Eviction in Oregon: Is There A Solution?

A deadly plague has infected almost as many people in the last 30 days as were infected in the rest of 2020. People sit trapped in their homes, unable to earn a living. Landlords grow desperate for their own living, which depends on people being able to pay their rent. 

The Oregon State Legislature imposed a moratorium on evictions to expire at the end of the year. The State Senate is prepared to gather virtually to take up a bill which might be able to stave off mass evictions, but with December 31 just weeks away, some people are wondering if that special session will ever happen. 

A report by KLCC looked into the proposed solutions to this catastrophe waiting to happen. 

On Dec. 4, a group of tenants facing eviction and other people who feel strongly that the Legislature must act before the end of the year held a press conference.  

Mike Grigsby-Lane of Portland said that he had lost his sole source of income when his husband died in May. Since then, to pay his rent, “I sold everything I could think of, I used savings. I used all of my retirement. I cut back on absolutely everything: medicine, food. I’m now a couple months behind, and I’m not sure what to do here. But what I do know…is that COVID-19 is not going to magically end at the stroke of midnight on Dec. 31.” He expressed concern, not only for where he would go if he loses his home, but how he could ever find another place to live even after he had a source of income, since any potential landlord would know that he had been evicted for failing to pay his rent. 

Asked about the session, Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland) was dubious, saying to KLCC that before the session could begin, “you need to have the votes lined up.” An owner of rental properties herself, Burdick is dubious of simply prohibiting evictions, since if renters don’t pay their rent, landlords “can’t pay the mortgage.” 

In order to allow the Legislature to convene remotely, Gov. Kate Brown would have to invoke Article X-A of the state constitution, declaring a “state of catastrophic emergency” for the first time in the state’s history. Members of the Legislature disagree on whether bills passed during such an extraordinary session would need a three-fifths majority to pass, or if a simple majority was all that would be required. That uncertainty is one reason Senators are dubious about meeting for such a session. 

Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward (D-Portland), said to KLCC, “The House tends to work on a lot of ideas that are dramatic, progressive and big and bold and then the Senate doesn’t really have much time to consider them, and that leaves us in an awkward position. I want to see the bill, I want to read it. I want to point out unintended consequences and I want to ask questions so someone can point if I’m wrong.” 

The proposal would create a fund to compensate landlords for as much of 80% rent which tenants were unable to pay, provided the rent due was forgiven, and the tenants filed a sworn statement that they were suffering such extreme financial hardship that they were unable to pay rent. Indications are that any fund established would not contain enough money to cover all of the tenants who were in need of rent relief. 

KLCC reported that Sen. Lee Beyer (D-Springfield) suggested a different path that would have a similar outcome, if Brown issues an executive order extending the moratorium as she has already. “I think, quite frankly, if she were to extend it until say March and landlords challenged it, it would probably take them that long to get through the courts anyway and that would give the Legislature time to deal with it” after the next regularly scheduled session begins on Jan. 19. 

Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) has yet another bill to propose, in which landlords would forgive rent which is currently past due, in exchange for landlords receiving tax credits in 2021. “This has to be equitable on both sides,” Johnson said to KLCC, and said she thought her bill “comes closer than other proposals that have been offered” to achieving a solution. Johnson’s suggested fix has the support of the large landlords’ group “Multifamily NW.” 

Any proposal which postpones legislative action until Jan. 19 runs the risk of impatient landlords evicting tenants promptly on the first of the month, when the moratorium expires. 

“I wonder if people who don’t want to come in [for a special session] have really tried to picture what Oregon looks like in January and February if there is no extension of the moratorium,” Sen. Jeff Golden (D-Ashland) said to KLCC. “Can you imagine the current status quo, except colder weather, likely more disease and significantly more people on the streets?” 

For her part, Brown, who is seemingly expected by every State Senator to do something, even if they disagree on what she should do, appears to be disappointed in the State Senate. “I want to see support, frankly, from Democrats and Republicans.”