Governor Kate Brown Issues Statement After Adjournment of Bipartisan Special Session
Governor Kate Brown issued the following statement today, after the adjournment of the Legislature’s special session concerning critical issues facing Oregonians:
“I’d like to thank lawmakers from both sides of the aisle for taking immediate, bipartisan action to address this critical set of issues impacting Oregonians––including evictions, drought, the proliferation of illegal cannabis operations and accompanying humanitarian impacts, Afghan refugee resettlement, and more,” said Governor Brown. “I remain focused on working with agency directors to ensure relief reaches Oregonians as quickly as possible. Every Oregonian deserves a warm, safe, dry place to call home––and I am committed to working to prevent evictions as we prepare for the transition to local eviction prevention services after federal pandemic emergency programs draw to an end.
“Tens of thousands of Oregon renters have applied for rental assistance. While we have made significant progress in improving the delivery of rental assistance in the last several weeks, we know that renters and their landlords are counting on these additional state resources and that we must move quickly.”
As of this week, through December 11, Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) and its partners have distributed more than $181 million in federal rental assistance funds through the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program (OERAP) on behalf of more than 26,000 Oregon families. In the past week alone, OHCS and its partners distributed more than $13 million in funds. According to data from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, Oregon ranks fourth in the nation in percent of funds distributed, and we have been in the top-ten among our national peers for nearly three months. In the past 11 months, OHCS has distributed more than $381 million in emergency rental assistance––more than every year in the prior decade combined.
On drought relief, the Governor added: “This was an exceptionally hard year to be a farmer or rancher in Oregon––with the impacts of extreme drought combined with those of record heat and excessive smoke. Over the past several months, my office worked with stakeholders, legislators, and tribal partners to identify the impacts of drought and the gaps in available federal relief in developing the comprehensive drought relief package passed with bipartisan support by the Legislature today. I’d like to thank legislators from both parties for their support of this package, which includes both direct relief for agricultural producers and investments to prepare for future drought years.”
The Governor announced the special session at the end of November, and outlined the priorities she and lawmakers had agreed to for the special session last Friday.
