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The owners of a 72-unit apartment complex in St. Johns have rescinded no-cause eviction notices that went out beginning in December, a tenant leader tells WW.
Lawyers for the tenants asked the landlords to rescind the notice after Portland City Council this month passed a requirement that landlords pay relocation costs for renters evicted without cause.
That new city rule was a factor in Titan Manor’s landlord rescinding the notices, says tenant Coya Crespin, who has organized fellow renters in the complex.
"It's the best example thus far of how powerful [the relocation ordinance] is," says Portland Tenants United organizer Shamus Cooke. "It's going to be able to slow down the process of gentrification."
It’s not clear that every eviction notice at Titan Manor has been rescinded as of this story. And many residents have moved out already.
Crespin spoke to WW after a rally where hundreds gathered to support renters at the Normandy Apartments, the Cully building where tenants faced a 100 percent rent increase. Crespin said she was feeling cautious about her situation.
“We have the lawyers looking at it,” she says. She believes the owner, listed on official county records as LPRP BRUGGER LLC et al., is waiting to see the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the city ordinance as well as whether the state legislature passes passes proposed legislation to restrict no-cause evictions and overturn a statewide ban on rent control. “Salem trumps everything.”
The complex’s property management company, Avenue5 Residential, did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment on Sunday.
The rescinding of notices was first reported this evening by OPB.
There’s always the possibility the landlord rescinded the notices for other reasons, including a change of heart. As OPB reported earlier this month, the Oakland-based Rogers Family Foundation, which supports education-based initiatives in Oakland, may have an ownership stake in the building; the foundation address and the family’s financial adviser is listed on documents from the purchase, OPB reported.
House Speaker Tina Kotek, who is pushing for state regulations to restrict no cause evictions and whose district includes Titan Manor, called the rescinding of the no-cause notices “great news.”
“Hopefully, the owner will sit down with residents,” she said.