Portland Water Bureau: National Leader on Help for Low-Income Renters
Posted on February 15, 2018 by Janice Thompson
Tags, Water/Wastewater
The Portland Water Bureau (PWB), in consultation with CUB, has figured out an innovative approach to help low-income renters cover the cost of their City of Portland water and sewer bills. The major problem facing water and sewer utilities across the country is how to provide discounts for low-income renters who do not directly receive their water bills.
Most apartment buildings are master-metered with one water and sewer bill going to the landlord. Providing a discount to that property owner does not ensure they will pass any benefit on to renters. The PWB has been criticized for only providing discounts to low-income customers who receive water bills, typically homeowners.
This is a fair criticism, but CUB knew that this barrier to helping low-income renters with water and sewer bills is a national problem and not just an issue in Portland. Indeed, Portland has a robust set of options to assist low-income customers compared to many of its counterparts across the country. Both PWB and the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) provide financial support for these programs since the typical utility bill is roughly one-third for water and two-thirds for stormwater management and sewer services.
But PWB didn’t stop there – they kept working on the low-income issue. Their ongoing work to address the needs of low-income renters, including conversations with CUB, has resulted in an innovative new approach. In their proposed fiscal year 2018-19 budgets, PWB and BES have allocated up to a total of $600,000 for a rental assistance fund administered by Home Forward.
Home Forward, formerly called Portland Housing Authority, assists renters in crisis with the funds distributed through 19 organizations serving a diversity of low-income Portlanders. With additional funds from PWB and BES, more renters, particularly those facing eviction, can receive needed assistance. PWB crafted a particularly strategic partnership by leveraging an existing program with a proven track record in preventing eviction of low-income renters.
The Portland City Council expressed support for the PWB’s innovative approach at a work session on February 13. CUB also supports the other low income expansion improvements discussed at the work session: creating a targeted team for outreach to low income Portlanders; expanding the current discount for particularly poor households; adjusting income guidelines to reflect Portland income levels; and increasing the value of a crisis voucher that has not been updated since 2004.
CUB has long supported assistance for low income utility customers, and is pleased to support these program expansions for Portland’s public utilities.
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05/23/18 | 0 Comments | Portland Water Bureau: National Leader on Help for Low-Income Renters