Oregon Eviction Moratorium Extended Until June 30th

As Oregon continued to fight the Coronavirus pandemic, the State of Oregon is doing its part to keep people off the streets during winter by recently extending the controversial eviction moratorium until June 30^th thanks to the passage of House Bill 4401.

Although previous extensions of the eviction moratorium were automatic, for tenants to benefit from this extension, they must sign a form sworn declaration of financial hardship and deliver that form to their landlords.

This move by Oregon’s legislature mirrors what’s happening in California and other states because most states don’t want to end their eviction moratoriums because they know that would potentially lead to thousands of renters being on the street.

About The Eviction Moratorium Extension

Thankfully, landlords were not ignored in House Bill 4401 because $150 million has been set aside for landlords that have been affected during the Covid-19 pandemic.

To qualify for this money, a landlord must be willing to forgive up to 80% of the back rent that their tenants owe and some landlords are not willing to do that but this could change as the eviction moratorium stretches into July.

What’s not covered with the current eviction moratorium is foreclosures. As of today, nothing is on the table to stop foreclosures in Oregon so it’s likely that we could see that adversely affect the rental market because if some landlords end up in foreclosure, their tenants may end up on the streets.

What Comes Next For The Portland Rental Market?

There’s no denying that Covid-19 has affected the local rental market because a virus that was supposed to originally last for 14 days, has now lasted for 9 months.

All landlords and tenants can do right now are continue to work together, while they utilize the resources that the Local, State and Federal Government have made available to them.

Like other people in the PDX area, we’re also hopeful that the vaccine will be distributed in the Portland area so that life in the City of Roses can begin to get back to normal in 2021 and we can move on as a city from the turmoil of 2020.