Oregon set to become 1st state with mandatory rent controls

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Andrew Selsky, Associated Press Updated 11:35 am CST, Thursday, February 21, 2019

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Faced with a housing shortage and skyrocketing rents, Oregon is poised to become the first state to impose mandatory rent controls, with a measure establishing tenant protections moving swiftly through the Legislature.

Many residents have testified in favor of the legislation, describing anxiety and hardship as they face higher rents. Some have gone up by as much as almost 100 percent — forcing people to move, stay with friends or even live in their vehicles.

The town of Medford recently authorized churches to offer car camping for the homeless on their parking lots. Cities across the West Coast are struggling with soaring housing prices and a growing homelessness problem.

A House committee on Wednesday backed the measure, sending it to the full chamber for a vote as soon as next week. The Senate passed it last week.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Oregon-on-track-to-be-1st-state-with-mandated-13632667.php

[sandensea]

1. Good on them. Because now more than ever...

[ffr]

2. Wait a few more months for the economy to crash

Rents will come down.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Problem is, waves of foreignors are buying properties for investment all over the country,

and letting them sit, empty. They see it as way to protect some of their cash.
Inevitably, there will be a sell off as prices do drop
but
a recent report showed that prices continued to climb after the 2008 crash, esp. in Cal. and other hot in demand cities.

I am one of millions who cannot afford to live where I grew up on the West Coast.
Cannot even afford West Coast property taxes which are based on inflated housing prices.

I know the pros and cons of rent controls, and god knows devious minds are already at work figuring out ways to skirt the law,
but I hope it proves to be a good thing.

[Hulk]

3. We got priced out.....living in central Mexico now.

I grew up in Portland. Lived there for 55 years. Spent the last 8 years living across the river in Vancouver, Washington; but my wife and I just couldn't afford it any longer.

The rule of thumb I remember from when I was young, buying homes and raising my family was: Up to 25% of income for rent/mortgage. There is NO WAY I could follow that rule today. Currently the rent for a 1000 ft 2 bdrm ranch is about half of my total income. We just got priced out. When we moved there eight years ago it was a little over 25% of my income, but each year it was jacked another $100 until we were going in the red every month, even with me picking up driving for Uber and Lyft. Don't want to do that anymore. I'm 71 and honestly, working is something I spent 50+ years doing. I'm burned out on being somebody elses monkey and having to deal with the rare idiot customer/person. I'll leave the income making for the younger set.

So, back to Portland. It used to be a wonderful city, progressive, clean, livable and stuck between Seattle and San Francisco, it didn't have the unique appeal of those two places, but it had the perfect location for mountain skiing and beach combing, each about an hour and a half away. Decent climate, if you can tolerate 6 months of grey, wet winter; but it beat the hell out of Minnesota, where we migrated FROM.
In any case, it has become a congested, overpopulated city with an infrastructure that is stressed to the max. It's nothing like LA, but the freeways are often clogged and moving at 10 mph, the surface roads are decaying and in bad shape, and high rise apartments are springing up everywhere, trying to accommodate 3700 new residents every month who are converging on this once pleasant little city. The charming neighborhoods are gone. AirB&B has bought up many homes for income from owners outside the state and within the Portland area, and rents are through the roof. We lived across the river in WA, because the rents were probably $3-500 a month cheaper.

I'm sad to see what's happened to a once charming city. Now it's a millineal, yuppy town. Lots of restaurants, clogged side streets, neighborhoods invaded by people from CA and everywhere else. The sweet, gentle and considerate driving has turned to "hurry up and get out of the way" drivers from all the other big cities around the country. They've spoiled what was once pleasant and charming. It's gone. It's something else now, and I'm glad Oregon is FINALLY addressing the gentrification of the Pacific Northwest. Too little too late, I'm afraid. We'll be going back to live there for a year, so we can pull our stuff out of storage and sell it off, but it's going to be tough living in a congested, busy and often rude big city that belongs to LA, NYC, Boston, and every other influence that was once a rarity, and is now predominant in the town. I'm getting old, and those jewels are disappearing all over the world.

[former9thward]

10. A good summary of Portland.

I grew up in Portland and moved to Chicago after college. Over the years I have come back to visit and have been dismayed at the increasing congestion year after year. The traffic is worse than anything we have in Chicago (I live in the city not the suburban area). I would never want to live there now. I was in Portland for 3 months in late 2016 while working on a project and the light rail was always a problem. Whenever you needed it the most -- bad weather, ice -- it would go out of service.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Interesting because

so much of that state is just rural (outside of the cities of Portland, Eugene, etc)! But then reading the article, it seems that the state is getting an influx of people seeking to live there and apparently there has been little planning for that.

[vsrazdem]

5. GOP is going to start screaming Socialism.

[Tiggeroshii]

6. We could've had this too if we just passed prop 10

Until then it will still be illegal.

[MissB]

7. Oregon is a great place to live.

And the population used to be reasonably sparse. It’s grown a lot over the last ten years and housing prices reflect the growth and demand.

The Portland metro area has water and doesn’t yet suffer from fires like California. There is still buildable land. Portland proper had a bunch of public transportation and it snakes out into the suburbs. But...we also have a lot of homeless people. I’m shocked to hear what rental prices are (let alone house prices!) and I don’t know how folks afford them. Clearly many can’t.

I’m not thrilled with the resulting traffic but it seems ok if you’re an office worker that can have a flexible schedule. Not so much if you have to drive for a living.

[marlakay]

11. I love Oregon but state taxes are high

So don’t move here unless you can afford it.

[handmade34]

8. good

just read an article on taxing empty homes and apartments as a way to reduce rents

[madville]

12. Limits rent increases to 7% above the current CPI

Consumer Price Index + 7%. So if the 2018 CPI was 2.4% that means landlords would be limited to a 9.4% annual rent increase that year. I imagine many landlords will just automatically raise the rent the max amount every year. Probably see an increase in landlords selling to homeowners or converting apartments to sellable condos if their rentals become less profitable.

It will be an interesting experiment.