An illustration of 3 stacks of paperwork increasing in height from left to right. On the left most side, a black silhouette figure of a person looks toward the stacks. A small house sits atop the highest stack. The image evokes the feeling of frustration and hurdles toward housing for the small silhouette who is much smaller than the paper work.
For the second year in a row, the Oregon Legislature deprioritized funding for eviction prevention services, despite mounting evidence that prevention is the cheapest and most effective way to address the homelessness crisis. Credit: Etta O'Donnell-King / Street Roots

For the second year in a row, the Oregon Legislature deprioritized funding for eviction prevention services, despite mounting evidence that prevention is the cheapest and most effective way to address the homelessness crisis. 

Research shows that eviction prevention works. The main cause of increasing homelessness is the rising cost of housing, according to a 2023 article by the Pew Research Center. In 2025, the vast majority of evictions in Oregon — 89% — were for nonpayment of rent, according to court data compiled by the Portland State University research project Evicted in Oregon.

Only one-quarter of people evicted are able to move in with family and friends on average, while 37.5% end up living on the streets and another 25% move into shelter or transitional housing, according to a report by the Seattle Women’s Commission and the King County Bar Association. 

“Housing costs explain far more of the difference in rates of homelessness than variables such as substance use disorder, mental health, weather, the strength of the social safety net, poverty, or economic conditions,” the authors of the Pew study wrote.

And eviction prevention is the cheapest way to address homelessness. Research shows that eviction prevention costs five to 10 times less than the cost of resheltering an unhoused person, according to an analysis by BC Rent Bank. Often, just one month of rental assistance can keep a family from facing eviction and homelessness. 

In January, nearly 3,000 Oregon families faced eviction in court. The same month, PSU published the 2025 Oregon Statewide Homelessness Estimates Report, which showed a 35% increase in homelessness from January 2023 to January 2025. In only two years, the number of Oregonians experiencing sheltered or unsheltered homelessness increased from 20,110 people to 27,119 people. 

Amid this backdrop of a dramatic rise in evictions and homelessness, state and federal lawmakers alike are defunding pandemic-era social safety nets and prioritizing economic development.

Last June, legislators made a 75% cut — $129 million — to statewide homelessness prevention services, despite warnings from tenant advocates that doing so would be catastrophic for Oregonians struggling to remain housed. That budget cut forced numerous tenant advocacy and eviction prevention organizations to effectively shut down, cutting staff positions and turning away those in need of help. 

In the weeks and months leading up to the 2026 legislative session, which adjourned March 6, tenant advocates presented legislators with evidence linking eviction prevention funding to reduced homelessness. They were asking for relatively little. Advocates at Oregon Law Center, for example, urged legislators to refund at least $4 million of the $129 million Oregon lawmakers had cut from homelessness prevention programs during the previous session.

Oregon legislators declined, choosing not to restore any of the money they had cut from eviction prevention services. Lawmakers cited the $750 million gap in the state’s general fund, caused in large part by the Republican-led “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that U.S. Congress passed last July. 

Nonetheless, the 2026 legislative session reflects a major shift in governmental priorities. Lawmakers voted to spend $365 million on renovating the Moda Center, $40 million on industrial site development and $2.1 million to purchase Abiqua Falls. 

State Sen. Kate Lieber, D-Southwest Portland, defended lawmakers’ decisions, pointing to the Legislature’s investments in homelessness prevention in years past. 

“In our current budget cycle, the federal government is making massive budget cuts and shifting the costs of Medicaid and SNAP to the states, which has ripple effects throughout Oregon’s budget,” Lieber said via email. “We simply do not have access to the same amount of one-time funds we had a few years ago, but even with limited capacity, we are focused on building affordable housing and stimulating the economy to help more Oregonians get good-paying jobs.”

Affordable housing is important, but can take up to three years to complete. Funding affordable housing does not help families currently at risk of eviction or homelessness, who need rental assistance and legal services now. 

That need is high. In February, over 2,000 Oregon households faced eviction in court, nearly 900 of whom lived in Multnomah County. And very few of them had a lawyer to help them navigate the legal process. According to data from Evicted in Oregon, landlords have legal representation 46% of the time, whereas tenants have legal representation only 9% of the time. 

Sybil Hebb, advocacy director at the Oregon Law Center, lamented lawmakers’ inaction.

“Oregonians are united in wanting to end homelessness, and we know that prevention is the best and cheapest way to do that,” Hebb said. “Yet the Legislature was unable to restore any of the $129 million cut last session from eviction defense, tenant supports and rent assistance. The consequences for Oregonians have already started to show in record high eviction filings and record high numbers of people who are unsheltered.” 

