Here’s how many landlords serve in the Oregon Legislature

(The Center Square) – Oregon has passed some of the most progressive housing legislation of any state in the past several years. Some say it has to do with the changing faces seated in the state legislature.

Oregon became the first state in 2019 to ban single-family zoning codes – a step housing advocates have hailed as a way of diversifying the homebuyers’ market for low-income residents. State lawmakers built on those efforts this session with bipartisan support.

The state, which capped rent increases at 7% per year in 2019, has some of the strictest tenant protections in the country. Some cities like Portland have gone a step further, placing duties more stringent on landlords to pay for tenants’ relocation costs incurred by rent hikes. Oregon is short 155,000 homes by state officials’ estimates.

Based on The Center Square’s analysis of the Oregon Legislature’s 2021 financial disclosures, 18 of the 90 state lawmakers serving in the House and Senate rent out properties. That’s about 20% of both chambers. The disparity between homeowners and renters is even more significant.

In the House, more than half the chamber reported owning a home in 2021 or 34 out of 60 state representatives. The House is also home to 11 commercial or residential landlords, four are Republicans and seven are Democrats. Of the 26 renters in the chamber, House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, is the highest-ranking.

In the Senate, 23 members reported owning a home out of 30 members total in 2021. Eight state senators also rent out a property, five of whom were Democrats and three of whom were Republicans. The chamber has been the most opposed to new housing measures and voted down statewide rent control when introduced in 2017.

In total, 63% of the Oregon Legislature owns a home rather than rents. That’s a far cry from the 96% of the Washington Legislature that owns a home rather than rents according to a 2018 report by The Stranger. In Washington, single-family zoning and bans on rent control remain in place.

More Oregon lawmakers have rented out properties in the past, according to their prior disclosure forms. Sen. Dallas Heard, R-Myrtle Creek, who owns a landscaping business, rented out three properties in Salem, Roseburg, and Sutherlin as recently as 2018.

Landlords wield significant influence in the state legislature in recent years. State Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, who rents out three properties in St. Helens and Scappoose, co-chairs the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. Senate Minority Leader Fred Girod, R-Lyons, runs a small real estate business and rents out three complexes in Salem and Independence.

Over the past several years, the fate of housing bills has often fallen to the hands of the Oregon Legislature’s landlords.

In 2019, the state legislature passed Senate Bill 608, banning landlords from terminating month-to-month tenancy without cause after 12 months. The bill saw a “no” vote from Johnson, who twice voted down the $65 million housing project for Oregon’s wildfire survivors and the chronically homeless.

According to state Rep. Mark Meek, D-Clackamas County, who has been a landlord himself for many years, representation in the state legislature matters.

“Because many of them are homeowners or investment property owners, they’re not really experiencing the difficulties of being a renter,” Meek said. “We evolved through the rental process because we’ve heard stories or we know either family members or neighbors that have experienced issues.”

Meek, who rents out two duplexes in Gresham and Gladstone, says he can recall growing up in apartment complexes as a child. His family would often struggle to pay the bills. Having electricity or running water was more of a privilege than a certainty.

Like many of his colleagues, Meek says Oregon’s housing crisis is a problem of supply and demand. He says the state needs to get building, and relaxing zoning codes is part of the solution. This month, Meek carried Senate Bill 458 in the House. It would let cities diversify neighborhoods to include more homes beyond large family houses.

“Renters will have more choices and they won’t have to pay as much,” Meek said. “We need to be as smart as we can to get all that out there, because absent that, we’re going to keep on seeing high rent prices and homelessness.”

The Oregon Legislature is scheduled to adjourn on June 28.

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