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