Oregon’s 4-year-old cap on annual rent increases is about to face some changes, but they are unlikely to satisfy either renter or landlord advocates.

The cap would be tightened under Senate Bill 611, which emerged from the Senate Housing and Development Committee on a 3-2 vote Monday, April 3. The full Senate was expected to vote on it by the end of the week.

The bill now proposes that the annual cap be set at 10% or the change in the Consumer Price Index plus 5%, whichever is less. Buildings less than 15 years old would still be exempt from the cap, which is calculated by the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.

Renter advocates pushed for changes after the 2023 cap was set at 14.6% — the Consumer Price Index plus 7%, according to the current formula in the 2019 law. Their original version called for a cap of 8% or the index plus 3%, whichever was less, plus its application to buildings less than three years old.

Sen. Dick Anderson of Lincoln City, the committee’s top Republican, said neither version would advance a goal of greater annual housing production set by Democatic Gov. Tina Kotek.

“I don’t see that bill helping that,” Anderson said. “I think it is a hindrance to finding a way to increase and promote housing.”

Anderson and Senate GOP Leader Tim Knopp of Bend voted no; the three Democrats voted for it.

Chairman Kayse Jama, a Democrat from Southeast Portland, said no compromise was evident.

“Housing providers and renter advocates came to the table, we got together and worked hard to see if there were any compromise,” he said. “But sometimes you don’t agree. That is the reality of the work we have to do.”

Jama acknowledged the depth of feeling that many witnesses expressed orally and in writing during the committee’s March 27 hearing.

“There was a lot of heart-wrenching testimony we heard from people across the state who really struggle with rent increases,” he said.

But the committee also heard from individual landlords, who argued that such legislation makes it harder for them to provide rental housing, and Multifamily NW, which submitted a letter containing statistics to bolster its argument that any form of rent control does not achieve what its advocates seek.

This was not the first encounter between tenant and landlord advocates this session.

Senate Bill 611 was one of two put forth by Stable Homes for Oregon Families, which also advocated legislation (Senate Bill 799) that would have reinstated a pandemic-era requirement for a 60-day eviction notice from landlords, based on nonpayment of rent, if tenants have filed official applications for rental assistance. It also proposed to extend the actual period for evictions from three to 10 days.

Landlords also opposed that bill, which the committee considered back on Jan. 30.

The Senate committee ended up increasing the permitted eviction period from three to 10 days and it was inserted into broader housing policy legislation (House Bill 2001) that was signed March 29 by Gov. Tina Kotek. The Stable Homes coalition supported it, and Multifamily NW, which represents owners and managers to 275,000 rental units statewide, ended up taking no position.