News Alert! CAT Leader Interviewed in Portland Mercury

Following the release of a recent survey conducted in partnership with PSU and the subsequent extension of the statewide residential eviction moratorium, CAT staff and tenant leaders were interviewed by the Portland Mercury about the need for better policies to protect renters during the pandemic.

From the article:

“A recent survey of 460 Oregon renters—conducted by the Community Alliance of Tenants (CAT) and Portland State University—found that more than half have cut back on food and medications to pay rent during the pandemic. The survey also found that 35 percent of polled tenants owe back rent.

CAT has called on state lawmakers to go beyond just extending the eviction moratorium and effectively cancel all rent payments and past debts for the duration of the pandemic.

Claire Rudy Foster, a CAT volunteer and tenant organizer, hasn't been able to pay rent since losing her job at the start of the pandemic. And with the threat of contracting COVID-19 still high in Portland, Foster hasn't felt comfortable applying for jobs that take her outside of the apartment she shares with her child. She hasn't been able to find remote work, and instead is leaning on the state's Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and food stamps to stay afloat in the short term. Foster said most tenants in her apartment building haven't been able to make full rent payments since the pandemic began.

‘We really are fending for ourselves here and it shouldn’t be that way,’ Foster told the Mercury. ‘This is a colossal policy failure. As much as I believe in mutual aid, I know there needs to be some decisions higher up to keep people in their homes.’”