Recently, a judge ruled that a $10 cap on applications for housing is pre-empted by state law. We, the people, are seeking to overturn this ruling.

 In 2021, my roommates and I applied to more than a dozen houses before we got approved for one, because of the long list of other applicants on a first-come, first-served basis, even having one good applicant before us left us in the dark before receiving a resounding “no” time and time again.

Sometimes, an individual application (every adult in the home) is $100 or more, meaning those who are desperate will pay that only to have to continue their search for housing and continue to pay for applications with no assurance that they will be the one renting that home. I say desperate and not “able” because, when one is verging on the edge of houselessness, you do anything you can to stay above the water, even if it’s not feasible for you to pay those fees. This could be their budgeted food money for the month, their gas money or even money meant for a child’s clothing. 

We are hurting our more vulnerable citizens by allowing an establishment to take that much money from them just for an application to a house that they may not be rented to for whatever reason. I hope that this letter helps those who are in doubt see that a rental cap of $10 is not only reasonable, but necessary.

Scar Farris

Eugene