HUD FY 2021 FMR's are Out: Portland 2 BR Metro Fair Market Rent Up 2.7% to $1,536.

HUD has published its FY 2021 Fair Market Rents; they are effective October 1st. Comments are accepted until September 30th.

HUD's Fair Market Rent data can be found HERE. 

FMR's are used in conjunction with multiple programs and are used to establish payment standards used by housing authorities to help set rent limits for the HUD voucher program. 

Their are currently 36,000 HUD vouchers in use in Oregon, by far the biggest HUD rent subsidy program in Oregon. The latest HUD Picture of Subsidized Housing data from 2019 indicates that 27% of Oregon voucher holders are minorities and that the average HUD expenditure is $699 per voucher household. 

I prepared a 4 page PDF HERE and embedded below that shows the 2 BR FMR history for all Oregon counties, with select years from 1983 to 2021. It's set to landscape view so you will need to scroll to see entire width. 

The first two pages are county maps showing the % increase from FY 2020 to FY 2021 and the FY 2021 2 BR FMR's. The last two pages are tables showing 2 BR FMR history and changes for select periods all the way back to 1983. 

Polk county had the highest FY 2021 increase in 2 BR FMR's at 9.2%/$92 to $1,093.

Three counties had  DECREASES in their 2 BR FMR's: 

1. Jackson (-.3%/-$4), 
2. Malheur (-3.2%/-$26) and 
3. Sherman (1.4%/-$12)

Portland Metro 

The Portland 2 BR FY 2021 FMR increase is 2.7%/$42 to $1,536.

At 30% of income a unit at that rent would require annual income of $61,440 for that rent to be affordable. 

The current FY 2020 Portland metro income limit for a family of 3 at 60% MFI is $49,740, and $66,320 for the same family size at 80% MFI,

This means that a Portland metro voucher at the FY 2021 2BR FMR level can boost the rental affordable purchasing power of an extremely low income 3 person family equivalent to a non assisted household with an income close to the 75% MFI level. 

The Portland metro 2 BR FMR has increased a TOTAL of  $1,167/316% from 1983 to 2021, increasing  from $369 to $1,536. 

The share of that total increase that occurred in the decade from 2000-2010 was only 12%/$137 and in the decade from 1990-2000 was only 20%/$228.

However , the share of that total increase that occurred in the last 11 years from 2010 to 2021 was 60%/$697, nearly double the share of the combined 32% share for the TWENTY years from 1990-2010.  

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.