Portland City Council Approves $60 Per Unit Annual Fee for Rental Housing

The Portland City Council voted this morning to approve a $60 per unit annual fee for rental housing, which will provide funding for the Rental Services Office. Commissioner Fritz was the only Commissioner of the four present to vote against the fee (Commissioner Hardesty was absent). Fritz indicated that she would have voted in favor of this fee last year, prior to the passage of recent local and statewide regulations impacting landlords. She also believes the flat fee structure is regressive, and that mobile home parks should have been exempted.

The city council passed the fee over the objections of landlords, who testified a week earlier that the charge was a tax that would be passed on to renters since all the services it supports were for renters. Read more.