Tenants and Landlords Gearing Up for Fight over Rent Control and "No Cause" Evictions

Landlords changed the name of their PAC and raises the specter of "radical tenant groups."

By Rachel Monahan

Tenants and landlords are already gearing up for war in next year's Oregon legislative session, when rent control and a ban on landlords evicting tenants without cause are expected to be on the agenda.

In a fundraising letter, the newly renamed Equitable Housing PAC, which represents landlords, urged members to fight back against "radical tenant groups."

The August letter warns: "Absent sufficient landlord push-back, radical tenant groups seek to persuade our legislators to enact rapid-fire changes to our housing laws like rent control, prohibition of 'no-cause' rental terminations, and long rent-increase notice periods."

The landlord PAC now has just over $12,000 cash on hand, after raising more than $88,000 this year.

"We felt increasingly under pressure from misinformation," says John McIsaac, spokesman for Equitable Housing PAC. "We're the housing solution, not the problem, so we needed to change the name to reflect that."

The pro-tenant group Portland Tenants United thinks it recognizes an allusion to its work.

"If fighting to keep responsible tenants in their homes and communities is radical, we proudly accept that description," says organizer Margot Black.

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