Funding of OneApp Oregon through Rental Services Fee Receives Criticism from Landlord and Tenant Groups

Since the city approved an annual $60 per unit fee on rental housing in Portland last week, critics have come forward questioning a line item in the Rental Services Office budget that funnels $128,000 per year to private company OneApp Oregon. According to the Willamette Week, Multifamily NW executive director Deborah Imse expressed concerns over OneApp's handling of data that landlords are not able to ask tenants for under the Fair Housing Act. She also said that landlords who have used OneApp have found that tenants who have been told they qualify for a unit frequently do not meet screening criteria. Meanwhile, Margot Black of Portland Tenants United, who does not often find common ground with landlord groups, expressed similar concerns. Black does not believe that OneApp has successfully met the needs it sought to address. She is urging the Rental Services Office to be more accountable, and to use its limited funding more wisely. Read more.