Senators, housing agencies and advocates push package to protect tenants when affordability restrictions expire

State lawmakers and housing stakeholders told the Senate Committee on Housing and Development that a package of bills — Senate Bill 973, Senate Bill 31 (dash amendments) and Senate Bill 32 — aims to reduce tenant displacement when affordable housing contracts expire and to improve the state’s ability to preserve affordable units.

The bills would (1) increase tenant notice about the end of affordability restrictions and require landlords to inform applicants and new tenants of remaining affordability term; (2) create an expiring-affordability mitigation fund to provide one-time financial assistance to affected households (capped in the draft at the equivalent of up to three months’ rent in many descriptions); and (3) direct Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) to publish expanded data on expiring affordable housing on its preservation dashboard.

Senator Deb Patterson, who introduced the package, said the measures grew out of a multi-stakeholder work group and a pilot project that preserved several hundred units. She and supporting lawmakers cited OHCS data showing thousands of units statewide will lose affordability restrictions over the next five years and urged both statutory protections for tenants and additional bond funding to acquire and preserve properties permanently.

Witnesses from housing advocacy groups, housing authorities and local government described how the bills are intended to work together. Cameron Harrington of the Oregon Housing Alliance said the most effective response to the preservation crisis is acquisition funding in the governor’s budget, but that these bills provide important tenant protections where preservation is not feasible. Harrington also noted the bill aligns tenant notice with the existing 36-month notice that owners already give to OHCS and local housing authorities so tenants receive the same timeline.

Public housing authorities including Home Forward, the Salem Housing Authority and Homes for Good supported the package and said they have experience administering relocation or barrier-removal assistance and could steward mitigation funds locally. Community groups and tenant advocates urged extended notice and the mitigation fund as critical to reducing trauma and preventing homelessness.

Several provider groups, including Multifamily Northwest, testified in support of improvements to the OHCS dashboard and the notice provisions, saying better data and predictability help planning for tenants and property owners.

Local officials including Washington County Commissioner Catherine Harrington described past local preservation crises and said the package would give counties and housing authorities additional tools to assist residents. Testimony repeatedly noted that preserving properties through bond-funded acquisitions is the strongest outcome, while the mitigation fund and notice rules are stopgap protections for tenants in properties that will convert to market rate.

No committee votes were taken on the package during the hearing. Committee members asked clarifying questions about how the mitigation fund would be administered, eligibility time windows and notice-period details; witnesses said local housing agencies or other community organizations could be designated to administer funds and that the statute would allow funds to be used over a multi-year window following an expiration.

Proponents urged that the legislature follow the governor’s budget recommendation for bond funding to acquire at-risk properties and avoid the need for displacement mitigation in the first place.