Heather Thurber has lived in Aloha for about 20 years. She says Aloha’s small hometown character with access to the amenities of a big city drew her here. It’s why Thurber bought her first home in Aloha more than 10 years ago. Unfortunately, she lost it during the mortgage crisis. We sat down to talk to Thurber about her experience as a renter and her hopes for the future. Our interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Metro: What happened? How did you lose your home?
"It would really help renters if we didn't get nickel and dimed, if the rent was the rent. If you say my rent is $1500 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, then that is the rent. It's not the rent, plus the utilities, plus the fees, plus this and that."
Thurber: I wasn't under water. It was a great little home. But the problem was I was a contractor and I became unemployed and after 18 months of unemployment, I just couldn't maintain the mortgage. So I ended up losing my home as part of that mortgage crisis. And when I lost my home I had to move into an apartment.
Metro: What criteria did you want your new apartment to meet?
Thurber: I did some very careful searching and I searched for apartments that were in the area where my daughter's school was so she wouldn't have to switch and that specifically had certain amenities. I didn't want to pay utilities and have a bunch extra fees added onto my rent. I didn't want to pay pet rent. I just wanted my rent to be my rent. I absolutely wanted to be in a price range where I felt comfortable, where I wasn't spending the vast majority of my income on rent.
Metro: What do you like about your apartment? What’s working well?
Thurber: So one of the things I absolutely love about living here is the fact that I don't have upstairs and downstairs neighbors. This is a townhome. It's really nice to not have the upstairs and downstairs neighbors. I like that I'm close to my work. I'm close to my daughter's school. We are right next to stores. So if my car breaks down, all I have to do is just grab a bag and walk over to Albertsons or Bi-Mart and pick up the things I need. It's all right close to me.
"With the current price of homes I don't see any way I'll ever get out of apartment living. And I would absolutely love to have homeownership again."
Metro: Do you drive most of the time?
Thurber: I generally drive most places because there aren’t a lot of good [bus] connections for the trips that I make. But I will say that my trips are very short. I'm maybe five miles from work and my daughter’s school is on the way. So I drop her off and she takes the school bus back home. We do use the buses and the MAX to go into the city because I don't want to drive in the city. I love the fact that the MAX and the bus systems are accessible to the downtown area but out here they just don't come often enough or have good enough routes to really support using it as a permanent form of transportation.
Metro: What concerns you about being a renter?
Thurber: I consider myself somebody who makes a good living. When they raise rent $200 or $300 a year - I don’t get a $200 or $300 a year increase in my pay even as somebody that makes a decent living. People don't get that kind of increase $200-$300 a month. And so for me with the constant rise in utilities and the constant rise in just general cost of living, there's an extra pinch whenever you're doing a massive rent increase.
Metro: Would you consider buying a house again?
Heather: So I'd love to absolutely get back into a home that I own. But it's really difficult right now. The home prices are so high and there's a lot of people coming in from more advantaged areas and they're coming in with a lot of cash, so they can pay well over asking. Most people can't afford what they’re paying. There are very few homes in the starter range that aren't just being snatched up. And I think one of the things that I would really love to see for the metro area is if any building that any large housing complexes if they required a certain percentage of those to be those starter home values. With the current price of homes I don't see any way I'll ever get out of apartment living. And I would absolutely love to have homeownership again.
Metro: What do you want decisionmakers to you know about you and people like you?
Thurber: I think the biggest thing I'd like decision makers to to know about us as renters is that we want to be good tenants. But right now Oregon is the most landlord-friendly state in the nation. And they do not take tenants into account very well and we really need some more protections.
And I think it would really help renters if we didn't get nickel and dimed, if the rent was the rent. If you say my rent is $1500 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, then that is the rent. It's not the rent, plus the utilities, plus the fees, plus this and that. A landlord will flat out tell you those fees are not rent. But renters can be evicted for not paying it. So if you can be evicted for not paying those fees, it is rent.
We need to get rid of those no-cause evictions. I wish that the legislators would look at ways to roll back the laws that prevent rent control and to try and think about the fact that landlords are still making money. They aren't in any way losing money. We're not trying to pick their pockets. We just want to have a place to live.