Oregon Law Center reports record-high evictions in January

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - 2,788 people were evicted in court in January, according to the Oregon Law Center (OLC). This is the highest number of evictions ever recorded in Oregon since the OLC started tracking this data five years ago.

“It is heartbreaking that more Oregon families are facing eviction than ever before,” said Becky Straus, managing attorney of the Eviction Defense Project at OLC. “Eviction defense and tenant services can stop homelessness before people suffer on the streets. But because of funding cuts we are not able to serve all the families who need legal representation.”

But according to Portland Tenants United (PTU), a citywide tenants union, many evictions happen outside the courtroom. This means the actual number of January evictions is likely much higher.

“What we know is that most people lose their housing not through court evictions,” said Leeor Schweitzer, who is on the Organizing Committee at PTU. “People will get a termination notice and leave before the landlord files an eviction in court. Or, people will get harassed to the point where they leave before receiving a termination letter and there’s no record of that. That’s not being tracked anywhere.”

The new data from OLC comes after Portland’s city administrator announced they found an estimated $106 million in unspent housing funds.

Schweitzer said not all of that would have gone directly into tenants’ pockets, but it still could have prevented evictions. And Tanner Baloh, a defense attorney with the Commons Law Center, said that money needs to be dispersed as soon as possible.

“It’s disheartening to see that [money] get lost. That said, we can cry over spilt milk, or we can work to get that money out to the community now and make a difference,” Baloh said. “I think being able to do that as soon as possible, getting money into people’s hands, helping to prevent evictions right now would go a long way.”

When it comes to lowering the number of evictions, Baloh and Schweitzer said the long-term solution is to lower the cost of rent. But in the short-term, Straus said prevention is the key.

Investing in eviction prevention, like a one-time rent assistance payment, can cost five to ten times less than it does to shelter and rehouse a family if they become homeless.

“If we can invest before somebody becomes homeless, it’s better for them, it’s better for our community and it’s more cost-effective,” Straus said.

Straus said OLC has called on state legislatures to allot $10 million to restore previous cuts made to eviction and homeless prevention services in Oregon.

Of the $106 million of unspent funding in Portland, the city identified $20.7 million that could support eviction prevention and eviction legal defense.

“These dollars were identified last fall and are currently under active consideration by City Council through two pieces of pending legislation,” Cody Bowman, a city press officer, said in an email. “Once Council determines how those funds should be allocated, the Housing Bureau will be able to deploy them into the community.”