Time has run out to prevent evictions for tens of thousands in Oregon

On a sunny June day, Michael Bouchard went to the Salem office of The ARCHES Project to apply for emergency rental assistance for his 24-foot trailer in north Salem and filled out all of the paperwork given.

And then he waited.

Like thousands of other Oregonians, Bouchard had a hard time paying rent due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2020, Congress sent $204 million to help people in Oregon pay rent, and Bouchard qualified for help.

The former journeyman carpenter received unemployment payments for much of the pandemic and used that to pay his rent, but fell behind. He has worked when he could, such as at the State Fair, and said he paid as much as he could.

Bouchard never received an official eviction summons, but said he received a number of verbal warnings from his landlord about the past-due rent.

While his application wound its way through the systems the state had rushed to install weeks earlier, Bouchard's time was running out.

In June, the same month Bouchard applied for help, the state’s pandemic-induced ban on evictions expired. To buy renters more time to get assistance from the new program, lawmakers extended the ban on eviction for nonpayment of rent by 60 days.

But now the clock on that protection has run out for Bouchard and approximately 11,900 other people in Oregon, according to Oregon Housing and Community Services.  

The state continues to be overwhelmed by the volume of applications and the Legislature has not extended the “safe harbor” to protect residents from getting evicted while they wait for the state to send out the assistance funds.

At an Oct. 4 hearing, Oregon Housing and Community Services officials said it could take 10-13 weeks for the state to catch up with the backlog of applications.

Though lawmakers have expressed concern about the extent of the backlog, they have yet to take action like calling a special session to address it. 

“While we have sufficient resources, there shouldn’t be anyone who is evicted for inability to pay,” Oregon Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, said.

Meantime, options are running out for renters like Bouchard.

For four months, Bouchard waited and contacted everyone he could think of – from trying to call OHCS director Margaret Salazar to appearing on a Portland television station. He received a check for 15 months of back rent Tuesday. He will use it to pay his landlord and get caught up on rent.

But he said not everyone will be as lucky.

“I’m assertive,” Bouchard said. “Imagine those who aren’t.”

'Their patience has run out'

The federal program was designed to give renters who earn 80% of the county's median income up to 12 months of past-due rent and three months of future rent. Renters also were eligible for help paying for utilities.

In Marion County, for example, a family of four earning up to $45,240 would qualify. 

Oregon put the program under Housing and Community Services, a little-known state agency that provides financial assistance and promotes affordable housing. 

That agency relied on community action agencies, such as The ARCHES Project, to find those who qualify and help them apply. The agency was overwhelmed with the number of applications, despite bringing in an outside vendor to help handle the volume.

The state’s figure of 11,900 households who could currently be evicted is only an estimate.

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Tenant advocates say some people are self-evicting – leaving their residence as soon as a landlord tells them their time is up.

Under the state’s grace period, a tenant has to show their landlord the letter from the state proving they have applied for the rental assistance program. They then have 60 days before the landlord can file eviction papers for nonpayment of rent. Tenants in Multnomah County and in unincorporated areas of Washington County have 90 days of protection.

Estimates are that 14,000 people in the state have applied for the help, but are past the 60-day protection. Of those, 3,700 have been waiting more than 120 days. 

Some tenants are holding off until they receive a formal notice of eviction and then showing the letter, which buys them more time.

“It’s simply a matter of time before the checks reach the landlords,” said Sybil Hebb, legislative director for the Oregon Law Center, a non-profit law firm.

But some landlords are done waiting.

Since the state’s moratorium on evictions expired in late June, evictions for non-payment of rent have skyrocketed, according to data compiled by the Oregon Law Center.

Between January and June, there was an average of 66 evictions for non-payment per month. After the moratorium ended, that shot up to 361 evictions in July, 463 in August and 473 in September.  

Nearly half, or 45% of tenants who were evicted for not paying rent in September had applied for the rental assistance program, according to OHCS.  

“Landlords have made it clear that their patience has run out,” Salazar said. “They have been patient. They have been receiving assistance on an ongoing basis, but we also know that landlords may begin evicting more people, even people who have applied for rental assistance.”

She said they are pleading with landlords to be patient a bit longer.

