Portland mayoral candidate Ted Wheeler on Thursday said he wants to create new rules to better protect renters from evictions.

If elected, Wheeler wants to establish criteria dictating how and when some landlords evict tenants. He didn't offer many specifics, but said the policy would be modeled after Seattle, which lists only 18 allowable reasons for just-cause evictions for month-to-month renters.

Seattle's rules don't apply to a lease that ends on a specific date.

Wheeler's plan could be easier said than done. The Portland City Council last fall approved new rules mandating 90-day notice for no-cause evictions or rent hikes of 5 percent or more -- and that's now being challenged in court.

Wheeler also proposed creating a new bureaucracy within the Portland Housing Bureau -- the Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs.

The office would mediate disputes and inform landlords and renters of their rights, according to a press release from the Wheeler campaign. It would also offer renters a new place to submit housing violations.

"It is time for the city to step up to ensure renters are being treated fairly and that landlords are following the law," Wheeler said in a statement. "Today's proposal provides a path to ensuring that people aren't being priced out and moved out of this community."

Wheeler also recommended that Portland should consider dedicating new money to affordable housing, although the amount of money isn't clear. In cases of home demolitions, he suggested steering the value of higher property taxes from the new, more expensive homes into an affordable-housing fund.



He also suggested that Portland should immediately reduce or waive fees for new affordable housing, although the scope wasn't immediately clear. Portland, for instance, already reduces property taxes and waives fees for parks, roads, water and sewer services, which are called system development charges.

Portland's mayoral primary is May 17. Wheeler, Oregon's state treasurer, and Jules Bailey, a Multnomah County commissioner, are the frontrunners.

-- Brad Schmidt

bschmidt@oregonian.com

503-294-7628

@cityhallwatch