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Taylor Wood and her boyfriend, Ryan Bowser, talk to Wood s 10-year-old daughter, Freya Wood, in their Corvallis, Ore., apartment on Dec. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Sara Cline) Previous Next
Thursday, December 17, 2020 11:00 am
States grapple with next steps on evictions as crisis grows
SARA CLINE | Associated Press/Report for America
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Ryan Bowser looked somber as he sat in his cramped Oregon apartment, worried whether he, his pregnant girlfriend and her 10-year-old daughter would have a roof over their heads in the new year. It may well depend on state lawmakers.
The family is three months behind on the $1,165 in rent they pay for their two-bedroom unit in the college town of Corvallis. Bowser, a custodian at Oregon State University, took eight weeks off because he was sick and couldn t afford child care.
The Associated Press
CORVALLIS, Ore. Ryan Bowser looked somber as he sat in his cramped Oregon apartment, worried whether he, his pregnant girlfriend and her 10-year-old daughter would have a roof over their heads in the new year. It may well depend on state lawmakers.
The family is three months behind on the $1,165 in rent they pay for their two-bedroom unit in the college town of Corvallis. Bowser, a custodian at Oregon State University, took eight weeks off because he was sick and couldn’t afford child care.
They’re among thousands hoping Oregon extends an eviction moratorium until July 1 in a special legislative session next week. The proposal also would create a $200 million fund mainly to compensate landlords. If passed, it would go further than a one-month extension of a federal eviction moratorium expected in a coronavirus relief package nearing consensus in Congress.
Corvallis, Ore.
Ryan Bowser looked somber as he sat in his cramped Oregon apartment, worried whether he, his pregnant girlfriend, and her 10-year-old daughter would have a roof over their heads in the new year. It may well depend on state lawmakers.
The family is three months behind on the $1,165 in rent they pay for their two-bedroom unit in the college town of Corvallis. Mr. Bowser, a custodian at Oregon State University, took eight weeks off because he was sick and couldn’t afford child care.
They’re among thousands hoping Oregon extends an eviction moratorium until July 1 in a special legislative session next week. The proposal also would create a $200 million fund mainly to compensate landlords. If passed, it would go further than a one-month extension of a federal eviction moratorium expected in a coronavirus relief package nearing consensus in the United States Congress.
“We are forced to make decisions between which bills to pay rent, car or groceries,” said Bowser, adding that they may have to sleep in their car, stay on friends couches or move to another state to crash with distant relatives. “We don’t know if we will have a home next year.”
The plight of Bowser and other renters on the edge foreshadows a national crisis that s expected to grow next year, with states and cities that granted renters a reprieve amid the coronavirus-battered economy now wrestling with what comes next. While states like Oregon and California are trying to pass much longer moratoriums, some don t have more protections in the works.
Credit Chris Lehman / KLCC
As Oregon lawmakers gear up for an unprecedented legislative session in January, many of their office staffers are attempting another first: They want to be the only group of Capitol aides in the country to form their own union.
In a petition filed with state regulators last week, legislative employees that play a critical role in assisting lawmakers and dealing with the public proposed a union that they say will give them more say in the policies that shape life in the Capitol.
The push has been discussed informally for years and doesn’t arise out of a specific dispute, employees supporting the effort say. Rather, it’s meant to address a concern that spans issues: That legislative aides don’t have a meaningful or consistent say in Capitol policies.