Due to the risk associated with increases of this nature, all Elevated Review Rent Increase Requests will go through an internal approval process involving a recommendation from the OHCS Housing Finance Committee and approval from the Executive Director.
In determining staff recommendations and determinations of partner requests, some of the general standards that would indicate property or portfolio need or would be looked upon favorably when determining a rent increase request include, but are not limited to:
- Analysis of cash flow trends; cash flow before obligations.
- Clear explanation and documented need for additional resources
- Limited impact to existing residents. Specifically, OHCS tracks the percentage of families that are considered severely rent burdened (over 50% of income toward housing costs). Projects with a high percentage of families severely rent burdened are more likely to displace residents with large rental increases.
- Clear demonstration of capital needs and a subsequent explanation of how rental increase will be utilized to resolve those capital needs.
- Projects that have maintained an occupancy rate of 97% or higher for over 12 months or projects that can clearly articulate why a rental increase would have limited impact on vacancy rates (example: the rental increase corresponds with capital investments in the property).
Rent increase requests utilizing a portfolio approach should provide a clear explanation of the portfolio plan and the significance associated with the rental increase request(s) in that plan.
All effort will be given to provide a response within 60 days of the submittal receipt but additional time may be necessary. Timing will also be influenced by the response time to any additional information requests by OHCS, though OHCS will endeavor to keep additional informational requests as limited as possible. OHCS expects a five business day turnaround on informational requests, if additional information is required. If additional time is needed to gather information, OHCS expects this to be communicated and negotiated.
Owners wishing to request an increase meeting for the Elavated Review Rent Increase path must submit the appropriate rent request form and any required supplemental information to
MFRent.Request@oregon.gov.