Mayor Ted Wheeler Poised to Sign Onto Tenant Protections

A vote today on amendments may seal the deal for ordinances to regulate the way landlords screen tenants and take security deposits.

(Thomas Teal)

For weeks, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has jockeyed with Commissioner Chloe Eudaly over her proposal to limit how landlords screen prospective tenants and how large a security deposit they can demand.

Wheeler now tells WW he is wiling to support Eudaly's tenant screening and security deposit ordinances. That's "contingent upon amendments being adopted," says his spokeswoman Eileen Park.

The mayor has proposed seven amendments that range from technical clarifications to expanding exemptions in the ordinances—for example, allowing more landlords to turn down tenants who have violated their lease repeatedly in the past year.

Eudaly is "mostly amenable to the mayor's proposed amendments," says her spokeswoman Margaux Weeke.

A City Council vote on the amendments (but not the ordinances) is expected June 12.

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