Overview:

Post-pandemic moratorium eviction diversion and tenant protection programs are an opportunity for evaluation in many different contexts to assess how policy design and implementation can best support housing stability. Oregon’s eviction diversion program, the so-called ‘safe harbor’ for nonpayment eviction cases, was implemented in July 2021 to maintain some protections for tenants as the moratorium on nonpayment evictions ended. By following eviction cases from notice through adjudication, we can assess this policy and the challenges for preventing evictions and displacement during its early implementation. In the first 90 days of the policy, we find mixed results for tenants and suggest that policy could be better designed by understanding how information, communication, and power affect each stage of eviction proceedings.

This research was supported by the Housing Crisis Research Collaborative, which aims to address the longstanding inequities in access to safe, stable, and affordable rental housing that have been laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides policymakers at all levels of government with the data and analysis they need to design, implement, and evaluate more equitable and effective rental housing and community development responses to the pandemic and ongoing rental housing affordability crisis.

For more info: www.housingcrisisresearch.org 

Key findings:

• 27% of tenants with nonpayment eviction cases got the ‘safe harbor’ setover

• 25% of cases ended in a default judgement against a tenant for failure to appear at one of their court dates

• 32.7% of nonpayment cases were dismissed, though it's unclear whether the tenant remained housed even if the case was dismissed

General Information:

Researchers: Lisa K. Bates, Colleen Carroll, Minji Cho, Devin MacArthur.

Partners: Portland Housing Bureau, Oregon Housing and Community Services, Oregon Law Center (OLC), PCC Clear Clinic, Commons Law, Community Alliance of Tenants

Funding: Housing Crisis Research Collaborative, Portland Professorship in Innovative Housing, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative (HRAC)

Citation: Bates, Lisa K., "Oregon's Safe Harbor for Tenants: Rocky Shoals in Eviction Diversion" (2022). Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations. 29. https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/37581