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About Us
OUR TEAM
We are a team of multicultural and multigenerational grassroots tenant leaders that are deeply concerned about the growing housing instability experienced by very low to middle-income renters throughout Oregon.
We are committed to addressing the structural root causes of housing insecurity, mass evictions, and houselessness.
Our forums are a place for tenants to come together and envision new models for community based housing and build collective power to win policies that address our housing crisis.
Our Legislative & Policy Team is a research-based think-tank and lobbyist group grounded in the understanding that renters with lived experience of housing injustice are experts on the issues they face.
Our History
We began in 2018 as SE Portland Renters in Action, a neighborhood grassroots group, just before Oregon's landmark passing of Senate Bill 608, capping annual rents at .7% + CPI (consumer price index).
Summer of 2019, we conducted a Renter Vulnerability Study in the Lents Neighborhood in partnership with the Community Alliance of Tenants and Portland State University's Schools of Social Work and Urban Studies. We wanted to find out: How long can renters with incomes at or below 30% - 50% MFI afford rent increases of 7% + CPI, or approx. 10% annually? Renters said, "We are very worried about no longer being able to afford our housing."
Renters across Portland-Metro joined our quarterly Renter Open Forums. We began working towards finding solutions to our growing housing affordability crisis.
March 2020, we moved on-line following Gov. Brown's stay-at-home mandate.
Our Mission and Vision
Our mission is to create new housing models that support the needs of all members of our communities and shape housing legislation to achieve equitable access and long-term housing stability for low-middle income Oregonians.
We believe that no-one should lose their home because of major illness, job loss, or having to stay home to care for sick loved ones.
We believe everyone should be able to access and maintain safe, stable housing, no matter their income level, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs.
We seek to create new models for community-based housing that support the needs of all members of our communities and that align wages with housing costs. It's time to end rent burden, mass displacement, and houselessness.
Working together, we aim to advance bold housing legislation, policies, and practices and begin building a better future for ourselves.
The time to ACT is NOW!
Join Our Tenant Coalition
Kickoff Tenant Coalition Meeting
Tuesday, August 30, 2022, 10 AM-Noon
Where: 124 NE 181st Ave. Gresham, OR
Call Box: Z- push call button 311 -Park in Back
Host: Laurie Palmer- lauriepalmer48@gmail.com
Tenants and community supporters are all welcome.
Come and help outline our coaltion plan and messaging for the 2023 legislative session.
Affordability
We are telling lawmakers that tenants cannot afford to pay 7% + 8.5 % CPI (or higher) rent increases beginning in 2023. This formula is guaranteed to doom many renter populations to mass rent defaults, displacements, and unnecessary evictions.
Housing Stabilization
SB608 Revision :Rent Cap + CPI
Gradient rent increase/ income-based
Rent Assistance and more
Sign-up Here to receive coalition and future meeting information.
Spread the Word.
Take Our Housing Stability Survey
Housing stability is one of the most critical policy issues of our time, and traditional policy levers have failed to catalyze the change needed to provide safe, affordable housing for all populations.
We are deeply concerned about the steep rise in Oregon tenant households struggling to maintain their housing before and during the pandemic. The growing and widespread homelessness amongst seniors, Black and Brown communities, and low to middle-income renters is very troubling and is unacceptable. Therefore, we are dedicated to changing these outcomes.
We believe that housing is a basic human right.
We invite your feedback on your current state of housing stability. The data we collect will be used to inform and guide present and future grassroots campaigns for both short- and long-term tenant protections in Oregon.
Support Our Work
Your support and generous donations will enable us to meet our goals of advocating for progressive housing protections impacting low-income renters.
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Take Action Now!
Scroll Down To Our Action Center
- Take our Housing Stability Survey
- RSVP to attend Our May 21st & July 9th Listening Sessions
- Sign up to receive Action Alerts