The proposal, brought by Commissioner Chole Eudaly and headed to the City Council next week, encourages landlords to use prescribed criteria that could double the number of renters getting approved compared with the industry standard.<\/span><\/p>\n

If landlords chose not to follow the looser checks, they could do their typical tenant review but then would have to jump through some extra city hoops that add costs and processing time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond long-standing fair housing laws that bar discrimination against protected classes such as race, sex and familial status, few other U.S. cities have waded as far as this into how property owners may choose occupants for their housing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eudaly, who won her seat on a campaign that focused on tenant protections based on her own experience as a renter, has long sought to address screening criteria. She was set to bring forward a proposal in September but withdrew it for further development.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t solve all the problems,\u201d said Jamey Duhamel, Eudaly\u2019s policy director. \u201cThis is our best foot forward based on what we know: Housing is a basic need and a human right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tenant activists say good renters increasingly bump up against barriers that keep them from finding a home, and the problem\u2019s only gotten worse with the city\u2019s recent rental housing shortage.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot a day goes by that we don\u2019t hear from somebody who doesn\u2019t make enough money to qualify or their credit\u2019s not high enough, but of course their credit\u2019s not high enough because they\u2019re paying the rent first,\u201d said Margot Black, an organizer for Portland Tenants United.<\/span><\/p>\n