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The 1985 ban on rent control is "a faintly coded racist relic" that should be undone, Gerry Mohr told a gathering in downtown Portland Wedensday night.

(Mike Francis / The Oregonian)

Portland is a city that seems to be building apartment complexes all over town, yet the vacancy rate remains one of the lowest in the country and rents are rising faster than most other cities.

ORS 91.225 (1)

The Legislative Assembly finds that there is a social and economic need to insure an adequate supply of affordable housing for Oregonians. The Legislative Assembly also finds that the imposition of general restrictions on housing rents will disrupt an orderly housing market, increase deferred maintenance of existing housing stock, lead to abandonment of existing rental units and create a property tax shift from rental-owned to owner-occupied housing. Therefore, the Legislative Assembly declares that the imposition of rent control on housing in the State of Oregon is a matter of statewide concern.

-1985

It's a combination of factors that puts a squeeze on renters with modest incomes, including those who gathered Wednesday evening for what was billed as a Rent Control Town Hall in downtown's First Congregational Church.

The situation amounts to a crisis for the working class, who are "not part of the conversation in our own city," said Melissa Vollono of Socialist Alternative, one of the organizers.

A 1985 law passed by the Oregon Legislature prohibits cities and counties from enacting rent controls.

The law, introduced to the Oregon House at the request of the Oregon Multifamily Housing Council, the Oregon State Homebuilders Association, the Oregon Association of Realtors, the Oregon Mobilehome Park Association, the Affiliated Rental Housing Association and the Oregon League of Financial Institutions, "has a racist subtext a mile wide," said Gerry Mohr, another organizer of Wednesday night's gathering.

He said the absence of ways to keep the city affordable to people of all income levels has made Portland's close-in neighborhoods the exclusive domain of the "high-earning elite."

Earlier this month, Zillow published a survey of the cities with the fastest-rising rents. Portland ranked seventh, with a year-over-year gain of 7.0 percent, more than twice the national average. The city's median rent, the real estate analytics company reported, was $1,587.

Zillow noted that, while rental increases are not always worrisome, it's troubling now that, on average, the cost burden of renting has risen to be about the same as the burden of owning.

"What's worrisome is that income growth has not kept pace with growth in rents," the company noted. "Since 2000, rents have grown at roughly twice the pace of wages, and as a result, the share of income necessary to afford typical rents in an area is rising."

For those who spoke at the Rent Control Town Hall, this is old news.

"Rent control in the right way would work," said Mohr. "This is an emergency."

"Go to the political system," urged Nick Caleb, a lawyer and former City Council candidate. "Be audacious."

-- Mike Francis

mfrancis@oregonian.com

503-412-7014

@oregonianmike