Eviction crisis looms in Portland, Or.

With talks between Democrats and the White house having collapsed, lawmakers have been unable and unwilling to extend the national eviction moratorium, supplemental unemployment relief, and CARES Act money that has helped families scrape by through the pandemic and recession. As Portland, the biggest city in Oregon, heads towards its third month of nightly protests against racist police brutality, its residents stand on the brink of a devastating eviction crisis. Even before the pandemic hit, Portland was one of the most rent-burdened cities in the United States, with almost half of renters spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. While Oregon has an eviction moratorium in place until the end of September, its residents who decide to take advantage of it have only until March 2021 to pay back all past-due rent. At the end of next month, all tenants are expected to pay rent or face eviction. The moratorium is merely a bandaid for the larger problem, given that many Portlanders cannot afford their rent following mass layoffs and unemployment caused by the pandemic situation, and do not know how soon they will be able to get back to work. As calculated in June, Oregon’s unemployment rate was a staggering 11.2 percent, while the 1.43 million unemployment claims the week of July 19 are up from the earlier 1.3 million the week of July 5. The Oregon Housing Alliance has pointed to recent research showing that one in five renters in Oregon don’t feel confident they will be able to pay next month’s rent. Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/eviction-crisis-looms-in-portland-or/