Source of Income Protections for Renters
Prior to passage of House Bill 2639 in 2013, the “source of income” category explicitly excluded federal rent assistance, which primarily refers to the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. This exclusion meant that Oregon landlords could refuse to rent to applicants, or refuse to even consider them, just because they had a Section 8 voucher, and many housing providers took advantage of this by including ‘No Section 8’ in their rental advertisements.
HB 2639, sponsored by House of Representatives Speaker Tina Kotek and passed during the 2013 legislative session, removed that exception and updated the language to read “Source of income” includes federal rent subsidy payments under 42 U.S.C. 1437f (low-income housing assistance) and any other local, state or federal housing assistance.
Commonly referred to as “Section 8”, the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) is a federally funded program that assists approximately 32,000 households in Oregon annually. It is designed to allow low-income families, seniors, and individuals with disabilities to find decent, safe, and affordable housing in the private market by relying on their own initiative to find the best housing for their own living situation. One of the goals is to deconcentrate poverty by letting families choose where they want to live, thereby promoting economically diverse neighborhoods.
The Emergency Rental Assistance Program was administered federally and would have technically been excluded from protection under the old law and could have been discriminated against in states without protections as a valid source of income.
More than 28,000 households in Oregon were awarded emergency rental assistance under ERA1 & ERA2 programs – and about 16% of those households made 50 – 80% of the area median income. For 2022 in the Portland – Vancouver – Hillsboro area that would be households of two people who make between $42,600 and $68,160 per year.
There’s also the HUD-VASH program that is designed specifically for assisting homeless veterans with housing through federal rent subsidies – in Oregon between 2008 and 2021, 2,817 vouchers were administered under the HUD-VASH program. There’s also a newer federal rent subsidy from 2020 for veterans called the Shallow Subsidy which provides homeless veterans with a fixed rental subsidy for up to two years, regardless of income.
Under the HCV Program there are special purpose programs as well designed for specific populations, such as rental assistance for Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities, which has served almost 55,000 people. There are two other voucher programs for people living with disabilities – Certain Developments Vouchers and Mainstream Vouchers
Tenant Protection Vouchers are for people who live in HUD supported housing projects who lose their housing for some reason outside of their control, such as demolition, conversions, etc. Other forms of rental assistance include Foster Youth to Independence Tenant Protection Vouchers and Witness Relocation Vouchers for people in the Witness Protection Program.
Check out this list of HUD Programs to find out what other forms of assistance are available.
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