SALEM -- House lawmakers passed legislation Tuesday that would lift Oregon's statewide ban on rent control and restrict landlords who wish to evict tenants without cause.

House Bill 2004 passed 31-27 mostly along party lines after more than an hour of heated debate.

Though lawmakers generally agree that Oregon is in the throes of a housing crisis affecting urban and rural areas, they have been split over how to address a lack of available and affordable units.

Advocates have zeroed-in on curtailing no-cause evictions and regulating rents as ways to give renters stability. Landlords have largely opposed those policies, saying the Legislature should instead work to encourage construction of new housing units.

House Speaker Tina Kotek, a powerful Portland Democrat, came into this year's legislative session with rent control as a priority given housing market strains in the tri-county area. The bill passed Tuesday is a compromise that doesn't establish rent control -- an idea Kotek floated that did not progress -- but opens the door for municipalities to enact their own rent ceilings.

As for evictions, under current state law landlords can force renters to move out without stating a reason. That's in contrast to ending a rental agreement for-cause, such as when a renter violates the terms of the lease.

Tenants' rights advocates and some Democratic lawmakers have suggested that no-cause evictions and rent increases have been abused by bad-actor landlords, compounding housing problems.

Rep. Teresa Alonso Leon, D-Woodburn, said tenants, especially those who are people of color, are "extremely vulnerable" to rent hikes. No-cause evictions, she said, are "easily abused and used to discriminate against tenants."

Rep. Karin Power, D-Milwaukie, who carried the bill, said some landlords have enriched themselves by issuing no-cause eviction notices to entire housing complexes, laying groundwork for big rent increases or a lucrative sale of the units while booting renters who've done no wrong.

A spate of no-cause evictions and sharp rent increases led Portland city commissioners to vote in February to require landlords to pay relocation costs if tenants are evicted without cause. Days later, a landlord group filed suit over the rule.

House Bill 2004 will "slow down the economic displacement" facing Oregon renters, Power said, while allowing local governments to decide if rent control is the best tool for addressing area housing problems.

The bill is by no means perfect, said Rep. Carla Piluso, D-Gresham, who also carried the bill, but represents a "huge step in the right direction."

Except in certain circumstances, HB 2004 bans landlords from issuing no-cause evictions to month-to-month tenants after their first six months of renting. If a landlord issues a no-cause eviction, they must provide 90 days' notice and one month's rent to the tenant. The bill does not apply to landlords with four or fewer units.

Cities and counties would also be allowed to pass their own rent control policies if they provide landlords fair profit margins, a process for petitioning to increase rents beyond the local ceiling and a five-year exemption from rent control for new residential development.

House Republicans decried the bill, saying it would not help to ease Oregon's housing woes.

Though housing problems are real and profound, said Rep. Duane Stark, R-Grants Pass, desperate times do not always call for desperate measures.

"We are fracturing an already fragile relationship between landlords and tenants," he said, adding that he is "flat out ashamed" at the inability of competing interest groups to find common ground.

Landlord and tenant lobbyists "need to grow up and get it together and figure out something we can all get behind," Stark said.

Rep. Bill Kennemer, R-Oregon City, who is a landlord, said HB 2004 is "a well-intentioned effort," but isn't the right approach. "This bill does not build a single apartment unit," he said.

Rep. Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie, one of two Democrats to vote against HB 2004, said the bill would "further compound" housing problems.

"This bill threatens to exacerbate our state's existing housing crisis," he said. "The only way to address the supply crisis is to build or rehab additional housing units -- and a lot of them."

HB 2004 now goes to the Senate, where the bill will likely face challenges despite Democrats' 17-13 majority.

Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, said her caucus has not talked about HB 2004 and declined to say which members may oppose rent control. But two key Senate Democrats -- Betsy Johnson, of Scappoose, and Rod Monroe, of east Portland -- have been cast as likely to vote against it.

Monroe, who owns 51-unit apartment complex in Portland, told Willamette Week he opposes rent control. Johnson, one of the Senate's more conservative Democrats, declined to comment.

Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive that housing is "obviously a serious concern," but he can't predict what will happen in the Senate.

"The bill will be assigned to the appropriate committee," Courtney said. "I don't want to pre-judge my chair, but I would expect it to get a hearing. We'll see where the process takes us from there."

-- Gordon R. Friedman

503-221-8209; @GordonRFriedman