Multnomah County renters experience significant barriers to housing, and more needs to be done to protect them, according to report presented to the Board of County Commissioners. The results of that report were shown to the Board on Tuesday, Nov. 24, along with recommendations to support renters.
The report’s findings come in the midst of a COVID-19 case surge in Multnomah County and just weeks before the state eviction moratorium ends on Dec. 31, 2020. In the early weeks of the pandemic, more than 20 percent of Oregon’s workforce sought unemployment assistance, including 82,218 individuals in Multnomah County.
Chair Deborah Kafoury commissioned the Multnomah County Renter Relations Project in 2018 in collaboration with the Department of County Human Services. The project funded a limited duration position to analyze the needs of renters in Multnomah County. The goal was to identify how the County could better support renters.
The median income per capita in Multnomah County is $34,848, according to the 2019 Multnomah County Poverty Report. Under the current rental conditions, the average person can afford $871.20 in monthly rent compared to $1,522 for an average one bedroom apartment.
“Renting an apartment is not possible for a lot of people,” said Chelsea DeLoney, who produced the report. “Without a roommate, and with that square footage, you are not achieving much.”
The Renter Relations Project report made numerous observations, including:
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Multnomah County’s rental housing climate creates barriers for many residents.
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High rents, increases and low affordable vacancies cause additional obstacles
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Oregon’s landlord-tenant law is hard to understand and disadvantages renters
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Geographic disparities exist
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There are severe inequities impacting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)
“We acknowledge that everyone experiences barriers, but by leading with race we recognize that BIPOC experience more barriers,” DeLoney said. “It’s a part of the equity strategic plan. It’s a part of our culture at the County.”
The report looked at Oregon’s history and traced exclusionary laws to today’s rental climate. Before Oregon statehood, the territory was viewed as a “white utopia.” In 1850 the Oregon Land Donation Act granted Indigenous-owned land to white settlers. Many exclusionary laws remained legally in effect until 1926, but continued unofficially for decades. As a result of Oregon’s racist history, Black and Indigenous communities are underrepresented in the state.
Today, racial wealth gaps contribute to housing instability and homelessness. Currently, the median net worth of Black families is 10 percent of their white counterparts. Housing and rental disparities reflect that wealth gap, and added barriers for marginalized communities results in devastating long term effects.
“Many people do not know the deep, racist history that Oregon has. And it is absolutely appalling,” Commissioner Lori Stegmann said. “And the more we talk about it, the more we can make the needed changes.”
Information was gathered from more than a dozen meetings with government and partner agencies. The project also included ten community advisory sessions with renters in partnership with Healthy Birth Initiative, Bienestar de la Familia, and Rosewood Initiative. Participants reported themes including confusing language and terminology; personal and institutional barriers; limited supports; and overdevelopment of high-rent apartments.
The project also surveyed a diverse sample of 200 anonymous renters. 196 out of 200 reported having experienced a housing barrier, in part, due to high rent costs, rental screening criteria, evictions, gentrification, discrimination, and unemployment.
Based on analysis and conversations with rents, the report recommends:
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Using the voices of BIPOC renters to drive housing services and policy
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Increasing legal supports for renters, including legal representation for renters facing eviction and establishing a housing court
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Establishing a “Home-Ready/Housing Navigation Program" including peer counselors and transition specialists, and coaching from culturally specific realtors and lenders
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Extending local legal ordinances to the entire county, including relocation support
Board members show support for recommendations
Chair Kafoury noted that some of the report’s recommendations overlap with other county efforts. Housing navigation has also been identified as a priority for stakeholders at the A Home For Everyone Coordinating Board, and will be considered for funding from the recent Here Together supporting housing ballot measure.
Commissioners praised the thoroughness of the report, along with DeLoney’s lived experience that informed it, and expressed widespread support for the recommendations. “There was so much to take away from this and digest,” Commissioner Sharon Meieran said. “I really want to pursue some of the recommendations . . . including the extension of relocation assistance throughout the county.”
“In terms of program recommendations, I have always been a believer that a relatively small investment in legal services takes care of significant barriers for people,” Commissioner Susheela Jayapal said, along with peer support, case management, and an extension of the renter relocation policy. “I, too, am really interested in pursuing those and seeing what we can actually implement.”
“The outside impact that this work has had on the conversation around what is needed for protections, as we make these investments in housing, and homeless services, is reverberating” Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson said, commending DeLoney for giving the Board a roadmap “in order to do this engagement right and better.”
“The question is, do we have the will. Are we willing to politically stand and address these issues and put our money where our mouth is?” Commissioner Stegmann said. “And I say the answer to the two questions is yes.”