PTU joins tenant activists across the country in demanding a remedy for landlord harassment and habitability issues. The proposed Tenant Protection Ordinance (TPO) addresses this growing crisis of harassment and constructive evictions, by targeting landlords who act in bad faith.

There are two reasons we need this legislation to be enacted immediately. Over the last few years tenants in Portland and in Oregon have won a number of price and stability protections, including Portland’s relocation ordinance and state legislation that banned most no-cause evictions, put a cap on rent increases, and also instituted some relocation assistance provisions. While these protections are crucial for supporting stability and livability for tenants, they also create an incentive for landlords to push tenants to 'self-evict' and leave their rentals so the landlords can raise the rent more.

Many cities with strong renter protections (ex. Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Berkeley) recognized escalating harassment and constructive eviction behavior from landlords early on, and adopted policy to address it. The TPO is modeled off of the work of these cities. It creates an explicit list of landlord actions that count as harassment, and demands a robust Rental Services Office that can support tenants in addressing their housing issues (see below).