Angelita Morillo's Questionnaire Answers

Running for Portland City Council District 3

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Question 1: In your view, what are the primary causes of the housing crisis?

Stagnant wages and rising costs of living, State and federal funding cuts, Construction held back by short term rentals, corporate AI rents, and broken permitting in areas that are not in alignment with accessibility to Portland’s diverse population.

Question 2: What are the main policies that you would champion to address the current housing crisis?

One of the main steps I have personally had a hand in is abolishing use of Ai to manipulate market housing costs. We need to keep Portlanders housed overall; currently the unemployment rate is in the top 3rd of houseless populations in the United States. We as leaders have an obligation to the residents of Portland to develop solutions that are accessible and have contingencies in place for life changes. Having experienced homelessness myself, my passion to correct corrupt housing systems is a huge driving point.

I would move towards defending and expanding tenant protections; such as fair housing practices, realistic wage analysis when considering “low income housing” and more social housing options. These would greatly improve options for those exposed to high barriers and being pushed out of their homes unjustly.

Question 3: Provide an explanation of your work around the policies listed above, and why you believe they are important?

Every Portlander has a right to fair housing and equitable options compared to that of those with more privileges and access to generational wealth. Many do not meet the market requirements and or income requirements needed to get INTO housing, let alone maintain their residency.

Some of the policies I have worked towards are:

Filed the Inner Eastside for All Resolution to expand housing options and create mixed-income, walkable neighborhoods by re-legalizing street-scale apartment buildings in the city's Inner Eastside.
Worked with the Fire Bureau to support single-stair building reform, making it possible to build more homes safely and affordably.
Followed up on reporting requirements for System Development Charge (SDC) waivers after Council adopted our amendment to improve transparency.
Worked with Senator Khanh Pham to support changes to Inclusionary Zoning that will make it easier to build more affordable housing in Portland.
Worked with other local governments on developing and implementing our price-fixing ordinance.
Continued researching and building support for single-stair reform to help increase housing production.
Worked with Councilors Green, Avalos, and Dunphy to break a deadlock over new housing funding, helping secure investments in rental assistance, eviction defense, affordable housing purchases, and a revolving loan fund.
Partnered with Metro to explore ways to strengthen risk mitigation funds that help affordable housing providers cover unexpected costs.
Helped ensure that $21 million in unspent housing funds included a loan for the Broadway Corridor project instead of a grant, protecting public dollars.
Co-sponsored a $56 million housing package with Councilor Avalos to help lower rents and expand housing opportunities.
Helped create Portland's first social housing and revolving loan fund to support permanently affordable housing.
Passed the Inner Eastside for All Resolution to encourage more housing in District 3 and create a model that can be used across Portland.
Oversaw implementation of the design review reform resolution with Councilor Zimmerman to speed up housing development.
Protected Portland's new social housing fund during budget negotiations, preventing it from being redirected to projects outside the competitive funding process while preserving funding for both social housing and Black homeownership initiatives.

Question 4: Do you rent or own your residence?

Rent

Question 5: If you own, when were you last a renter?

N/A

Question 6: In PTU’s most recent survey of tenants, harassment of tenants by landlords was one of the top issues faced by Portland tenants. What would you do to address harassment of tenants by landlords?

Keeping Portland tenants informed and empowered with educational tools will keep them prepared to autonomously make sound decisions. While I want to fight on their behalf for more clear and fair rental policies, I want to implore individuals to arm themselves with clear steps in the event I fall short.

I want to implement Tenant Protection Ordinances, providing them the right to counsel with competent and readily available tenant focused attorneys and commit to continued education around renter power-building and more opportunities for education and or tenant “city hall” events to allow residents to raise their specific concerns.

Question 7: If elected, would you advocate to overturn the State of Oregon's preemption preventing municipalities from implementing local rent control, and work towards local rent control with a lower annual increase cap?

Yes

Question 8: Please share more about your thoughts on rent control.

Rent control needs to be coupled with increased housing production to be effective or it ends up being a tax on new residents, young people, dv survivors, seniors needing to downsize, or families needing to upsize. But it is a critical tool. Oregon’s statewide cap is 9.5% and is tied to CPI which means landlords can still gouge tenants in years of high inflation exactly when renters are most vulnerable.

Question 9: If elected, would you support the right of tenants to collectively bargain their leases?

Yes

Question 10: Please share more about your thoughts on tenants' right to collectively bargain.

Collective bargaining is one of the most important rights workers have ever won, and there’s really no good reason a tenant signing alone against property management companies with in-house legal teams should be treated as a fair fight. By protecting the rights of tenants to do the same, we can start to take power back from landlords and developers and create real change.

Question 11: Other local tenant groups have launched a Renter’s Bill of Rights campaign. Have you pledged to support the Renter’s Bill of Rights?

Yes

Question 12: Please share more about your thoughts on Renter’s Bill of Rights. What are two or three policies that you are particularly passionate about?

As the current Renter’s Bill of Rights stands, my key initiatives include; banning AI rental price-fixing, increasing notice periods to six months, capping fees, and implementing eviction protections during the school year.

Question 13: How would you ensure that policies and processes which affect tenants meaningfully include impacted renters, and reflect the diversity of the tenants affected?

I firmly believe embedding tenant voices directly into housing decisions through formal structural mandates and equitable representation practices is key to accomplishing more equitable housing practices.

Several key strategies I am moving to implement are:

Tenant-led councils: An initiative to dedicate 5% of all new housing developments across every neighborhood for tenant representation. This model reserves housing within new projects for tenants who serve on local tenant councils to keep them directly involved in operational and neighborhood decision-making.
Lived-experience representation: Inviting the voice of those currently renting and or those who have experienced homelessness due to unfair renting practices and barriers. Learning the explicit needs of everyday tenants while ensuring that policy discussions are not dominated solely by property owners and corporate landlords.
Targeting corporate vs. marginalized impacts: I have focused heavily on how policy affects the most vulnerable populations, having this perspective from lived experience as well. More specifically, I want to emphasize empowering and protecting low-income families, students, and marginalized groups from predatory practices like algorithmic rental price-fixing and sudden school-year evictions.

Question 14: Would you refuse or return campaign contributions from Multifamily NW's Equitable Housing PAC, The Good Landlord PAC, More Housing Now! PAC, or similar real estate industry PACs?

Yes

Question 15: Are there other ways, besides those you have already mentioned, that you will champion housing affordability, expand tenant rights, and fight displacement?

In 2024 I stated that Portland needs to continue to get far more imaginative in the ways we create affordable housing. Two of the main ideas I would like to create as actionable items are:

Support for establishing Community Land Trusts to enable collective community land management, keeping neighborhood housing permanently affordable and mitigating gentrification.
Continuing to advocate for the redirection of sweep funds towards rental aid and food assistance as well as to redirect any available city funds away from encampment sweeps, into emergency rental assistance which will largely benefit immigrant individuals and families. This particular movement has been longstanding for myself and few others while fighting a morally bankrupt practice in retraumatizing some of our most vulnerable community members.