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Panel: Eviction filings at record highs in Oregon; legal aid and rent assistance credited with preventing homelessness
Summary
Legal aid and community action groups told the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness that eviction filings reached a record level in 2024, mostly for nonpayment, and that combined legal help and one‑time rental assistance often keep households housed.
At an informational hearing on May 28, the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness heard from legal aid and housing providers about recent eviction trends in Oregon and the role of prevention programs.
Sybil Hebb, director at the Oregon Law Center, told the committee that "in 2024, we've reached an uncomfortable milestone of having the most evictions ever filed in Oregon," and that more than 27,000 eviction actions were filed statewide last year, about 87% for nonpayment of rent. Hebb said filings averaged slightly more than 2,200 per month in 2024 and that filings in the first five months of 2025 were running a bit higher, at over 2,300 per month.
Hebb described the scale of housing cost burden in the state and who it affects. "One in four households have rents that cost more than 50% of their income," she said, and noted that cost burden is spreading into middle‑income categories that…
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