Portland’s Housing and Permitting Committee spent about two hours Sept. 15 reviewing the city’s mandatory renter-relocation policy.
Tenant advocates asked the city to make landlords pay relocation assistance when raising rent by 5% or more, rather than the current 10% trigger.
However, the committee did not vote on the proposal, and no ordinance changing the threshold has been introduced or approved. The meeting was an informational briefing and public feedback session.
The city created the program in response to rapidly increasing rents and concerns that large rent increases and no-cause terminations were displacing Portland renters. The policy was made permanent in 2018.
Tenant advocates seek lower threshold
During public testimony, renter advocates argued that the existing 10% threshold is too high and no longer provides meaningful protection from displacement.
Jamie Evenstar, who described herself as an author of several Portland tenant-protection policies, urged the city to reduce the threshold to 5%. She said rent increases above approximately 5% to 7% can push an average renter into severe housing-cost burden.
Small landlord urges caution
The committee also heard from Mariah Hudson, who identified herself as a small landlord with one rental property.
Hudson urged councilors to complete the city’s broader review of landlord-tenant regulations before making changes to the relocation ordinance.
She said her fixed operating costs increased 4.3% during the previous year and that she recently spent $6,700 replacing an HVAC system. A 5% relocation threshold would leave small landlords with limited room to cover increasing taxes, insurance, maintenance and repair costs, she said.
Portland Housing Bureau staff told councilors they are conducting a broader evaluation of the city’s landlord-tenant policies. That review includes the relocation program and the city’s Fair Access in Renting requirements.
Committee Chair Candace Avalos said the city plans to hold a series of renter-feedback events in November before developing a possible package of landlord-tenant policy changes.
Any reduction in the relocation threshold would require additional council action. For now, Portland’s trigger remains a rent increase of 10% or more within a 12-month period.
The Sept. 15 briefing and renter forum were placed on file without a committee recommendation or vote.
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