Changes OK’d for Oregon rent cap bill, Senate vote expected later this week

SALEM, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — Oregon’s 4-year-old cap on annual rent increases is about to face some changes – but they are unlikely to satisfy either renter or landlord advocates.

The cap would be tightened under Senate Bill 611, which emerged from the Senate Housing and Development Committee on a 3-2 vote Monday, April 3. The full Senate was expected to vote on it by the end of the week.

The bill now proposes that the annual cap be set at 10% or the change in the Consumer Price Index plus 5%, whichever is less. Buildings less than 15 years old would still be exempt from the cap, which is calculated by the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.

Renter advocates pushed for changes after the 2023 cap was set at 14.6% — the Consumer Price Index plus 7%, according to the current formula in the 2019 law. Their original version called for a cap of 8% or the index plus 3%, whichever was less, plus its application to buildings less than three years old.

Sen. Dick Anderson of Lincoln City, the committee’s top Republican, said neither version would advance a goal of greater annual housing production set by Democatic Gov. Tina Kotek.

Read more on PortlandTribune.com.