Evictions for Nonpayment of Rent Resume in Portland, Despite Tenant Protections

Landlords in Multnomah County filed 109 nonpayment eviction cases in July.

Setting up a recliner in Cathedral Park. (Chris Nesseth)

Landlords in Multnomah County filed 109 nonpayment eviction cases in July.

That’s a number Becky Strauss, an attorney with the Oregon Law Center, says is likely to climb in the coming months. Oregon’s ban on evictions expired June 30.

Many of those 109 cases are still unresolved, but thanks to a state law and a county policy, the tenants could have avoided court proceedings by showing landlords evidence they had applied for state assistance to pay their rent.

The problem, says Strauss? Many renters don’t know about the policy or how to apply for aid.

Multnomah County and Portland City Hall are both trying to prevent more eviction cases from occurring by increasing outreach to those on the eviction docket.

Each morning since July 30, two county employees have been trying to intercept renters showing up for eviction court at the Multnomah County Courthouse to help them apply for assistance before they make their first appearance in court.

The county also contracted with the Oregon Law Center to help renters with legal representation. The OLC received a chunk of grant money from a 2020 homeless services measure passed by Metro voters, and is using that cash to hire an additional full-time lawyer and two paralegals dedicated to helping renters.

Since July, the OLC has been sending letters to renters on the eviction docket to inform them about how to access the 90-day extension of the moratorium so long as they provide proof to their landlord that they’ve applied for assistance. Strauss says they’re closely tracking the evictions to get a better picture of the demographics of tenants who are being evicted who never asked for help.

“There’s a way we’ve historically delivered legal resources that isn’t completely fitting with this moment,” Strauss says. “We rely on tenants to reach out to us affirmatively, which relies on them knowing we’re here. We should do more and we need to be more creative about the way we reach renters.”

Soon, county officials tell WW, they will start sending workers door to door to seek renters on the eviction docket to do the same: “We knew that if we could have our staff actually present in the courthouse, we could initiate the rental assistance process and prevent evictions at the last possible stage,” says Nabil Zaghloul, director of the 13-member county team doing eviction outreach.

But Strauss warns that the 109 figure is just “the tip of the iceberg.” If renters get a termination notice, they can leave their apartment before the landlord is able to file an eviction case. Many depart before the filing to avoid having an eviction on their record.

Neither the city nor the country tracks termination and eviction notices—only eviction court filings—so there’s no way to know just how many renters have been displaced for nonpayment that never made it to a filing.

Just this afternoon, the Portland City Council announced the Portland Housing Bureau would be contracting with the Oregon Law Center to launch its own eviction prevention team where low-income renters can access an attorney to help them navigate the process.

The city’s program is called the Eviction Defense Project. Those who want legal help can access that team at 888-585-9638 or email evictiondefense@oregonlawcenter.org. If you have received an eviction notice, you can call 211 for help.

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