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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2022
Evictions: ‘Landlords are actually increasing rent throughout the county’
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Clatsop Community Action,
a non profi t agency that serves
low-income residents , received
funding from the Oregon Housing
and Community Services Depart-
ment to provide rental assistance.
Viviana Matthews, the execu-
tive director of Clatsop Commu-
nity Action, said the agency saw
a record number of people during
the pandemic. “We’ve never seen
anything like during COVID,” she
said.
Recently, Clatsop Community
Action has experienced a signif-
icant increase in people asking
for rental assistance. The agency
received around 30 calls within
two weeks of the deadline for safe
harbor protection passing in June,
Susan Prettyman, the social ser-
vices manager, said.
“We’re hearing stories from cli-
ents that are really, really, really
sad to be honest with you,” she
said. “And it seems like they owe
signifi cant months at a time.” S ome
landlords are losing patience with
people not paying rent during the
pandemic and have begun to serve
eviction notices.
Oregon State Tenants Association
During the coronavirus pandemic, a series of moratoriums on evictions
and foreclosures in Oregon helped prevent evictions from surging.
Ludek Winkler, the owner of a
convenience store, rents out a duplex
to two tenants who he said have fre-
quently failed to pay their rent and
utilities over the p ast two years .
The tenants received rental
assistance once, but that was
quickly used up.
Not receiving consistent pay-
ments hurt Winkler fi nancially.
Housing: Parking would
be calculated by the
number of bedrooms
He said he was stuck with $3,000
worth of electricity bills his tenants
hadn’t paid.
Winkler said he wanted to work
with the tenants for a while and
tried to persuade them to catch
up on the electric bill rather than
evict them. He said t hey applied
for rental assistance again but were
recently denied.
By that time, Winkler had found
out the tenants were letting other
people live at the property for free,
he said.
In e arly July, he fi led an evic-
tion notice for non payment of rent.
“It’s just wonderful,” he said. “I
can fi nally get rid of them.”
Matthews said COVID-19
increased tensions between land-
lords and tenants.
With rising rents in Clatsop
County, many tenants are renting
apartments they have diffi culty
aff ording. It became even harder
for people to pay their rent when
the pandemic hit.
And while some people still
haven’t returned to work, rents
continue to grow.
“Landlords are actually increas-
ing rent throughout the county. It’s
not just big corporations, it’s lots
of mom-and-pop landlords, too,
that have increased their rent,”
Prettyman said.
When Cook’s rent increased
on the house where she was stay-
ing , she explained to her landlord
that she was struggling to keep
up with payments. She said she
asked to work something out so
she could get caught up, but they
weren’t willing to work with her.
That’s when she received an evic-
tion notice.
While Cook lives in her car, she
is looking for a new place for her
and her boyfriend, a U.S. Army
veteran, to stay where she can
aff ord to pay the rent. But she said
the chances of them qualifying for
another house anytime soon are
poor .
“They want you to make three
times the amount of the rent that
you’re going to pay,” she said.
“And if your rent is almost $2,000,
I mean people that make that much
money, they don’t rent houses,
they buy them.”
Cook said there are many peo-
ple like her and her boyfriend who
have full-time jobs but can’t aff ord
to pay the c ounty’s high housing
costs. She sees it daily in her store,
where she knows many customers
with jobs who sleep on the streets.
She said she thinks the govern-
ment needs to off er more assis-
tance for those who face eviction
and struggle to pay rent.
“I really hope that it opens up
people’s eyes in this community
and things can start changing,”
Cook said.
Broadband: Oregon Coast Wireless, the
contractor hired to build the towers, upgraded
internet service in Tillamook County
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The amendments approved
on Tuesday include removing
the permit requirement for acces-
sory dwelling units, reducing lot
sizes and removing lot cover-
age requirements to make add-
ing accessory dwelling units more
feasible.
A maximum lot size was
included as a result of removing
lot coverage requirements to pre-
vent lots from being combined
to build McMansions. The mea-
sure is also intended to encourage
higher-density housing. Setbacks
would guide the buildable land.
Based on feedback from the
business community and develop-
ers, Leatherman said the minimum
lot size was further reduced.
Planning c ommissioners were
supportive of the changes, but
asked city staff to clarify the lan-
guage around maximum lot size.
Commissioners noted concerns
raised by residents about prohibit-
ing homestay lodging in low-den-
sity residential areas, and moved
to allow them under conditional
use.
Currently, homeowners in resi-
dential areas can apply for licenses
to rent bedrooms in their homes to
visitors as long as the homeown-
ers live on-site. An earlier version
of the draft amendments prohib-
ited homestay lodging in low-den-
sity residential areas and allowed
it under conditional use in medium
residential areas instead of permit-
ted outright.
“I’m concerned about remov-
ing short-term rentals — homestay
lodging — from R1 because I
don’t see any evidence that that
impacts the housing supply,” said
Daryl Moore, the president of the
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Mailboxes for multifamily housing
units in Astoria.
P lanning C ommission. “It is a way
for people to generate extra reve-
nue to stay in their home and pay
their property taxes or whatever.
“So I don’t see that that impacts
the housing supply in any way. All
it does is take away opportunity
for local residents.”
The amendments would move
hotels in commercial zones along
the Columbia River and Port of
Astoria from being permitted out-
right to being allowed under con-
ditional use. The change ensures
the public has an opportunity to
weigh in prior to a building permit
being issued.
Multifamily homes, which
include three dwellings or more,
would be permitted outright in
medium- and high-density res-
idential areas instead of condi-
tional. Duplexes will be allowed
everywhere single-family homes
are allowed.
