Are Pandemic Eviction Protections Finished In Oregon? Yes And No
The State of Oregon faces one common problem that can be found in California and many other states nationwide, a pending eviction tsunami due to expiring Pandemic era eviction protections.
There’s no denying that the eviction crisis in Oregon is dire, therefore renters and tenant advocates recently met to urge Oregon lawmakers to revive eviction protections that were in use during the Pandemic.
Will they be successful at bringing back Covid-19 era eviction protections? If Senate Bill 799 is passed, it could force landlords to postpone evictions for not paying rent up to 60 days while their tenants seek rental assistance or seek alternative housing.
A Problem That Won’t Go Away
Evictions have to happen sooner, rather than later because it’s the only way to restore the rental market back to where it was pre-March 2020 but lawmakers and renters advocate groups are working hard to postpone evictions for as long as possible.
This is understandable since nobody wants to see renters on the street, especially during the middle of winter, but the reality is that landlords can’t spend another year not collecting rent from their tenants.
About Senate Bill 799
Senate Bill 799, discussed in the Senate Housing Committee, would postpone evictions for not paying rent for up to 60 days while tenants seek rental assistance, and it would require courts to set aside certain eviction judgments. Lawmakers will work to compromise on the bill, said committee chair Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland.
“It’s my intention to make sure we have some sort of protection being passed this session for eviction prevention, but I also understand that this is a really complicated issue,” Jama said.
The measure is a response to evictions skyrocketing since protections for tenants expired last fall. Oregon had a moratorium on evictions for not paying rent from April 2020 until June 2021. That was replaced by a safe harbor law, extended several times, that guaranteed tenants who applied for rental assistance weren’t evicted while waiting for their applications to be processed.
Beginning Oct. 1, 2022, landlords were able to resume giving tenants notices of either 72 hours or 144 hours to pay their overdue rent or move out – 72 hours when their rent is eight days overdue and 144 hours or six days when it is five days overdue. The bill would change those notice periods to 10 or 13 days.
And if a tenant applied for rental assistance, the bill would trigger a 60-day safe harbor period. Tenants couldn’t be evicted for nearly two months while waiting on state or local organizations to process their applications.
Contact Rent Portland Homes – Professionals
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