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September i, 2010
Landlord-Tenant Conflicts, Negligence
c o n t i n u e d f r o m puge 3
month, which doubles after three
months.
It's difficult to get a snapshot
of the state of Portland housing,
but according to the U.S. Census
over 70 percent of housing in
Portland was built before 1970,
which are more likely to be in
disrepair.
According to Bureau of Devel
opment Services numbers, be
tween July 1 and Aug. 27 it re
ceived 240 housing complaints,
65 percent of which came from
rental properties.
“We get quite a few phone calls
about [tenants having problems],”
said Matt Kinshella, external rela
tions coordinator for 211 Info, a
referral service that helps people
navigate community and health
services.
21 llnfo received 616 calls re
garding landlord/tenant issues so
far for the current fiscal year,
slightly up from last year. The zip
code that generated the most calls
was 97233, which encompasses
part of outer southeast Portland
and Gresham, which generated
78 calls. The next zip code was
97205, which encompasses part
of downtown. It generated 50
calls.
Housing inspectors haven't
been the only ones inundated with
calls for help. The Oregon Com
munity Alliance o f Tenants, a
nonprofit that advises renters of
their rights and responsibilities,
also its hands full.
Housed in the basement of the
St. Augustana Lutheran Church
in northeast Portland, the alliance
gets about 40 messages a day
from distressed renters, which
som etim es overw helm s its
voicemail system according to
Cristina Palacios, the safe hous
ing coordinator for the organiza
tion.
At the alliance office, Palacios
spends quite a bit of time on the
phone fielding and responding to
complaints.
She often gives tenants the
number to the housing inspector,
but said that’s seldom a straight
forward solution. The short-
staffed bureau is having a hard
Oregon
o
University
System
time keeping up with complaints,
said Palacios, and she suspects
that landlords are aware of the
situation and are using it to their
advantage.
“It's not a working system,”
said Palacios of the remedies avail
able to tenants.
Palacios said that housing ad
vocates often encounter landlords
who place their bottom line above
the inhabitability of their proper
ties, and put in the bare minimum
maintenance on their rentals. Ten
ants who complain, said Palacios,
are met with a common refrain:
“If you don’t like it, leave.”
She described one mother who
called whose daughter was hos
pitalized twice from mold, only to
be told to leave by her landlord.
Another mother would send her
children to school without taking
showers due to a lack of hot
water. A diabetic man called in
after his year's supply of insulin
spoiled from a broken refrigera
tor.
“My concern is how many
tenants are going through this,”
said Palacios.
Palacios said that there is gulf
between landlords, who typically
have more money and resources,
and tenants, who may not even be
aware of their rights, and may
worry about retaliation if they
exercise them.
Portland City Council has taken
note of the issue, and taken some
actions.
In 2008, City Council voted to
accept the recommendations of
the Q uality Rental H ousing
Workgroup- a panel of landlords,
tenant advocates, and government
officials charged with examining
the issue.
Their recommendations in
cluded clarifying portions of the
city's building code, upping pen
alties for bad landlords, establish
ing more proactive inspection
practices, stabilizing funding for
housing inspectors, and better
educating both sides about their
rights and responsibilities.
Since accepting the recommen
dations in principle, the City Coun-
cil has followed up on some.
Fines have been upped on land
lords who drag their feet on re
Governor's Marketplace Connection
Outreach Events
OUS Retainer Program - Professional Consultants
Portland Session
r September 10, 2010
4134 N. Vancouver Ave.
Portland, OR
9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Salem Session
September 14, 2010
1
4760 Portland Rd. NE
Salem, OR
2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
pairs. The Bureau of Develop
ment Services also launched a
housing inspections pilot pro
gram, where if inspectors saw
enough code violations at a multi
dwelling complex, they would
knock on other tenants’ doors to
see if they wanted an inspection.
Caron explained that the idea
behind this program is that it takes
the pressure off tenants who might
worry about provoking the ire of
their landlord by initiating a com
plaint.
One recom m endation that
hasn’t been followed up on is a
plan to stabilize funding for hous
ing inspectors at the bureau.
The Quality Rental Housing
Workgroup had initially called for
a surcharge on each rental unit to
be paid by the landlord to help
keep building inspectors at the
bureau. However, the idea stalled
as the economy collapsed, ac
cording to Ty Kovatch- chief of
staff to Commissioner Randy
Leonard, who has been outspo
ken on the issue.
“It’s just not a good time to add
more fees,” he said.
Governor's
Marketplace
Highlights:
•Doing Business with the
Oregon University System '
•The Retainer Program
•When/how to register
•Upcoming campus projects
No Charge
To register : http://www.oregon.gov/GOV/MWESB/events.shtml