Oregon Rental Market Update – Legislature Approves New Rent Assistance And Eviction Protections
With the end of the year around the corner, the Oregon legislature recently approved $215 million in funding to extend protections for Oregon renters who are facing eviction.
The funding comes at the right time as renters in Portland and across the state have been waiting for the state to deliver more funding since the end of the CDC eviction moratorium.
What Does The New Oregon Rental Assistance Include?
Lawmakers earmarked $100 million for rent assistance, another $5 million to the state housing agency to speed its processing of aid applications and $10 million toward a fund to pay landlords even if their tenants don’t get rent assistance. They also funneled $100 million toward long-term renter protections and eviction prevention efforts.
The bill will also extend evictions protections for renters who have applied for aid. Renters will be protected from evictions from the time they apply until their application has been processed, discarding the 60-day eviction delay currently in place.
In its one-day special session, the second this year, the Legislature also approved a $100 million drought relief package, including $40 million to help farmers waiting for federal aid, $12 million in good assistance for residents of the Klamath Basin, $9.7 million in drought relief on Klamath tribal lands and $1 million for farmers of color.
The Good And Bad
Even though extra rental assistance and provisions for renters are a good thing, the reality is that the State of Oregon is still behind when it comes to paying out that assistance to renters due to software issues that have delayed the payments.
Sadly, many renters who have applied for rental assistance are also facing the expiration of their ‘safe harbor period’, a timeframe that was supposed to give the State of Oregon more enough time to get rental assistance in their hands so that they can avoid eviction.
Besides dealing with the fallout from the pandemic, Oregon still lacks new rental inventory and the lack of inventory has been seen as being one reason for high rents across the state.
The legislature knows that Oregon’s rental inventory issue must be addressed sooner, rather than later but for now state representatives are eager stop mass evictions across the streets and keep tenants housed during winter.
Contact Rent Portland Homes – Professionals
With many issues affecting the rental market at once, it’s more important than ever before for landlords across the State of Oregon to have a property manager professionally managing their rental properties.
To learn more about the property management services that Rent Portland Homes professionals can offer you, contact us today by calling (503) 447-7735 or click here!
