Contact PTU:
Or send us a private message on Facebook or Twitter
***PTU is an all-volunteer union. We will try to respond to your message as quickly as possible, especially if you and others in your building are trying to form a union and fight for your rights. We DO NOT give legal advice and DO NOT have any money to help pay your rent. If you have general questions about your rights as a tenant or need legal help or rent assistance, please contact the resources below***
Other Resources:
Topics:
- COVID specific
- Tenant Rights Information
- Free or Low-Cost Legal Help
- Mediation
- City and County Inspectors
- Housing and Rent Assistance
- Other Local Tenant Unions
- Organizing Resources
COVID specific
- URGENT HELP: If you need urgent support for an eviction or illegal lock out, text PTU at (503) 461-0369, or email us at evictions@pdxtu.org
- Eviction Resistance Packet: Information from various sources, put together and annotated by PTU. Read the packet here
-
Multnomah County: Residents are protected from eviction through Ordinance 1287
- Strongest protections for Multnomah County residents
- Protection until January 8th 2021
- Protects against non-payment evictions, no-cause evictions, and all qualifying landlord cause evictions (except selling the house when the buyer moves in)
- Tenant may request a six-month repayment period after the end of the emergency
- See Multnomah County FAQ
-
Oregon State: residents are protected from evictions through Executive Order 20-56
- The Executive order is effective until December 31st 2020
- It mostly extends the protections from HB 4213. These are the same as those listed above for Multnomah County
- HB 4213, which expired Sep 30th, had a repayment grace period until March 31st 2021, the executive order does not have a grace period.
- See comprehensive FAQ from the Portland Rental Services Office
-
National Moratorium: Note that the national moratorium does not apply in Oregon because Oregon has stronger protections
- The CDC has issued a national eviction moratorium effective until the end of 2020.
- To qualify you need to fill out a deceleration form and mail it to your landlord.
- The National Low Income Housing Coalition put together this very handy info sheet about the moratorium.
-
OregonLawHelp.org has a page dedicated to housing protection during COVID-19
- This includes a 3 page PDF explaining the current state of the eviction moratorium in Oregon
Tenant Rights Information
-
oregonlawhelp.org - Detailed, understandable, and accurate information about landlord-tenant law
- Legal Aid booklet - a run down from Legal Services of Landlord Tenant Law in Oregon
- ORS 90 - The Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, contains most important statewide landlord-tenant law
- Portland Rental Services Office: (503) 823-1303 or RentalServices@portlandoregon.gov
-
Community Alliance of Tenants Renters Rights Hotline: (503) 288-0130
- Specifically check out their CAT's Know Your Rights information
- Manufactured Communities Resource Center: (503) 986-2145 or mcrc@oregon.gov
- PDX Renters Unite! - Facebook group where you can share your stories with fellow renters, many of whom have gone through the same things
Free or Low-Cost Legal Help
- Legal Aid Services of Oregon: (503) 224-4086 [Only serves low-income clients]
- Portland Defender: (503) 592-0606 or troy@portlanddefender.com [Pro bono]
- Oxbow Law: Attorney Doug Hageman - 503-694-9361 or doug@oxbowlaw.com [Free consultations, almost all tenant cases are on contingency]
- Community Law Project: (503) 208-4079 or info@communitylawproject.org [Reduced rates for lower-income]
- The Commons Law Center: 503-850-0811 [sliding scale legal services for people making under 400% the federal poverty line]
- Oregon State Bar Modest Means Program: (503) 684-3763 or LegalHelp@oregonstatebar.org [Sliding scale]
- Fair Housing Council of Oregon: (503) 223-8197
- Disability Rights Oregon: (503) 243-2081
- Don't Shoot PDX Community Legal Referral Services: contact@dontshootpdx.org or message them on Facebook
- Neighborhood Mediation Program: (503) 595-4890 [Helps to resolve landlord-tenant issues without going to court]
Mediation
Sometime people don't want to pursue legal channels, or are for whatever reason unable to. In those cases, mediation might be an effective tool to resolve a conflict with a landlord. A PTU volunteered has offered free mediation services for tenants in need. There are two types of services:
- Conflict Coaching: Conflict coaching is having a conversation with someone to understand their situation and potentially help them resolve their own conflict. We often find that folks just need a little support and resources to work through their own conflicts with others. While it often seems that the other person is completely stuck in their position and will not change, through a series of questions we can get at the underlying needs and concerns. Once those are identified, we find there are many ways forward and sometimes it takes a bit of coaching to work through a conflict without the need of mediation.
- Mediation: Sometimes folks need a third party to help facilitate a difficult conversation. Mediators are not a judge or lawyer and have no ability to determine the outcome. Mediators are "co-partial" meaning they want the best for all parties involved and will work to create a space where hard conversations can take place. Our role is to make sure everyone feels heard and that each party understands where the other is coming from. There may be an opportunity for parties to come to a common agreement. If that is the case, mediators can help work out the details of that agreement.
City and County Inspectors - They can force your landlord to make repairs
-
Portland Neighborhood Inspections Program: (503) 823-2633
- For help addressing rats, vermin and pest infestations, contact Multnomah County Vector Control at (503) 988-3464
-
Multnomah County Environmental Health: (503) 988-3464
- The cities of Gresham and Wood Village have their own rental inspection programs. Cities with (more limited) residential code enforcement programs include Fairview and Troutdale.
-
Clackamas County Code Enforcement: (503) 742-4452 or CodeEnforcement@clackamas.us
- Cities with (more limited) residential code enforcement programs include Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, Happy Valley, Gladstone, and Oregon City.
-
Washington County Code Compliance: (503) 846-4875 or PDSCodeCompliance@co.washington.or.us
- Tenant mold hotline for Washington County is (503) 648-7723
- The cities of Tigard and Tualatin have their own rental inspection programs. Cities with (more limited) residential code enforcement programs include Sherwood, Beaverton, Hillsboro and Forest Grove.
- Call 211 for a regularly updated list of available housing and rent assistance.
- You can also sometimes find cheap housing through Facebook groups like Portland OR Housing, Portland Housing/Roommates/Sublets/Roomster, Portland Queer Housing, Portland Area Transgender and Queer Safer Housing, or Portland Disabled Housing Network
Other Local Tenant Unions
PTU operates throughout the Portland Metro area. Check out some of these groups operating on different scales:
- North Portland Tenants Collective: nopotenantscollective@gmail.com
- Living Cully's Cully Housing Action Team: (503) 489-8334 or cameronh@livingcully.org
- Green Lents' Lents Strong Housing Team: (971) 319-0444 or LentsStrong@gmail.com
- Oregon Renters in Action (formerly SE Portland Renters in Action): 503-995-0250 or tenants@oregonrentersinaction.com
- Monmouth-Independence Tenants Union: mitenantsunion@gmail.com
- Tenants United Corvallis: tenantsunited@riseup.net
- Springfield-Eugene Tenant Association: 541-972-3715
- Southern Oregon Tenants Union: (541) 708-3576
- Residents Organizing for Change: rgillet@neighborhoodpartnerships.org [Statewide affordable housing tenants union]
- Community Alliance of Tenants: (503) 288-0130 [Statewide organization]
- Manufactured Housing/Oregon State Tenants Association: 1-800-423-9371 [Statewide mobile home park union]
- Tenants Union of Washington State: (206) 723-0500 [If you're just across the border in Vancouver, WA]
- Homes For All: (646) 360-5800 or info@homesforall.org [Nationwide coalition of tenant unions]
- Right 2 Survive: (503) 839-9992 or right2survivesmg@gmail.com [Because our houseless neighbors need a union, too]
Organizing Resources