Housing activists interrupt Multnomah County Commission meeting


Approximately 100 demonstrators decried high rents and demanded a freeze on no-cause evictions outside the Multnomah County building Thursday.

Share this article!

“We’re not alone and we’re not crazy,” said Margot Black, an assistant professor of math at Lewis and Clark College and leader of Portland Tenants United, which organized the demonstration. “We’re not losers just because we didn’t buy houses.”

…Following the demonstration, activists filed into the county commission meeting to tell stories of unreasonable rent increases, and argue (and cheer and scream and curse) for their demands for more than an hour. Commissioners listened—sometimes nodding, mostly impassive—as the crowd seemed to grow angrier and angrier.

(READ MORE: Portland Mercury)

Portland City Council declared a housing emergency last year.

Apartment rental prices in the city went up 8.6% over the past year.