Cottage clusters, which usually
have shared open space, would be
permitted outright in residential
and commercial zones.
Parking for homes would be
calculated by the number of bed-
rooms, which Leatherman said
would reduce parking require-
ments, but not signifi cantly.
Oregon Coast Wireless, the contractor
hired to build the towers, upgraded internet
service in Tillamook County.
“They’re very community-based. They
want to provide a service ... They’re not
doing this because they’re going to get rich
operating this system long term,” Gardner
said.
He is looking for two things from the
wireless company to determine whether the
project can go forward.
First, he needs to know if, after the
county and school district pay for the infra-
structure, Oregon Coast Wireless will have
enough customers in that sparsely popu-
lated area to pay for ongoing costs, such as
the use of the trunk line and maintenance of
the towers. “I want to see a plan for that,”
Gardner said.
The project was never going to be highly
profi table, Gardner said — hence the sub-
sidies to make the cost pencil out. “We do
need, at least, sustainability,” he said.
Gardner also asked the wireless com-
pany to show progress on obtaining land
lease agreements for siting the wireless
towers.
At one point, project developers
approached Weyerhaeuser to raise towers
on the timber company’s property, but the
company may charge a fee that would make
the project unaff ordable, Gardner said.
“If we don’t go the Weyerhaeuser route,
we’re going to have to go with smaller tow-
ers, but more of them,” Gardner said.
The school district and wireless com-
pany are trying to get permission from pri-
vate landowners in hopes the landowners
will allow a tower on their property.
“It’s a complicated issue. There’s not
an easy answer (to) how to get internet to
very rural and secluded places, you know?”
Gardner said. “That’s why it hasn’t been
done.”
A county spokesperson said that an
update on the project may be ready in a few
weeks.
Commissioner Lianne Thompson,
whose district encompasses the Jewell area,
said, “The county is committed to getting
better broadband in the heart of Clatsop
County.”
Access to broadband is limited in Jewell and other rural corners of the county.
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Open seat: Election fi ling
period goes through Aug. 30
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positions itself for the future,
especially coming out of the
coronavirus pandemic. She also
hoped her decision would inspire
other young people, women and
artists to run for City Council.
Along with the downtown
Ward 3 seat, terms expire this
year for the mayor and the Ward
1 seat, which covers part of the
Port of Astoria, Uniontown and
the western edge of downtown.
Mayor Bruce Jones and City
Councilor Roger Rocka, who
represents Ward 1, have indicated
they do not plan to seek reelec-
tion in November.
Sean Fitzpatrick, who owns
Wecoma Partners and serves on
the Astoria Planning Commis-
sion, has announced his plans to
run for mayor.
The election fi ling period
opened on June 1 and extends
through Aug. 30.
During the Astoria-Warrenton
Area Chamber of Commerce’s
monthly chamber breakfast Tues-
day, Jones made an appeal for
people to run, citing concerns
about single-issue candidates
seizing the opportunity.
The mayor said he is inter-
ested in getting “good, quality
folks” to serve on the City Coun-
cil who have the ability to have
an open mind and be civil with
city staff and the public.
Jones told The Astorian that
he would like to see candidates
who care about the full spectrum
of issues facing the city.
“I think, generally speaking,
a councilor who is able to keep
an even keel and be able to take
the ups and downs and strive —
it best serves the community,” he
said.
Jones also believes it is import-
ant that a candidate respects the
strong role of the city manager
in Astoria’s government and not
direct city staff themselves.
“There may have been times
in the past when we had a coun-
cilor who crossed that line,” he
said. “And it makes things work
a lot more smoothly if we respect
our form of local government and
let the city manager manage the
staff and the City Council man-
ages the city manager.”
Alexis Weisend contributed to
this report.
Preschool: City has to receive OK from voters
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Third Street , that the city owns
and maintains. The city will look
to transfer the building to Com-
munity Action Team, an agency
that combats poverty in Clatsop,
Columbia and Tillamook coun-
ties and guides Head Start.
Because the property’s real
market value exceeds $100,000,
the city has to receive approval
from voters before it can be
transferred. The City Commis-
sion voted unanimously on Tues-
day night to put the transfer on
November’s ballot.
“This is in the best interest
of both the community that can
continue (to use) the services of
Head Start, as well as (Commu-
nity Action Team) to enable them
to better their operations and take
an asset that’s not really assisting
us with anything,” Mayor Henry
Balensifer said.
The city has been looking to
transfer the building for a num-
ber of years, City Manager Linda
Engbretson said.
Warrenton partnered with Com-
munity Action Team in the 1990s
to build the facility with a commu-
nity block grant. The city assumed
ownership and took responsibility
for repairs and maintenance .
The lease agreement at the time
outlined that the city will get $225
per month in perpetuity, which
does not cover the cost of neces-
sary work on the building, Eng-
bretson said.
Engbretson said the city put
tens of thousands of dollars into
the upkeep of the building a few
years ago.
“That was the worst lease in
the history of — ever,” City Com-
missioner Mark Baldwin said at a
meeting in June.
Engbretson added that it was
an opportunity to create some-
thing good for the community at
the time and that the Head Start
program has impacted many.
By taking ownership of the
building, Community Action
Team will be able to apply for
grants and plan its own work on
the building, Joyce Ervin, the
director of Head Start, said in an
email.
If the transfer is approved by
voters , the agreement will fea-
ture a reversionary clause for the
property to be returned to the city
in the event Community Action
Team ceases its operation as a
Head Start facility.