OUR HISTORY
Rent Well started as a tenant education program in the Portland metro area. It was established in 2009 during the recession by a dedicated group of housing advocates who believed in giving renters a second chance. In 2016, the program administration was handed over to Transition Projects. Under their leadership, Rent Well expanded to become a statewide program in Oregon, with branches in Central and Southern Washington, known for its tenant education services.
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ABOUT THE COURSE
The Rent Well curriculum was designed to support individuals who have faced barriers to housing, such as homelessness, rental history gaps, addiction issues, criminal justice involvement, evictions, poor credit, and property debt. However, this course offers valuable insight into renters' rights and responsibilities for anyone interested. Consisting of twelve 70-minute sections, the curriculum can be delivered through in-person or webinar-style classes by certified instructors, or students can opt for the stand-alone eCourse version. Topics covered include Fair Housing Laws, rental screening processes, communicating with landlords about screening barriers, credit repair and building, maintaining a healthy home, and understanding the eviction process. Moreover, students have the opportunity to receive a copy of their rental screening report through a partnership with https://pacificscreening.com/.
WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO
Rent Well was established in 2009 and has been collectively managed by multiple agencies and a committee called the Renter's Education Alliance (REAL). This committee consisted of housing advocates, case managers, non-profit organizations, tenants, property managers, and government officials from the Portland Metro area. The curriculum was created by a professional developer and evaluated by the Fair Housing Council of Oregon, Legal Aid Services of Oregon, Community Alliance of Tenants, and Multifamily NW.
Until 2016, the REAL Committee, Homeforward, and the City of Portland collaborated to oversee the Rent Well curriculum. In July 2016, control and management of Rent Well were transferred to Transition Projects, the primary provider of the course. With this consolidation of oversight, there have been numerous updates, accomplishments, and advancements for the program.
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2017
July: In July, we rejoiced as the Oregon House Bill (HB) 2724 was passed, establishing a statewide Rent Guarantee Program and requiring certified tenant education courses such as Rent Well.Â
November: 5000 individuals had successfully completed the Rent Well program.
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2018
January:Â Marked the release of Version 3.0 for the Oregon and Washington curriculum, which was the first update since 2014. This version combined the instructor notes with the student manual, streamlining the teaching process by providing one comprehensive manual.
May: Rent Well received a $25k grant from the Oregon Community Foundation to translate both the instructor and student materials into Spanish, making the program more accessible to Spanish-speaking communities.
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2019
June:Â We commemorated the approval of Oregon Senate Bill (SB) 278, which granted eligibility for the Rent Guarantee Program to individuals between the ages of 16 and 26 who had been in foster care or the juvenile justice system within the last 10 years.
August: We finalized and published version 4.0 of the curriculum for Oregon and Washington. This updated version separated the laws and curriculum specific to each state into their own individual manuals for students and instructors.
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2020
February: Our program advocated for the passing of Senate Bill (SB) 1533, which aimed to make minor but crucial adjustments to the original Rent Guarantee Bill, making it more accessible for Rent Well graduates and their landlords. Unfortunately, the bill did not make it through session.
March: We expanded our administrative team by hiring an official Administrative Support Specialist, increasing the staffing from one to two full-time positions.
May: This was a significant month for us as we celebrated the graduation of our 10,000th Rent Well student. Additionally, due to the COVID pandemic, we made changes to the in-person course and transformed it into a webinar-style version of the curriculum.
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2021
January: Oregon Housing and Community Services awarded Rent Well a $500k grant to transform their curriculum into an eCourse and mobile app available in seven languages: English, Spanish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, and German.
May: After months of hard work, we finally celebrated the successful passing of Oregon House Bill (HB) 2101 in May. This bill was a rerun of a previous technical fix from 2019 that aimed to make the Oregon guarantee more accessible for Rent Well graduates.
July: Marked the release of rentwell.org's newly designed website.
August: Following suit, the Tenant Education Academy also released its eCourse version in, providing individuals with the opportunity to access training on their own time instead of waiting for quarterly sessions.
October: A collaboration between Pacific Screening and Rent Well resulted in a new screening site for instructors and students to easily access comprehensive background reports in real-time.
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2022
January: After rigorous evaluation, Rent Well earned the prestigious title of being the top-notch tenant education program in Oregon and was chosen as the only state-sanctioned curriculum to be used with the Rent Guarantee Program. Furthermore, the program's team grew from two members to six full-time staff, with the purpose of aiding eCourse students in completing the curriculum and assisting instructors from other agencies. They also aimed to strengthen relationships with property managers through a designated liaison.
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February: The eCourse is now open for anyone to enroll. Thanks to the generous support from Oregon Housing and Community Services, the course will be offered for free to 5,000 low-income individuals in Oregon every year.
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March: We initiated the development of Apply Oregon, a collaborative effort between Rent Well and Pacific Screening to connect recent graduates with landlords in Oregon. Additionally, the fifth version, also known as the 2022 edition, of the curriculum for both Oregon and Washington was recently released.