October 17, 2018
Page 5
Advocating Tenants’ Rights
C ontinueD froM f ront
that is a white tenant, and not experience
the same kind of questioning or same kind
of resistance,” Community Alliance of
Tenants Executive Director Katrina Hol-
land told the Portland Observer.
The community advocates say the roots
of these issues are deeply entrenched in
both intentional and unintentional dis-
criminatory practices. As contributors to
the problem, they cite a broken criminal
justice system and a housing industry that
has often devalued diverse cultures and
ways of life.
By adopting new policies that cham-
pion housing equity and increase fair
housing choices, the city will get families
off the streets, according to the aligned
groups. The housing advocates want pro-
hibitions against denying housing based
on citizenship status, being screened out
of consideration for a rental for not mak-
ing an income 3 to 3.5 times the rent, and
being denied housing due to criminal his-
tory when there’s racial profiling and an
over-representation of communities of
color in the criminal justice system.
If a person is stable for six months to
a year after being incarcerated, for exam-
ple, they’re not likely to go back to jail,
data shows, but they do often routinely
get denied housing, Holland said.
Astronomical initial housing fees in the
form of security deposits, some of which
are higher due to poor credit history, were
also singled out. In addition, Holland said
communities of color are also dispropor-
tionately impacted by predatory lending,
leading in many cases to a poor credit
score or bankruptcy and subsequent deni-
al of housing.
Discriminatory assumptions about nor-
mal wear and tear of apartments, and sub-
sequent denial of tenants’ receiving their
security deposits back, were also men-
tioned as major issues.
The organizations have been working
with Portland City Commissioner Chloe
Eudaly’s office to craft more equitable
screening criteria and security deposit
ordinances in Portland. They urge May-
or Wheeler and the other city councilors
to support Eudaly in that process, and as
soon as possible.
“Advancing strong local security de-
posit and screening criteria legislation
will help combat these legal loopholes for
extremely subjective and often, discrim-
inatory private market practices allowed
under current landlord-tenant law,” the
housing advocates claim.
The proposed reforms are part of an
over-arching effort by the Community
Alliance of Tenants to empower tenants
through education, organizing, and ad-
vocacy. It’s also part of an ongoing effort
to pass laws advocating tenants’ rights
across the county and state.
Holland said the Community Alliance
of Tenants operates under some assump-
tions that should be better reflected in the
law, such that housing should be a human
right, the relationship between landlords
and tenants should be mutually beneficial,
and tenants’ should have the right to pro-
tect themselves without being penalized.
“If we really want to talk about getting
people off the streets, we have to be com-
prehensive in our approach. So sure, we
can build housing. Yes, we can talk about
rent stabilization. Yes, we can preserve
affordable housing. Yes, we can definite-
ly talk about no cause evictions. We also
need to talk about housing access, how
people are going to get into these new
units or get into these existing units. And
right now that’s a problem, we got to fix
it,” Holland said.
Many low-income people, including
people of color, those with disabilities,
immigrants, refugees, seniors, young
adults, and parents find it difficult to find
and afford a place to live. Some have had
to forgo basic necessities like food and
medicine, been forced to move away from
their family members and neighbors to
find housing, or have even become house-
less.
In Gresham, a coalition of housing
organizations and community members
called Gresham Housing for the People
has also been participating in an ongoing
push for renters’ rights and stable housing.
Holding rallies, testifying at Gresham
City Council meetings and other actions
have raised awareness in Gresham and
east Multnomah County about needed
tenant protections, some of which were
adopted in Portland, such as a 90-day re-
quired notice for no-cause evictions and
relocation assistance for tenants who re-
ceive a non-cause eviction or significant
rent increase.
Back in March, Portland City Council
made permanent a renter protection pol-
icy originally adopted two years earlier
that requires landlords to pay relocation
costs ranging from $2,900 to $4,500 to
tenants who received a no-cause eviction
or received a rent increase of more than
10 percent in one year.