“We have asked them to do the right thing and we have reassured them that funds will continue to flow into their hands," she said. "But it’s likely not enough to stave off evictions."

The waiting is the hardest part

Nicole Taylor has never lived lavishly.

She rents a two-bedroom duplex in the North Tabor neighborhood of Portland with her mother and daughter.

Taylor worked at hospitals, for state agencies and schools through her adult life, but was unemployed at the start of the pandemic.

She received unemployment benefits and managed to pay rent and other bills with that money. But that ran out when the federal government’s pandemic benefits stopped.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Taylor started taking classes at Warner Pacific toward a degree in health care administration. She hopes to complete the degree in December.

She applied for emergency rental assistance when the state’s program opened May 19. And then she waited, and waited.

More than four months later, on Sept. 29, she received a payment for four months of back rent.

“At the end of the day, I just don’t understand, and it kind of makes me wonder how many people are in the same boat as me, who only asked for a few months of assistance and didn’t get it?” Taylor said.

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After Taylor’s rent check finally arrived, she received notice from the state she may be able to apply for rental assistance in the future.

She was perturbed that she is being offered more help while thousands in her situation haven’t gotten any help and are being evicted.

“They’re losing their cars and they’re losing their homes or something because somebody in a position of power isn’t saying, ‘We need to stop this, or fix this immediately,’” Taylor said.

Will the state extend safe harbor?

When the “safe harbor” bill was signed into law in June, it assumed that the state would be able to work its way through the backlog of applications in a timely manner and deliver the payments before the tenants are evicted.

Four months later, the state has barely made a dent in the backlog.

Charles Boyle, a spokesperson for Gov. Kate Brown, said any extension of the safe harbor period would have to come from the state Legislature since it passed the initial bill.  

“The governor continues to work with legislators to explore potential solutions, but at this time any solutions to address issues surrounding evictions must be enacted in partnership with the Legislature as a part of the legislative process,” Boyle said in an email.

For lawmakers to address the issue, the Legislature would have to be called to a special session. That could be done by the governor or Legislature, but one doesn't appear imminent.

OHCS has provided different estimates of how long it will take to clear the backlog.

More than 50,000 households in Oregon have applied for assistance since May. About 12,300 have been paid.

About 4,500 people in Marion County applied for help. About 1,000 were paid through Oct. 7 and more than 1,000 are past the safe harbor period. In Lane County, there were about 3,500 applications. While1,400 have been paid, more than 250 are past the 60-day time period.

Advocates are calling for lawmakers to either place another moratorium on evictions for people who haven’t paid rent, or extend the grace period. They said that would let the state work through the backlog and get the money to people who need it while also keeping people who haven’t gotten help yet in their homes.

“Mechanically, how do we get there?” Hebb said. “I don’t know the answers to all of those questions, but I’m sure our state leadership is up to the challenge of how to figure out how to come together … to take extraordinary measure and ensure that people don’t fall off the cliff in this incredible pandemic.”

On the edge of eviction

In June, Justin Wolf applied for six months of rental assistance.

Sober since 2018, Wolf had lifted himself up from homelessness and is taking classes at Chemeketa Community College towards a degree in drug and alcohol counseling.

Though he managed to stay current on the rent on a duplex in South Salem with a combination of student loans and unemployment payments, Wolf and his son needed help to stay housed.

He never got a payment, and a few days ago received notice that his application was missing documentation.

“I’m at risk of imminent homelessness,” Wolf said.

How to get eviction defense help

The Oregon Law Center’s Eviction Defense Project offers free legal aid to those being evicted. If you receive a court summons for eviction, you can contact the project by calling 888-585-9638 or by email at evictiondefense@oregonlawcenter.org.

Emergency Rental Assistance

In Oregon, to apply for emergency rental assistance, go to https://oerap.oregon.gov/orera#/.

In Marion and Polk Counites, contact The ARCHES Program COVID-19 rent relief program at 971-345-2227 or visit its office at 675 Church St. NE, Salem.

To apply in Lane County, go to https://www.lanecounty.org/cms/one.aspx?pageId=16741613.

Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@statesmanjournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler. 

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