Street Roots • Jan. 15-21, 2016
News
Page 10
SOMETHING BOLD'
Housing advocate Janet Byrd says the Legislature’s response
to Oregon’s crisis m ust be powerful. A n d she’s optimistic.
BY A M ANDA WALDROUPE
impacts o f living in stable housing, or not? Is
the importance o f having a home something
that is in our collective unconscious, so to
speak?
STAFF W R ITER
ore than 300 people packed a
conference room Saturday
afternoon at the Immigrant and
Refugee Community Organization in
northeast Portland.
They were there to talk about affordable
housing. And evictions. And drastic, rent
increases that have displaced hundreds of
Portlanders from the neighborhoods they
want to live in.
Among the attendees were 17 state
lawmakers who represent the Portland
metro region, including House Speaker Tina
Kotek (D-North Portland); Senate President
Pro Tempore Diane Rosenbaum
(D-Southeast Portland); and Sen. Richard
Devlin (D-Tualatin), co-chair of the
Legislature’s Joint Ways and Means
Committee.
For two hours, seven panels of speakers
testified about how the housing crisis is
affecting Portlanders.
One person spoke of a friend who deeply
valued the solitude, stability and peace his
home gave him. The stress of a nocause
eviction notice and attempts to find a new
home he could afford led him to commit
suicide.
Another person talked, through tears, of
the rent on her home - close to where she
works and where her son goes to school -
taking up more than 50 percent of her
income.
Two hours of stories that conveyed
profound stress, trauma and despair.
Legislators got the message.
“I’m just mad,” Kotek said at the end of
the forum. “I am mad because this is not
what we want our state to be. I don’t want
to hear these stories. I don’t want people
not to have affordable, stable housing. We
have a problem, and we need to solve it.”
Legislation to stem the housing crisis is
expected to be a top priority of the month
long legislative session that begins Feb. 1.
Bills will be introduced to prohibit no-cause
evictions, provide tenants with longer notice
of future rent increases, and allow
inclusionary zoning, which would require
any new development to include affordable
units.
The Oregon Housing Alliance, a statewide
nonprofit collective of local governments,
housing authorities, developers and housing
M
J.B.: When you say it to people, I think
they say, “Yeah, of course that’s true.” But
it’s a leap we haven’t yet taken to say that
housing is primary. We talk a lot about
investments in health, investments in
education, but all of that is going to be of
limited impact if we don’t pay attention to
where people live and whether they have
some assurance that they’re going to stay
stable. Legislators are starting to get that.
There’s growing awareness. The devastation
on employment, education and health are
important things to keep hammering home.
Housing is too important to take it lightly
and treat like an insignificant business
transaction.
outer
A.W.: WZzat do you think can be
accomplished within a month?
J.B.: You know, I am optimistic that we
can make progress on all parts on the
Housing Alliance’s agenda. It’s going to be
hard, but I’m optimistic. There is energy
behind all of the concepts. There’s growing
awareness of the issue. I think legislators
are seeing that we need to do something
bold.
advocates, is calling for those measures in
its legislative agenda. Its agenda also calls
for more funding, including $60 million for a
general obligation bond program to build
more affordable housing and $10 million for
the state’s Emergency Housing Assistance
program and .State Homeless Assistance
Program, which provide short-term rent
assistance to prevent or end homelessness.
Janet Byrd, the executive director of
Neighborhood Partnerships and chair of the
Housing Alliance, spoke to Street Roots
about the housing crisis and the upcoming
legislative session.
Am anda Waldroupe: One thing that was
emphasized repeatedly during the housing
forum is the emotional stress and trauma
caused by being evicted, facing a rent increase,
being displaced, or having to move. I t hurts to
have to worry about this stuff.
Janet Byrd: Even for the legislators, who
are very much our allies, it increased the
urgency. It’s awful for people now. We’ve got
to stop the craziness in this market.
Fundamentally at the root of nocause
evictions is the fact that I could enter into a
business relationship with you and rent a
home from you, and you could terminate
that business relationship without giving me
a reason. It’s a business relationship. People
are allowed to come in and go out of that
relationship without any concern for the
tenant and impacts the eviction causes.
What’s the reality if you get a 30-day
eviction notice? Think of all the things that
you have to rearrange in your life. You have
to think about where your kids are going be
enrolled in school. What about your
babysitter or your after-school care? You
have to figure out new bus routes,
transportation to and from work, to and
from wherever the kids go. It’s a huge
impact.
A.W.: Do you think people realize the
. 2
A.W.: What makes you so optimistic?
J.B.: I am confident that there will be
boldness. Legislators need to keep hearing
these stories. I think the question for me is
that even if people are really bold in
February, this problem isn’t going to be
solved in a single legislative session. I think
the devastating impacts on individuals are
going to keep getting worse. We already see
so many people sleeping outside, so many
people camping. We’ve got to turn this
around. But it’s going to take a while.
A.W.: What do you think are the most
important actions to take that would
immediately help tenants?
J.B.: Tenant protections are at the top of
the Housing Alliance's agenda. Tenants need
See BYRD, page 11