Reasons Why

• 44% of Oregon renters cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rents.

• High housing costs force many families to choose between paying rent or meeting other basic needs.

• Between 1988 and 2003 housing values in OR rose 183%.

• From the late ’70s to the late ’90s, the poverty rate for working families with children doubled from 7.3% to 15.2%.

• In 2007, 82% of low-income households were renting housing more expensive than they can reasonably afford.

• The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that OR ranks 49th in rental affordability.

Source: 2009 Network for Oregon Affordable Housing