On Dec. 1 2021, Oregon Housing and Community Services closed the rental aid application portal. At the time, state officials claimed that all $289 million in funding had been exhausted. Later that month, Oregon legislators approved an additional $100 million in rent assistance.
Earlier this month, the state housing agency reported that 81% of available funds ($235 million) had been paid to 33,770 households, with more than 14,700 applications on hold for processing. The agency also reported that the remaining funds will cover up to 9,300 of those applications and what remains of the additional $100 million will cover the rest.
A change in leadership over the agency has also been announced: Director Margaret Salazar will rejoin the Biden administration, this time as an administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Northwest region.
Starting this Wednesday, Jan. 26, the agency will reopen applications for rental assistance, and expects the system to remain open for about a month, or until all funds are claimed.
Andrea Bell, the agency’s director of housing stabilization, told OPB that “production has been at full scale” in terms of disbursing checks to renters in need; the private contractor the state uses to process applications doubled its disbursement output from $21 million in November to $42 million in December.
Bell noted that despite additional anticipated funding from the federal government, the housing department expects demand to outpace the financial resources available.
“I think it’s going to be really important as we get those resources to make sure that we continue to have a full accounting of what’s actually available, and continue to bring truth and transparency to that,” said Bell.
By Grace Miller
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