Oregon lawmakers are in session at this moment, on the docket is a proposal for extending Oregon’s tenant eviction ban. Currently, the Oregon eviction ban is scheduled to end at the end of 2020, however, Oregon lawmakers are proposing to extend the band until July 1, 2021.
From the Portland Business Journal article by Jonathan Bach:
Oregon’s ban on evictions is set to expire at the end of this year. The proposal would make a revised iteration of the ban good through the end of June. It also would set up a “landlord-based compensation fund” whereby landlords could apply through the state’s housing finance agency to get rent assistance on behalf of rent-owing tenants.
Under the proposal, smaller landlords and those with higher percentages of unpaid rent would take priority. Landlords would have to forgive 20% of past-due rent, and officials would only help with back rents.
One apartment owner told me:
“The state is taking away the right to enter into a contract (between landlords and tenants), and forcing owners to petition the government to use their own property.”
It also appears the state is forcing tenants to petition the government to allow them to not pay rents, as they would have to certify that they are experiencing “hardship” to qualify.
From the Business Journal article:
“To avoid getting evicted, tenants who qualify would have to pay all their back rents by July 1 of next year. This comes after the state housing finance agency on Thursday announced a $20 million pool of money for homeowners in need of mortgage assistance through forgivable loans. That effort, called the Oregon Homeownership Stabilization Initiative, is open for applications.”
Jonathan Bach indicates the proposal is not in it’s final form as of the publication time.
