Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 2022)
June 23, 2021 Page 7 CAREERS Special Edition People Facing Eviction Get Temporary Reprieve New legislation gives added protection b y b everly C orbell t he p ortland o bserver The Oregon Legislature gave final approval Tues- day to an amended bill that will give temporary re- lief to some people who are facing eviction when a current moratorium expires on June 30, but some say it doesn’t go far enough and others claim it goes too far. The “safe harbor” amendment will provide a 60- day grace period for renters who have applied but are still waiting for federal rent assistance aid. It will delay evictions for those who can show they have ap- plied for help with their rent through Oregon Hous- ing and Community Services. Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, stated in a press re- lease that many people are still struggling, and the bill gives them a chance to take advantage of rent assistance programs until they can get back on their feet. “This bill gives tenants the time they need to ac- cess those resources without fear of an eviction.” The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners supported the change. “Evicting people who have applied for help is sim- ply unfair. The bill ensures stability for tenants while getting resources to the hands of landlords.” But the bill doesn’t go far enough, according to Kim McCarty, the executive director of the nonprofit Kim MCarty Community Alliance of Tenants. McCarty said the moratorium should instead be extended. “We should stop making plans based on arbitrary time frames,” she said. “We don’t know when this pubic health emergency ends or when the economy will be fully back to normal.” The pandemic has hit service workers and low-in- come people particularly hard, she said. “We should use a different metric and should give the government the authority to decide when an evic- tion emergency is over, just like the government can decide for homeowners facing foreclosure to extend every 90 days, we could give the health office au- thority to decide when the eviction emergency is over,” McCarty said. Oregon wouldn’t be in as much of a housing emer- gency if the state could get the $200 million it’s re- ceived in federal aid to renters fast enough, but there’s not enough time before the June 30 deadline, which Gov. Kate Brown says legally she cannot change, according to the Associated Press, even though she was able to extend the state’s mortgage foreclosure moratorium until the end of September. More federal funding is expected to be approved this fall. Sybil Hebb, director of legislative advocacy at the Oregon Law Center, told the AP that the state legisla- ture’s work was based on the assumption that federal dollars would already have been distributed by now. “We know now that rent assistance dollars cannot be processed quickly enough to prevent evictions af- ter the expiration of the moratorium,” she said. House Majority Leader Barbara Smith said two things led to the slow state response: the extremely high levels of requests for rental assistance across the state and a lack of direction from the fed, which only release guidelines for the funding in May. In addition to the amendment, Oregon lawmakers voted last month to extend the grace period for past due back rent to Feb. 28, 2020. Portland Commissioner Dan Ryan, who oversees the Portland Housing Bureau, hopes that more rent- ers apply for assistance and communicate with their landlord to avoid eviction. “We are working together — the city, the county, the state, the federal government, the nonprofits, and C ontinued on p age 14 Water Still Sickens Residents Rosemont has new case of Legionnaire’s disease Multnomah County Public Health is working closely with Northwest Housing Alterna- tives to ensure proper water filter use after another resident of Rosemont Court was con- firmed to be sick with Legion- naires’ Disease. Since March 17, following formal water mitigation ef- forts, health officials believe that three new cases of the dis- ease at the affordable senior housing property may be re- lated to not using faucet filters properly. On Monday, the NHA hous- ing provider made the decision to offer permanent relocation assistance to some 95 residents currently living at the Rose- mont Court building, located at 597 N. Dekum St. Multnomah County officials said they strongly support the move. Officials say Legionella is a common bacteria that can be found in many types of water sources. It infects someone af- ter they inhale it in fine water mist. It is not spread by drink- ing water. It does not spread from one person to another. Multnomah County and Northwest Housing Alternatives are working to reduce risk to resi- Most healthy people exposed dents from an ongoing Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak at Rosemont Court, an affordable to Legionella do not get sick. senior housing property at 597 N. Dekum St. But for people with fragile un- derlying health, breathing in very small droplets of water with the bacteria can lead to severe pneumonia. In January, the County worked with NHA to move al- most 100 residents temporarily into motels after six residents were found to have Legion- naires’ Disease, and another four residents were presumed to have the illness based on symptoms. One person who C ontinued on p age 12
