Local Rental Housing Regulation Watch October 2024
Local governments have been quietly busy this summer tackling their required state mandate to update their Comprehensive Plans. Local governments will also be locked into their review and adoption of their annual or semi-annual budgets. As has been well reported, most local governments – particularly large ones like King County and the City of Seattle and Spokane face major budget shortfalls. The politics of land use and financial revenues is what is being discussed in the back rooms.
So, what’s at stake during the budget review and the comprehensive plan updates? Plenty if you are a renter, housing provider, or business owner.
With regards to comprehensive plans and land use, all jurisdictions must update their targets for new housing to meet state compliance. Many will be required to modify their zoning codes to provide additional densities to meet those targets. In some cities and neighborhoods that may become controversial. Notably, the recently passed state Growth Management Laws require local jurisdictions to increase their density capacity. This has caused some local communities’ angst while gaining much applause from growth activists such as Futurewise.
In terms of budget decisions; public safety, homelessness, and basic quality of life will be the priorities. For renters and housing providers alike, a focus on public safety and ensuring adequate funding is available for police to quickly respond to threats or dangerous situations in neighborhoods to protect residents is something we all agree.
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BELLINGHAM
The city council recently passed a new ordinance requiring housing providers to supply a locking mailbox for all rental properties within city limits. The city approved a measure in 2015 requiring all new rental properties to have locking mailboxes, but this new ordinance now extends to all rental homes in Bellingham.
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SEATTLE
The city council recently discussed the policies of creating safe zones titled Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) and Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution (SOAP) areas. These zones would be areas of downtown and Aurora Avenue where the laws of Seattle will be more strictly enforced. The city had a broader policy like this already in place with larger harder to enforce areas, but it was rolled back by the city council four years ago. “We need to able to have a message that says we want to protect our neighborhoods. We need to make our public spaces safer, and one way is to identify and call out that this is happening in these locations. The increase in drug activity that we have heard from today and the associated crime, we are needing to be responsive for business, for residents, for workers and visitors. All of them at the same time. This is one piece of the puzzle,” said Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison speaking to the councils Health and Public Safety Committee. This will be addressed by the Seattle City Council at a later undetermined date.
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SPOKANE
Spokane was poised to make homelessness a protected class in the city which could have raised multiple health, safety and housing issues throughout the city. This vote has been pushed back to some date in the future and most likely will not be discussed at council again until well into 2025. Top of mind now though will be a new ordinance discussed in the Urban Experience Committee and introduced by Councilmember Paul Dillon. The ordinance would enforce a ban on a housing provider carrying out an eviction or the raising of rent on any units not listed with the city’s Rental Housing Registry and Inspection program. This seeks to impose the same type of onerous restrictions present on housing providers in the City of Seattle. A glaring safety point of note with this proposed ordinance is, there is no specific language to address tenants who are a danger or nuisance to other residents of their building or community. No exceptions of any kind for evictions if the unit somehow is not registered with the city. This would create a major safety risk for tenants. The proposed ordinance will increase costs and as a result will increase rents for tenants in Spokane. This proposal is likely to have multiple hearings in the coming weeks.
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TACOMA
The Citizens Action Defense Fund (CADF) filed a lawsuit against the City of Tacoma for the Measure 1 Initiative passed by voters in November 2023. The suit claims “Rather than helping protect tenants’ rights, the measure hindered swift action against problem tenants and squatters, strained city taxpayers financially, and disrupted the balance of housing regulation, all of which impact housing availability and affordability.” We’ll have to wait and see what becomes of this lawsuit, but we’ll be monitoring any comment from the city or CADF on this matter.
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VANCOUVER
RHAWA has been participating in the Rental Habitability stakeholder group in Vancouver over the last few months. The group is going over a number of proposed policies that may go before the city council after the stakeholder period has concluded.
• Rental Registration License in addition to a city business license which would be $30 a year per unit. The proposals say these fees would help fund city support for rental housing.
• Rental Inspections which would vary on time in-between inspections based on age of the unit.
• The City of Vancouver would provide an annual report documenting results from the proposed programs including the number of units registered and inspected as well as revenue and expenses.
• Fees collected would also go towards tenant and housing provider education on all new policies and procedures.
The completed stakeholder group write-up will be presented to the Vancouver City Council some time in the late fall.
Formal legal advice and review is recommended prior to selection and use of this information. RHAWA does not represent your selection or execution of this information as appropriate for your specific circumstance. The material contained and represented herein, although obtained from reliable sources, is not considered legal advice or to be used as a substitution for legal counsel.