Local Government

Alex Robertson | Policy Analyst |  arobertson@RHAwa.org |  (206) 905-0611

Now almost midway through 2022, and elections right around the corner, lets take a look at the eventful year we have had so far. Local governments have been relatively quiet, with only a few cities discussing or passing new ordinances. We had an incredibly successful 2022 Legislative Session, once again killing rent control and remaining the inly state on the west coast that does not have a statewide rent control. Looking at local ordinances, there are a couple of them that we should focus on.

Starting in Seattle with a huge win for the city’s housing providers. Councilmember Sawant’s resolution that attempted to supersede the Mayor’s authority and extend the eviction moratorium for the entire civil health emergency was rejected by the Council 5-3. We cannot understate how big of a win this was. Through our incredible grassroots advocacy efforts Seattle’s eviction moratorium ended on February 28, 2022. While we are now out from under the moratorium, there are still many hurdles to jump through before we return to some semblance of normalcy. Seattle still has the School Year Eviction ban, Winter Eviction Ban, and COVID Civil Emergency Protections. Though with the ruling on March 21st, the six month post moratorium eviction ban was overturned. (See State Court of Appeals Rules in RHAWA’s Favor on page 16) The School Year Eviction Ban, with its incredibly broad definitions, can apply to an extraordinary number of Seattle residents and provides a defense to eviction from September through June for almost any reason other than 3-day imminent health or safety risk. The Winter Eviction Ban, also provides a defense to evictions between December 1 and March 1. Additionally, a tenant has a defense to eviction for any rent during the City’s civil health emergency. Finally, the state laws still in effect in Seattle. The requirements to offer payment plans and utilize the Dispute Resolution Centers (DRC). The moratorium ending is a huge step forward and we have many more steps to take before we recover from the pandemic. Meanwhile, the onslaught of regulations passed by the City Council have been pushing housing providers out of the market in droves. Just from May 2021 to January 2022, over 3,000 housing providers representing almost 10,000 units have fled from Seattle and its onerous regulations. Approximately 2,800 of those properties had four or fewer units. Those are small, affordable housing that, more likely than not, will not be reentering the rental market. Seeing this vast number of housing providers, Councilmember Pedersen said that he wanted to gather data on rental housing providers in order to guide city policy discussions. While we have often worked with research programs and independent third parties, we have many concerns about the ordinance that Councilmember Pederesen proposed. It requires, under RRIO, that housing providers to disclose vacancy status, length of leases, and rent rates for the city to use to pass more policy. There have been fantastic studies and reports on the rental market done by voluntary participation. Instead of mandating that housing providers disclose their private information, work with associations, universities or third parties to create an incentive based program that can gather all factors of the data. The ordinance doesn’t take into account any of the factors that effect rent, it simply requires housing providers disclosure of rent. As of writing, this ordinance is still in the Renter’s Rights Committee.

Finally we will take a look at Kenmore. For those of you who joined us to fight the King County Ordinance 2021-0131 in June of last year, much of this proposal will be familiar. The City of Kenmore is hearing a proposal on a suite of regulations that are extremely similar to the previous King County policy. We have significant concerns with the drafting of that ordinance and likewise have many concerns with this city policy. Kenmore passed a shortened, narrower version of the full suite of regulations. Only including the 1.5% late fee cap, 120 day rent increase notice for increases over 3%, banning the requirement of a prospective tenants SSN. There are more proposed regulations that the council is considering. Now is not the time to be pushing housing providers out of the market with local policy. We must work collaboratively and support our affordable housing providers if we are going to solve this crisis together.

City councils are ramping up across the state as local lawmakers get settled in. The political landscape has seen some significant shifts in almost every area. As relationships get made and the dust settles after the election, we are beginning to see more and more policy proposals. Keep and eye out for our emails and calls to action and check out the blog to keep up to date on current proposals. RHAwa.org/blog/advocacy