Evictions are on the rise in Oregon and experts say vulnerable communities will be disproportionately impacted. Eviction filings have climbed in recent months and researchers and housing advocates alike anticipate an ever-sharper rise in coming months. In January, there were 806 eviction filings in Oregon circuit courts — more than double the 306 filings in January 2021. The actual number of evictions is likely even higher, because some evictions are filed in non-circut courts, and some evictions aren’t challenged in court at all.
While the latest pandemic surge is leveling out in Oregon, the financial fallout of the past two years continues to disrupt people’s lives — and income. Many pandemic renter protections have fallen away, and a corresponding end of various programs to offset financial hardship during the pandemic is likely to precede more housing instability.
Now, with eviction rates already rising, another protection just ended: the grace period for renters with accrued back rent. The state’s protection for renters, enacted by Oregon Senate Bill 282, ended Feb. 28. With its end, tenants will be responsible for accumulated back rent.
“This deadline is very important. We’ve been sounding the alarm for months now,” Kim McCarty, executive director of the Community Alliance of Tenants, said. “Because the circumstances haven’t changed, right? There is still a public health emergency, even if it’s not officially declared. There are still people out of work, still people who have to stay home because of sick kids or because teachers aren’t there.”
Those who have been granted emergency rental assistance, or have an application still being processed, will have an extended grace period. Renters can learn more about emergency rental assistance and grace periods at the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or OERAP.
On Feb. 16, the alliance released a statement to lawmakers warning of a substantial housing crisis and requesting a $100 million allocation for housing stability and homelessness prevention in the upcoming 2022 legislative session. More than 30 organizations signed on in support of the bill.
Last week, Democrats introduced a $400 million housing stability spending bill in the Oregon legislature’s short session. The bill would allocate $80 million to address imminent homeless needs, including rapid rehousing and shelter infrastructure and operations.
If passed, another $50 million would be used to continue Project Turnkey, which would fund the acquisition of hotels and other buildings to be converted into shelter or housing, and $25 million would support local government programs for shelter capacity and homelessness outreach.
The proposal comes when many indicators suggest a high level of need.
"This deadline is very important. We’ve been sounding the alarm for months now ... There is still a public health emergency, even if it’s not officially declared. There are still people out of work, still people who have to stay home because of sick kids, or because teachers aren’t there.”
— Kim McCarty, Executive Director Community Alliance of Tenants
“Since COVID began, we have seen a historical rise in need for the types of support we offer — food, cash, daycare support,” Jake Sunderland, press secretary for the Oregon Department of Human Services, told Street Roots.
Already, the alliance says Oregon is contending with rising rents, lack of housing and rates of homelessness that are among the highest in the nation.
OERAP reopened Jan. 26 with additional funding, and had already received 6,941 new applications by Feb. 9.
The most recent U.S. Census Pulse Survey found an estimated 8.1% of adults in Oregon experienced food insecurity in the past week, meaning there was sometimes or often not enough to eat.
Census data collected between Jan. 26 and Feb. 7 also estimates another 107,000 adults — 4.8% of the population — are living in households that are not current on rent or mortgage payments and have slight or no confidence their household can pay on time next month. For 36.8% of those not current on housing-related bills, eviction or foreclosure in the next two months is very likely or somewhat likely.
“Everything that happened to us two years ago is happening today,” McCarty said. “The financial impacts are the same. It can lead to folks not being able to pay their rent, and as a result, they could become homeless.”
It’s likely the recent expiration of the back rent grace period will result in more evictions, said Lisa Bates, associate professor at Portland State University.
“There are more tenants who are behind on rent than who are not paying in the current month,” Bates said. “It’s harder to pull together multiple months of rent to pay arrears than to pay the month. So when that back rent becomes an eligible reason to file an eviction, I expect to see a lot more filings.”
Bates said knowing how significant the rise will be is still hard to predict. For one thing, the vast majority of renters are making rent so they don’t get evicted, even if this means cutting corners elsewhere. One data set showed among ‘mom and pop’ landlords, 94% of renters have paid their rent, even if some of them paid late, according to Bates.
“It’s really impossible to know what the status of back rent is,” Bates said.
How much is owed — a month or two, several months or more — isn’t known. Some will be able to pay, Bates said, some will have part of their debt and others will have none. Housing stability was an issue long before the pandemic started. Pandemic resources, in particular emergency rent assistance, temporarily halted an eviction wave happening before the pandemic even began.
“Evictions are still well below
pre-pandemic levels, and emergency rent assistance is only a temporary program,” Bates said. “So yes, eviction cases are likely to rise as tenants continue to experience job loss, reduced hours, and other life challenges as pandemic recovery continues.”
There is clear evidence the need is high and clear evidence historically vulnerable people will bear the brunt of inequity.
“We know that evictions disproportionately affect low-income folks,” Bates said. “Most especially people of color, so expect more displacement of families and communities, more people doubling up or attempting to go to shelters.”
Bates’ characterization is clearly the case in Portland, where evictions between July and September last year were concentrated in low-income communities in North and Southeast Portland, and rents are still rising in high-cost areas.
In a 2021 report on housing stability, Oregon Housing and Community Services found vulnerable populations experienced a disproportionate amount of instability.
“Oregon’s housing affordability crisis is leaving communities of color, those with disabilities, and older Oregonians with disproportionately greater unmet housing need,” the report found. “Housing planning systems that focus only on income will fail to acknowledge systemic racism and other forms of discrimination that lead to the inequities evidenced in this analysis.”
Oregon’s 35-day legislative session is underway, and legislators will soon vote on the budget and potentially support millions in funding to assist lower-income communities. If funding isn’t allocated to ensure housing stability, advocates say, the outcome could be grim.
“Eviction is profoundly destabilizing for people and communities,” Bates said. “Eviction makes people poor, and it keeps people poor. It disrupts jobs, education, family life; it damages health; it creates houselessness.”