One small win

There was one notable policy-making win for vulnerable tenants and unhoused Oregonians.

Senate Bill 1523, which was passed in a 51-6 vote, allows tenants to pay rent via cash or check, apply for housing on paper and use non-digital keys to access homes and essential facilities, eliminating digital accessibility barriers for vulnerable Oregonians. The new law reduces late fees, costly disputes and unnecessary evictions.

Still, it’s a far cry from funding emergency rent and utility assistance and other essential eviction defense services.

Jimmy Jones has for years advocated for low-income Oregonians as president of Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency. In early February, he wrote to the Oregon Legislature to express support for SB 1523. He, alongside many other tenant advocates and eviction defense organizations, advocated for lawmakers to restore $10 million in funding for rental assistance and eviction prevention programs.

In mid-February, he told Street Roots he was hopeful.

“If we could just get an additional $10 million, we could probably prevent several hundred more households from losing their homes,” Jones said.

It costs $20,115 per year to provide permanent supportive (rather than temporary) rehousing for an adult household, according to a study conducted by the National Alliance to End Homelessness in 2022. The money would go even further if spent on eviction prevention. It costs an average of $2,600 to keep a family housed, according to the Oregon Law Center, and most families only need help once. 

On March 6, the Oregon Legislature finalized the state’s budget for the rest of the biennium — absent the requested $10 million in homelessness prevention funds. The three bills that allocate significant funding for business development and transportation infrastructure (Senate Bill 5703, Senate Bill 1601, and House Bill 5204), have yet to be signed into law by Gov. Tina Kotek, but it is clear that the legislature has sidelined eviction prevention. 

Kotek’s Press Secretary, Kevin Glenn, pointed to past investments in homelessness prevention and the governor’s January executive order to extend the homelessness emergency. 

“The most cost-effective strategy to combat our homelessness crisis is to prevent people from experiencing homelessness in the first place,” Glenn wrote in an email. “The Governor strongly advocated to secure as much eviction prevention funding as possible during the 2025 legislative session. The legislature passed $44.6 million in the 2025-2027 budget. Tackling the state’s housing and homelessness crisis continues to be a top priority for the Governor.”

Kotek’s state of emergency plan sharpens the focus on mental health and addiction, though rising housing costs are the leading cause of homelessness. It also prioritizes expanding shelter beds, which are likely to be overwhelmed by rising homelessness following the legislature’s failure to fund eviction prevention. 

“On the question of investing in economic development vs eviction prevention, most of those economic development dollars are bonded and can’t be spent on eviction prevention,” Glenn added.

This is true. Because Oregon legislators voted to authorize state bonding to fund economic development, higher education and the construction of some affordable housing in SB 5701 and SB 5702, those funds cannot be spent on eviction defense or homelessness prevention. 

“All of us warned back then that there would be consequences of this, that more people would be losing their homes,” Jones said, in reference to the Legislature’s June 2025 cut of 75% of the homelessness prevention budget. “I think that legislators have been deeply frustrated with eviction prevention. It doesn’t seem  to have an end to it. It just feels like a bottomless pit. So I think there was a kind of unspoken desire to move on, to find an ‘exit ramp,’ as I heard several people say back then.”

In the months to come, low-income Oregonians will be more vulnerable than ever to evictions and housing instability. 

The next legislative session convenes on Jan. 19, 2027. Until then, organizations like Oregon Law Center and Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Partnership will be forced to operate at significantly reduced capacity, turning away people seeking eviction defense and homelessness prevention services. 

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After the initial budget cuts, The Eviction Defense Project of the Oregon Law Center lost one-third of its staff. Now, only 12 attorneys remain, four of whom are dedicated to serving Multnomah County’s residents. That means the organization is able to respond to only a small fraction of the more than 10,000 inquiries a year it receives from people who need help. 

Portland’s Community Alliance of Tenants laid off nearly its entire staff — 28 people. The Springfield Eugene Tenant Association was only able to support an estimated 2,200 households in 2025, compared to 4,000 in 2024.

Jones acknowledged funding constraints, but he reiterated the importance of continuing to fund social safety nets.

“I know that these are hard times,” Jones said. “I know that choices have to be made. I know that there are budget priorities, but keeping our people safe and healthy — keeping our children in their homes — is the highest priority that the state has, in my view.”

This article appears in March 18, 2026.