president's message

    By Elizabeth Carpenter, RHAGP President

     The path to neutrality.
     As President of the Rental Housing Association of Greater Portland (RHAGP), I’d like to express
     my appreciation to Tina Kotek, Speaker of the House, for joining us at the April 17th dinner meeting.
     The hot topic of discussion was House Bill 2639, known as the Housing Choice or the Section 8 bill.

In the April 15, 2013 press release from the Rental Housing Association of Greater Portland, we announced our neutrality regarding HB2639.  This may be a surprise to some of our members. We are not saying we support making Section 8 mandatory. Section 8 is currently a voluntary, federally subsidized program, and it should remain a choice to participate or not.
But what does ‘mandatory Section 8’ really mean? In the context of HB2639, mandatory means:

     By Elizabeth Carpenter, RHAGP President
     
      From the April 2013 issue of the Update.

      I am excited to announce that the RHAGP will be working closely with Jason Atkinson of
      Atkinson & Co.,   a firm specializing in raising funds and negotiating deals for fastgrowing organizations. 

In addition to serving clients, Jason has been a State Senator in Oregon from 2000-2012. During his tenure in office, he has built and maintained a reputation as the State’s preeminent coalition-builder and strategic-leader. 

    By Elizabeth Carpenter, RHAGP President

     From the March 2013 issue of the Update.

     What an exciting time to be President of the RHAGP. We are continually growing in
     Membership, educational classes, and dinner meetings which focus on both education and networking. RHAGP is committed to educating new landlords and property managers, as well as enhancing education for the seasoned landlords and property managers.

     By Elizabeth Carpenter, RHAGP President

      From the February 2013 issue of the Update.

      The RHAGP has been actively working to participate in housing issues. The current focus of our work
      is within three stakeholder groups with the topics under discussion as described below. I think it says
a lot that we are invited to participate in these conversations and that our ideas are considered both locally and statewide.

Landlord Tenant Coalition - Phil Owen and Cindy Robert have been participating in these bimonthly meetings since last summer. While the conversation has not come to the point of a completed and agreed upon piece of legislation, the topics still on the table include renters insurance, guest definitions, criminal history consideration and the ability to assess fees for non-compliance of contract terms on such issues as pets and smoking.