COVID-19 Update 3-24-2020
Oregon & Washington are under orders to ‘Stay Home’
On Monday, March 23rd Gov. Kate Brown gave the executive order for Oregonians to ‘stay home to the maximum extent possible’ in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. All dine-in restaurants and bars were shuttered on March 17th and now many more non-essential businesses must now close as well. Gov. Inslee in Washington issued a 2-week 'stay-at-home' order as well.
Multifamily NW office is now closed – Forms available at RentalFormsCenter.com
Although the staff is still here to help you, the Multifamily NW office has closed – no longer are we attempting to fulfill paper forms orders, and all in-person classes, committee meetings and events have been canceled through Friday, May 8th. Our staff is working remotely and is here to support our members through this time. Please keep in mind that the forms website RentalFormsCenter.com is always open to secure the forms you need.
Expanded online education opportunities
Multifamily NW is in the process of organizing many of our in-person educational classes as webinars. We are thrilled to offer these opportunities, watch your email for more details on online learning. Is there a topic you'd love to hear about, or better yet teach, in a webinar? Contact Ericka Hargis at ericka@multifamilynw.org.
New regulations from state and local governments
Portland and Multnomah County imposed a moratorium on all residential evictions due to COVID-19 financial hardship. Last week there were a record number of unemployment filing after many businesses were forced to close. Local and State leaders what to keep people housed. How does this work? To simplify, a resident must notify their housing provider on or before the day that rent is due that they cannot pay due to COVID-19 loss of income and provide documentation to demonstrate their financial situation due to COVID-19. Residents are required to pay back their rent obligation within six months after the government’s declaration of emergency has expired. For those residents whose rent is delayed from this policy, no late rent fee may be charged or collected. The Portland Housing Bureau has posted an FAQ on the eviction moratorium.
On Sunday March 22nd, Gov. Kate Brown issued an executive order to suspend residential evictions across Oregon for 90 days for failing to pay rent. Last week on March 16th the Chief Justice of Oregon decreed a two-week suspension of many courts including FED Evictions. In Multnomah County the FED suspension has been extened until at least April 30th. This applies to all evictions, whether they are based on nonpayment of rent or something else.
Multifamily NW is currently preparing updates to the Forms Collection to provide documentation to ease implementing the coronavirus hardship rent moratoriums and court FED suspension policies that vary according to location.
In some good news, on March 23rd US Government backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced they would grant multifamily property owners mortgage forbearance if they suspend evictions for tenants’ nonpayment of rent due to the coronavirus. Single-Family mortgage relief from coronavirus financial hardship was already in place for Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac.
Constant Advocacy
Multifamily NW leadership is in constant communication with Gov. Kate Brown’s office, the Legislature’s Joint Special Committee on Coronavirus Response and local city and county leaders to ensure our industry’s insights and priorities are included in this disaster response.
- Additional mortgage lenders of multifamily properties honor forbearance during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Resident’s short-term rental assistance be expanded and available to address this public health crisis and
- To formalize the staff at apartment communities to be classified as essential and permitted to continue their critical jobs supporting apartment communities. Download the Authorization for Travel letter for your empolyees.
We’ll continue to keep membership updated as we preserve through these unprecedented times together. Thank you for your support! Be safe and be well.
Deborah Imse, MPA
Multifamily NW
Executive Director
The Association Promoting Quality Rental Housing
16083 SW Upper Boones Ferry Rd. #105
Tigard OR 97224