SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council approved a resolution to ask the state for local control to increase rent-restricted units and to cap dramatic, sudden rent increases.
Earlier in the meeting, the council passed two housing ordinances on Monday for tenants’ rights.
The council voted on and passed:
- An ordinance that would require owners of affordable buildings to let the city know when they're going to sell. This gives the city time to work with nonprofits to see if they can buy the building and save the units at below-market rates. The notice required is 60 days before listing the building for sale.
- An ordinance that would extend the notice period for landlords trying to kick out tenants due to the landlord either wanting to move back into the house or wanting to sell the house. Now tenants must get 90 days' notice before the landlord sells or moves back in.
Council President Tim Burgess, who authored the resolution, told KIRO 7 that the new resolution does not explicitly call for rent control: “We’re not advancing any specific policy. We’re just asking the legislature to give us the ability to have local control, so that we can craft appropriate policies.”
After a failed vote last week on a resolution calling for the repeal of a statewide ban on rent control, Burgess’ resolution instead asks for more local power to create solutions specific to Seattle. That includes the possibility of modifying state laws to allow for rent control.
In a statement, Burgess wrote, “Cities should be given as many tools as possible to create rent-restricted units, like we currently do through a limited Multifamily Tax Exemption program and the Seattle Housing Levy. Cities should also be allowed to consider regulations that protect tenants from exorbitant increases without damaging the quality or quantity of housing supply. Prohibiting rents from increasing 50% or 100% in a 12-month period, for example, is a reasonable regulation and would not hurt the housing market."
Several tenants spoke during the council’s public comment period, describing rent increases of 50 percent or 70 percent. Many in the room held up red signs in support of rent control.
But one supporter said she did not believe the state legislature would budge on the issue.
“The legislature cannot even fund education. They’re certainly not going to put rent control – when it only concerns Seattle and Bellevue – on their radar anytime soon,” said Yvette Dinish.
She added, “I would like to see all those with a passion for rent control to also direct that passion to finding alternative ways to address the housing crisis.”
Sean Martin, who represents the Rental Housing Association, said rent control has not worked in other cities.
He said building owners and landlords are discouraged from leasing to tenants because income won’t keep up with costs, thereby creating even more limited supply for the rental demand.
He said landlords have told him, “I need to be able to pay my mortgage, property taxes go up year to year, there’s all sorts of other things that go up. My costs are not fixed. I can’t have my rent fixed.”
But Martin is in support of the two ordinances the council passed related to giving notice about sales of buildings.
He said those pieces of legislation are more thought-out. Selling a building or moving back into a house are not spur-of-the-moment decisions. So giving tenants more notice should not be a problem.
Emmy Bell, who said her previous landlord was selling the house, had a very difficult time finding a new place.
“I aged five years in six months, because it was every day,” Bell said of her search efforts. She said sometimes a new landlord would tell her not to apply, because she didn’t make enough money.
Or in cases where a few finalists were being considered, she said the landlord asked ‘who can pay me more,’ to start a bidding war.
Meanwhile, a real estate agent began showing buyers through the house she still lived in.
“If I didn’t have that heads up I would not have made it. I would be facing eviction,” she said.
Landlords now have to let tenants know 90 days in advance of selling a house, or moving back in.
The other ordinance, which addresses the preservation of affordable units, requires owners of buildings with at least five affordable units to give the city’s Office of Housing 60 days’ notice before listing the building for sale.
This gives the city time to work with non-profits to consider buying the property and preserving the units at below-market rates.
The city could use existing housing levy funds, or state and federal money designated for affordable housing.
KIRO
