Portland City Council to Vote on a Rental Registration System

Portland City Council will vote this week on a requirement for landlords to register with the city.

Mayor Ted Wheeler says it would help direct housing policies by giving City Council members access to rental inventory data, including the number of units being rented in the city.

In a statement, Wheeler says council members could use the data collection system to "direct policies to better address Portland's housing crisis."

"We need quality data," Wheeler says. "Most jurisdictions, including Gresham, Eugene, Seattle and San Francisco, have data and registration collection systems. It's time for Portland to catch up."

The registry of rental housing would be maintained by the city's Housing Bureau, Revenue Division and Bureau of Technology Services and would include data on how many landlords there are in Portland, as well as how many units there are and where they are located.

According to today's release from Wheeler's office, the registration system might help inform things such as safety inspections, rental unit health, landlord and tenant education training, low income tenant legal representation, and rent stabilization.

If implemented, the system would be rolled out in phases, starting with the Revenue Division requiring all landlords to register rental property data on a Business License Tax return. There would be no fees the first year of the program.