Rising unemployment, financial instability and pandemic uncertainty prompt uptick in renter organizing P andemic woes and landlord harassment sparked a surge in tenant unions. Early in the third year of the pandemic, as the omicron variant unravels the sm ...
2 Feb 2022 - Piper McDaniel
A Facebook group, gaps in service and the death of a young man: How a battle about homelessness is enveloping a Southern Oregon town Southern Oregon is known for its relatively mild weather. But, in mid-December, an unusual cold snap in Medford left one u ...
26 Jan 2022 - Hanna Merzbach
Oregon rental aid program flounders while clock on eviction protections for renters runs down, putting thousands at risk of eviction When Rae Bloodgood applied for the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program (OERAP) in June, she knew she wasn’t going t ...
11 Aug 2021 - Aurora Biggers
Despite the often life-altering consequences of eviction proceedings, tenants secured legal representation in just 3% of the nearly 6000 eviction cases filed in Multnomah County in 2019. Attorneys say the COVID-19 pandemic has only made the issue more sev ...
28 Jul 2021 - Chris May
Oregon's House speaker reflects on the session and what she sees as wins for housing, education and – yes – the environment The smoke is still clearing from the 80th Oregon State Legislative Assembly, but if there were any open wounds left from its c ...
12 Jul 2019 - Joanne Zuhl
PHOTOS | Advocates participating in the weeklong Give Us Shelter March are calling for Oregon to declare a state of emergency on housing Advocating for a state of emergency to be declared on Oregon’s housing crisis, demonstrators set off from Portland on ...
31 May 2019 - Street Roots
Limits on no-cause evictions and rent increases are a necessary first step, but there’s more to be done The Oregon Legislature is already moving on renter protections. That’s a good sign. On Feb. 4, the Senate Housing Committee, chaired by Sen. Shemia Fag ...
1 Feb 2019 - SR editorial board
We’re in a housing crisis. We need to lift the pre-emption on rent control. We cannot build our way out of our housing crisis. The free market will always cleave to profits as high as the market can bear. And in a city as desirable as Portland, regardless ...
4 Jan 2019 - SR editorial board
COMMENTARY | We must demand an action plan from legislators Just a short month ago, the Oregon Legislature adjourned the 2017 session. Legislators had the chance to act during the session to take a bold step forward to address our state’s housing crisis f ...
17 Aug 2017 - Alison McIntosh
Oregon lawmakers have never prioritized housing in a substantial way On the same day Multnomah County announced a 10 percent increase in people experiencing homelessness, Oregon announced cuts to emergency rent assistance. If that didn’t add enough insul ...
23 Jun 2017 - Israel Bayer