State courts wipe over 8,000 past evictions in Marion, Polk counties

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Oregon state courts recently erased past evictions for over 8,000 renters in the Salem area, ridding them of a black mark that often prevents access to new housing and puts people at risk of becoming homeless.

The move was in response to a state law passed in 2023 which required courts to void and seal past residential evictions in some circumstances, including cases where tenants have paid the rent they owed and at least five years have passed since they were court-ordered to do so. 

“These evictions will no longer show up in background checks and, legally, the evictions never happened,” according to a Jan. 22 statement from the Oregon Judicial Department.

Department spokesman Todd Sprague said 6,990 people in Marion County and 1,064 in Polk County had their eviction records sealed during the first round of relief in December, with 47,000 records sealed across the state.

Courts staff are reviewing a backlog of around 50,000 cases. They plan to seal those eligible by the end of the year and will repeat the process annually as required by state law. 

Having a past eviction is an “absolutely huge” barrier to housing, according to Jimmy Jones, executive director of the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency. The nonprofit is the Salem area’s largest homeless service provider.

Jones said the two main barriers to housing that show up on a background check are recent criminal convictions or an eviction.

An eviction can also make it more challenging for homeless people to reach temporary housing arrangements intended to help them transition into stable housing, according to a bill summary by the House Committee On Housing and Homelessness.

For many prospective renters, Jones said removing past evictions tears down a wall that is keeping them from leasing back up.

“Sealing those records creates an enormous public good, because it allows us to house people who just a few years ago would not have been able to be housed,” he said.

The judicial department said its staff reviewed around 160,000 eviction cases dating back to 2014.

The law applies to cases where people faced court-ordered evictions after Jan. 1, 2014. 

People can find more information about criteria for eligible cases, check if their past eviction was removed and request a copy of the removal order on the judicial department’s website.

Information is available in English, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Traditional Chinese and Vietnamese.

Information about the eviction process is also available on Oregon Law Help, a legal information website run by the Oregon State Bar.

Previously, when Oregon tenants received a termination notice for non-payment from their landlord, they had 72 hours to make a payment or find rent assistance to avoid court proceedings. The new law extended that period to 10 days.

The law also required that eviction notices include information about where to find payment assistance and that such information be provided in different languages.

“It’s more time, and it gives people a little bit more of an ability to figure out where to make a phone call, figure out how to go make an application, figure out where to get some assistance,” according to testimony from Sybil Hebb, legislative advocacy director of the Oregon Law Center, before the state Senate on Monday.

Hebb testified that if a renter makes a payment before facing a court-ordered eviction, the case will now be dismissed. Landlords can also no longer refuse payments from rent assistance providers.

More than half of all renters in Oregon spend 30% or more of their income on rent, and a quarter of all households spend at least 50% of their income on rent, according to a recent report from the state Housing and Community Services Department. 

When people are in such circumstances, unexpected costs raise the likelihood of eviction, according to Hebb’s testimony.

Hebb presented data from the U.S. Government Accountability Office which showed that every $100 average rent increase in a community results in a 9% increase in homelessness.

She also presented data from the Oregon Law Center showing that 27,290 eviction cases were filed in court in 2024. An average 2,274 cases were filed each month, compared with 1,556 in 2019.

The state housing report said Oregon’s population growth between 2003 and 2023 was 55% faster than the national average. A lack of new housing being built during that time, along with impacts from the pandemic, caused a significant housing shortage.

For every apartment that is affordable to an extremely low-income household, there are 4.2 households in need of such housing. “The lack of affordable options forces people to accept housing beyond their financial means, leading to cost burden, financial instability, and, in some cases, homelessness,” the report said.

The report also said West Coast cities during the pandemic saw previously affordable apartments bid up by higher-income households, with the heightened demand increasing their cost.

Hebb testified that rent burdens disproportionately affect certain groups in Oregon, such as Black people, Indigenous people, people of color, seniors, people with disabilities and women.

Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.

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