After reading the July 8 lead story in The Observer about the state’s 10% cap on yearly rent increases, I decided to see what that would mean. It’s an easy calculation. Just multiply the rent by 1.1 to get the first year increase. Take that number and do it again for the next year, and so on. That means a rental that cost $600 would increase over three years to just about $800.

Yet some rental managers are unhappy with a 33% increase over that time. That’s completely out of line with the declining inflation rate, which was 4.5% here in the West at the time the article was published, not 7.6%. It is now 3.6% after dropping for months. That trend should continue. Rental managers knew this, but they did not acknowledge it.

We are not Portland ,of course, but that has nothing to do with what Union County residents pay for rent. It’s about us here. A rental increase of one-third over three years would be completely out of line. The housing situation everywhere across the state and the nation – in both big and small towns – is desperate.

That was made clear by Madeline Koller of Housing Matters Union County. She mentioned that many people are paying 40% of their monthly income for rent. The target since the 1930s has been 30%. HMUC has been working for years to promote less expensive housing options for all of us. We need to thank them for that.

We’re a community, and everyone needs to play a part in making it affordable for the people who do the real work keeping the place running. That won’t happen till we admit that open-ended rent increases don’t benefit anyone.

Norm Cimon

La Grande