Blogtown, PDX: Meet the Contenders - Question #11

The Portland Mercury's Blogtown, PDX site has been producing a weekly series of questions for the various candidates running in the Portland mayor and city council races. This series is a great way to meet the candidates and learn about the issues affecting the public and Portland city government. We're reproducing (with permission) Chris's responses here, while also providing links to the original Blogtown posts.

Question #11:

(Original Post from Feb. 28, 2008)

It seems that due to the current mortgage meltdown and the recession we are currently in, all of the major property management companies have decided to raise their rates in some cases up to 25 percent in non-hip areas. Most of the statues of Tenant’s rights are geared towards property owners, not renters. Leases are not worth the paper they are printed on: I have known many people who are given the 72 hours to vacate notice letter for the most shallow of reasons, but God forbid the tenant wants to walk away as management companies have no problem sticking the ex-renter with charges that are legal, but in bad faith. I.e., you have lived somewhere for 5 years without any work being done on the property, yet the ex-tenant will be billed accordingly for the work that is needed, even though the “damages” are just a part of normal wear and tear.

Is there anything the candidates are thinking of that can help tenants avoid astronomical rent hikes and find more ways to balance out the power of property owners? I am not talking about low-income housing either (which i feel is a separate issue), but working-class citizens that are not seeing their wages get any higher suddenly getting sticker shock when their rent agreements are up for renewal. In all honesty, due to my last rent hike, I am not supporting any property-tax levy because I know this will give my management company the power to disproportionately increase my rent again beyond the true cost of the tax so they can pocket more money. People are squeezed as much as they can be and this would be will just lower the standard of living to a high degree. I love this town, but it seems that the citizens who are not broke, nor own homes do not really have anyone looking out for them.

I wish to remain anonymous because I am afraid of retaliation.

Chris's Response:

Ironically, tenants in subsidized programs often have more process rights than free-market renters. For example, most government subsidized programs have a requirement for cause for eviction, with an opportunity for the tenant to remedy the cause.

In contrast, in the private market a landlord can remove a tenant with no cause in a month-to-month agreement or at the end of a lease. I am open to looking at the City creating a for-cause (with remedy options) regulation by ordinance (if the Legislature has not pre-empted this area of jurisdiction) or lobbying the Legislature for greater tenants rights in cooperation with other communities and housing advocates.

This does not directly protect against rent hikes, but would help with lease abuses.

Part of the reason I’m running is to create City policies that will promote housing development for a variety of income levels, not just for those below 50% of median family income. More supply at a range of market levels will help take some pressure off of rents.