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SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | 3A Have 90,000 people gotten rental help under Gov. Brown? Claire Withycombe Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK During Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s fi- nal “State of the State” address on Feb. 3, she listed what she believes are key accomplishments of her seven-year tenure leading the state through a pan- demic, historic wildfires and a conten- tious political atmosphere. “Collaboration, a deep love for Ore- gon and our collective determination to continue making our state a better place for everyone have led to our successes every step of the way,” Brown said. The Statesman Journal is examining some of the governor’s statements for accuracy and to provide context. What Gov. Brown said “In less than a year, we have helped more than 90,000 Oregonians stay safely in their homes.” What we found The federal government has allocat- ed more than $46 billion meant to help low-income Americans who have faced “financial hardship” due to the pandem- ic pay rent. Oregon Housing and Community Services, a state agency, has received $289 million of that so far for emergency rental help. OHCS is distributing that federal money, plus $100 million allocated by the state Legislature in mid-December, through the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or OERAP. Oregon opened up applications for the emergency rental assistance pro- gram May 19. It started distributing the money in mid-June. Oregon had distributed $256 million to about 36,000 households as of Jan. 26, according to the state. According to Oregon Housing and Community Services, that corresponds to about 94,600 Oregonians. (As of Feb. 8, after Brown gave her speech, about 39,000 households have received pay- ments). The department estimates the num- ber of people in households by using in- formation tenants provide in their ap- plications, Delia Hernandez, a spokes- person for OHCS, said. “Every applicant is required to enter the number of people in their household so that an appropriate income level can be found for them,” Hernandez said in an email to the Statesman Journal. Robert Quandt, a UPS employee in Tigard, holds a sign during a 2019 rally for affordable housing at the Oregon State Capitol. MICHAELA ROMÁN / STATESMAN JOURNAL The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sets limits on in- come for eligibility for the program, based on the number of people in a household, Hernandez said. Separately, the Oregon Legislature in late 2020 set aside $200 million in relief for tenants and landlords, which was distributed in 2021. The state’s housing agency estimates 32,000 households were helped with that money. Our analysis Brown’s statement is true, and in fact may understate the number of people who have been provided rental help. It also leaves out some context about the emergency rental help program. Outmatched by the demand for help and beset by technical problems, the state has struggled to quickly get money into the hands of people who need it. According to attorneys from the Ore- gon Law Center, hundreds of people in the state were evicted while waiting for the state funds to come through. The state’s 60-day “safe harbor” period wasn’t enough to give the state time to catch up with the backlog. Brown called an emergency meeting of the Legislature in December — her fifth in her seven years as governor — to extend eviction protections for Orego- nians who applied for rental help but hadn’t received money and to restart the rental help program with an additional $100 million. As of Feb. 8, about 15,977 applica- tions are still waiting for processing by the state, according to Oregon’s online dashboard. That means they’ve applied for help, but the state is waiting for more information from the landlord or tenant, or the state is reviewing the application. About 6,900 of those are waiting for review because they were submitted af- ter Jan. 26, when the application portal reopened after a two-month closure, and the state is paying those requests based on need first. The Oregon Secretary of State’s Of- fice, which houses government audi- tors, is planning to audit the rental as- sistance program. “The state is facing criticism for stop- ping the application process for these funds even though it has been reported Oregon was one of the timeliest states issuing rental assistance,” the draft au- dit plan for 2022-23 says. “Issues cited by legislators and other stakeholders in- clude technical challenges with rental assistance software and public commu- nication challenges.” This story is one in a series of articles checking statements in Gov. Kate Brown’s final annual “State of the State” speech. Claire Withycombe is a reporter at the Statesman Journal. Contact her at cwithycombe@statesmanjournal.com, 503-910-3821 or follow on Twitter @kcwithycombe. The world through his eyes. 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