History of Victories

∞ In early 2017, CAT launched its first ever on-the-ground organizing initiative with an in-city Senior Organizer in Jackson County, Oregon.

∞ In April of 2017 a policy proposal to lift the ban on rent-stabilization and ban no-cause evictions for all of Oregon passed the Oregon State House of Representatives for the first time in Oregon’s history! CAT helped lead the Stable Homes for Oregon Families Coalition who worked with legislators to develop HB 2004, a landmark bill that would have created a just-cause standard for renters being evicted from their homes, and lifted the preemption on rent-stabilization. Though the bill did not pass in the 2017 session, this was the first time in Oregon’s history that this decades-old policy had been challenged in such a manner with so much progress.

∞ In February of 2016, CAT supported the creation of a renter-relocation policy in the City of Portland that mandates relocation assistance for renters being no-cause evicted from their homes or receiving rent-increases of 10% or more in a rolling 12-month period. CAT also sat at the negotiating table for 18 months debating a permanent renter-relocation policy which was adopted in February of 2017.

∞ In 2015, we launched a #RenterStateofEmergency campaign demanding a moratorium on no-cause evictions and rent-increases above 5% until the market cooled down. The cities of Bend, Milwaukie, and Portland responded with extending notice periods for renters receiving no-cause evictions or rent-increases. This also sparked a housing omnibus bill in the 2016 legislative session where the concept of Just-Cause evictions was first introduced.

∞ In 2012 and 2013, in collaboration with JOIN, StreetRoots, 211info, Oregon Opportunity Network, we successfully launched the “I Support the Portland Safety Net” and “We are Safety Net” campaigns that successfully protected City of Portland housing and homeless services from $1.1 million in cuts. We also converted over $4 million in housing funding, from one-time general funds, to protected, on-going funding.

∞ In 2013, CAT fought to expand housing opportunity for tenants with Section 8 vouchers, by including them as a protected class in the Fair Housing Act. As of 2014, Oregon landlords can no longer say, “I don’t accept Section 8.” We also added protections for tenants with high barriers for housing, by placing limits on how a landlord can screen a rental application. People of color and previously homeless are more likely to have high barriers to housing, and these protections will help to reduce these disparate impacts.

∞ In 2009, in collaboration with housing advocates throughout Oregon, CAT won a new source of funding, called the Document Recording Fee, which generates over $15 million every two years for housing development, preservation and services in Oregon.

∞ In 2009 CAT won more protections for tenants in Oregon, limiting the types of fees a landlord could charge and how much they could charge. Also, tenants who have lived there for more than one year now have 60 days to move out when they receive a no-cause termination from their landlord, instead of 30 days.