The Northwest Oregon Housing Authority has had difficulty filling vacant units in the Owens-Adair and other properties.

After identifying vacancies as a critical problem last fall, the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority still has a significant number of empty units despite a waiting list that can take people years to climb.

The housing authority develops and manages low-income housing and provides other housing assistance to residents in Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties.

Central to the agency’s role is ensuring that housing units are rented.

During a housing authority board meeting this month, staff reported an 88% occupancy rate across the properties the agency manages, meaning 12% of the 157 units at eight properties are sitting empty.

“All we hear is the shortage of housing, the shortage of affordable housing, and people are desperate for housing,” said Commissioner David Oser, who represents Clatsop County on the housing authority’s board. “And yet, it’s like, when you offer it, it’s hard to find anyone to take you up on it.

“There’s obviously some kind of disconnect here. I don’t know if it’s a disconnect in perception, or how much of it is in reality, it just seems like we have to do a better job of — I don’t know — getting people into units as they become available. I wish I understood better what the problem is.”

Several challenges

In an interview with The Astorian, Jim Evans, the housing authority’s interim executive director, attributed the problem to several challenges. It can take time and money to rent units left in poor condition or with significant deferred maintenance. It can also take time to go down the waiting list to find qualified renters.

He said the housing authority relies on rental payments to pay mortgages on properties, as well as utilities and maintenance.

When the Clatsop County Housing Authority agreed in 2016 to transfer all properties and assets to the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority before dissolving in 2021, Evans said the properties came with very low rents.

The county housing authority’s holdings included the Owens-Adair, a 46-unit apartment complex in Astoria; Tilikum and Wapiti, two apartment complexes in Warrenton; and Clatsop Shores in Seaside.

Evans said that while Oregon’s rental protection laws are important, they have prevented the housing authority from increasing rents to the level needed to keep up with the rising costs to operate and address deferred maintenance. The issue was also complicated by the coronavirus pandemic and a competitive labor market that has made it difficult to find and retain maintenance workers and contractors.

Some units are left in poor condition and require significantly more work and investment than others. One of the most common reasons for a vacancy is because the tenant died, so it can take time to coordinate with family, remove belongings and clean the space.

Deferred maintenance can also create delays.

Evans pointed to a unit at the Owens-Adair that was expected to be easy to turn over. The room was painted, the carpet was shampooed and a tenant was lined up, but while replacing blinds in the unit, mold was found in the window. Now, Evans said, the agency is starting mold remediation and searching for the source.

He said another unit on the fourth floor of the Owens-Adair has been vacant for more than a year while the housing authority searches for a contractor to address a leak coming from the roof.

The unit is one of 12 vacant units out of 96 the housing authority manages in Clatsop County.

While the housing authority struggles to perform the work, people in need of housing can languish on waiting lists. Some people have been waiting for years.

The Owens-Adair, for example, has a waiting list of 358 people. The person at the top, Evans said, applied in April 2018, more than five years ago.

More than 2,900 people are on the waiting list for help through the housing choice voucher program, which subsidizes rent for units offered through the housing authority or in the private market. The person first in line for a voucher applied in March 2019, more than four years ago.

“We get these long waiting lists, but most people don’t come to us when they think they’re going to need housing assistance in two or three years or three to five years,” Evans said. “They’re coming to us when they need housing assistance now.”

By the time people get to the top of the waiting list, he said, they often no longer need help or have found another option.

Evans added that there is a lot of work that goes into finding the next person to rent one of the units.

And since many of the people on the waiting list are on fixed incomes, he said it may take more time to produce a security deposit and first month’s rent.

Unlike the private market, Evans said, the housing authority cannot skip over a person who has made it to the top of the list and is obligated to try and make it work, which can take time.

“It’s just fair,” he said.

Federal assessment

Evans believes an occupancy rate averaging about 95% is achievable, but that it will require repairing and renting vacant units as quickly as possible. He said an additional property management staffer has been hired to assist with the work.

He noted that having more affordable housing in the community would help shorten the waiting list.

Evans said the housing authority is working toward that need with a potential expansion of the Owens-Adair that would add 50 units of affordable housing for seniors and people with disabilities; Trillium House, a new 42-unit apartment complex in Warrenton; and Broadleaf Arbor, a 239-unit project in St. Helens.

He said the board has undergone training and expects to start strategic planning on how to preserve housing and get the levels of investment needed to keep buildings maintained, safe and affordable.

Meanwhile, the housing authority has seen improvement in an annual federal assessment of the housing choice voucher program, which is the federal government’s primary outreach to help low-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities afford housing.

In January 2020, the housing authority was flagged as “troubled” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development after an audit of the program.

Housing authorities are designated as troubled if they score between 0 and 60 out of 100 points in a Housing and Urban Development review. The agency received a score of 7.

Quadel, a Washington, D.C., based management and consulting firm, was hired to oversee the housing choice voucher program and work with Housing and Urban Development on a corrective action plan. Evans, who is a director at Quadel, was named the housing authority’s interim executive director after Todd Johnston, the previous executive director, resigned without explanation.

Evans resumed his role as the agency’s interim executive director earlier this year after Elissa Gertler, who was hired as the housing authority’s executive director last June, parted ways with the agency.

About a week later, Gertler, through her attorney, sent the agency a tort claim notice citing wrongful discharge, intentional infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract. She alleged the termination was retaliatory and occurred after she opposed what she believed to be waste and mismanagement of public resources.

The agency’s rating was elevated by Housing and Urban Development last summer to a “standard performer” after earning a score of 74 out of 100.

While Evans had hoped to receive a score of 90% or higher this summer — which would give the agency a “high performer” designation, the Housing and Urban Development’s highest rating — he expects the housing authority will remain a standard performer with 85 out of 100 points.

Oser, who is expected to be appointed as chairman of the housing authority’s board in September, told The Astorian that while the board has confidence in management, the job is to ask hard questions and stay on top of everything happening at the agency.

“We are very concerned with the financial health of the agency,” he said. “We’re very concerned with the levels of vacancy.

“The last thing we want is to be in a situation where — like with Sunset Empire (Transportation District) — an outside agency comes in and says, ‘Well, it seems like you either weren’t doing your job or you weren’t paying enough attention.’ We are really paying attention and doing our jobs to the best of our ability.”