estimated homelessness rate.
Nearly four in 10 Oregonians rent their homes and 51% of them already do not have enough money left over after paying the rent for food, child care, transportation, health care, taxes, and other necessities. When this many people are teetering on the edge, the slightest change could easily spiral out of control.
Extreme rent increases are allowed under Oregon’s current rent laws. In 2019, the Legislature passed a law which said allowable rent increases every year can be a maximum of inflation plus 7 percentage points. But as we know now, with inflation going through the roof, that limit is simply too high.
Additionally, the law has a loophole that allows unlimited rent increases in properties less than 15 years old. That’s why tenants in a Portland building faced 50% increases last October.
At JOIN, we know how evictions and high rent rates increase homelessness. We see between 75 and 100 people every day coming to our day center for help and JOIN’s outreach workers can be in contact with hundreds of people. The trend is very clear: we are seeing a lot of new homelessness and it’s not uncommon for people to cite COVID-19 evictions and/or rent-increases they couldn’t afford. I, personally, receive numerous emails per week asking for rent-assistance with pleas that indicate that if they can’t get their rent paid, they will be on the streets.Those requests are increasing every single week.
According to the Oregon Law Center’s Eviction Defense Project, in December, the average monthly eviction rates were 43% higher than in 2019. Most of the evictions are due to rents not being paid on time. That’s in large part because the timelines are too short for tenants to get help and, as reported recently, landlords are once again refusing to accept back rent payments, a practice that was prohibited during the pandemic.
Our homelessness problem in Oregon was already out of control and without swift action from the state legislature, it could continue to get exponentially worse. Lawmakers must pass a reasonable rent increase limit and reform eviction laws. We need to go back to giving people 10 days — not 72 hours — to make the rent after getting a notice. That gives people time to navigate our complicated rent assistance system to get the help they need to address lease violations. And when tenants have money in hand to pay the rent — those payments should not be rejected.
Also key to success is a homeless prevention package that increases affordable housing supply, adjusts the rent limits to reasonable levels and closes loopholes, making the eviction process more fair, and increasing rent assistance, among other steps. 2023 can be a turning point in Oregon’s attempts to ensure everyone in our state has a safe and stable place to call home.