Tag Archives: rent control

Macri to introduce legislation to end state ban on rent control

Posted on by

Rep. Macri

One of Capitol Hill’s representatives in Olympia vowed Tuesday afternoon to rekindle the push to end Washington’s ban on rent control.

“We are passed time to bring this fight on for real,” state Rep. Nicole Macri said Tuesday as she addressed a tenant rally and protest outside the convention center where a landlord trade show was underway inside.

Macri says she will introduce legislation in the upcoming session to repeal the ban on rent regulation in the state. An announcement sent to media provided support from community and labor groups for the repeal but no details of how the rollback would work. Continue reading →

Mayor’s small business affordability committee will consider commercial rent control

Posted on by
IMG_5315

Murray was joined by a handful of committee members at Hing Hay Coworks in the ID. (Image: CHS)

Mayor Ed Murray is rolling out his tried-and-true policy strategy in an effort to help small businesses weather Seattle’s affordability crisis: a 15-member committee tasked with addressing the rising cost of commercial space.

The group of business owners, developers, and property owners has been directed to “emphasize incentive-based solutions,” but Murray said he was not ruling out commercial rent control.

“Everything can be on the table,” Murray said during the Thursday announcement at Hing Hay Coworks in the International District. “I don’t believe there will be one answer.”

District 3 City Council member Kshama Sawant has been calling for regulating commercial rents since she announced her small business plan in October alongside Capitol Hill owners. City officials believe the state ban on rent control may only apply to residential properties.

Recommendations from the committee are to focus on keeping existing small businesses open and paving the way for new ones:

The group will consider a broad range of solutions to commercial affordability, including incentivizing the construction of smaller commercial spaces, further activation of public spaces to the benefit of food trucks and other small businesses, and inclusion of affordable commercial storefronts in more affordable housing projects.

The Commercial Affordability Advisory Committee includes Melrose Market and Chophouse Row developer Liz Dunn. The Capitol Hill developer has been praised for her buildings that include small spaces for small businesses — an issue Murray said the affordability committee will need to address.

“Often the spaces that are being developed are bigger than what small businesses need,” he said. Continue reading →

Proposal would prohibit rent hikes on dilapidated properties — Capitol Hill building eyed

Posted on by
(Image: Seattle City Council)

(Image: Seattle City Council)

Wednesday at City Hall, Seattle City Council members and frequent collaborators Nick Licata and Kshama Sawant announced legislation that would prevent landlords from raising rents by 10% or more on units that have unaddressed housing code violations. While far from a broad application, the move could represent Seattle’s first step around statewide limits on rent control following a resolution to challenge the ban.

“[The legislation] will prohibit landlords from forcing any rent increase while a unit suffers from any conditions that lead to unsafe or unhealthy living conditions. The landlord must remedy such defects before implementing any rent increase,” Licata said, flanked by tenants of the Columbia City property, a representative of the Tenants Union, and Sharon Lee, the executive director of the Low Income Housing Institute.

“The city has a responsibility to make every legal avenue possible to defend tenants’ rights,” Sawant said.

Sawant also called out a Capitol Hill building as an example where, council staff tells CHS, it “appears the landlord is avoiding paying tenant relocation assistance by raising rents significantly to force tenants out, and then carrying out major renovations.” CHS is investigating the claim and will have more information on the situation soon.

The ordinance comes as a response to the controversy surrounding a Columbia City apartment complex, where rents were raised by the property’s new landlord on tenants who were living with cockroaches, mold, fault appliances, and other substandard conditions. According to the Department of Planning and Development, the property suffered from over 200 housing code violations. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council takes another spin at resolution calling for end to rent control ban — UPDATE: Passed

Posted on by

https://twitter.com/RenaissanceTP/status/646071043128295425/photo/1

In a surprising turn of events at City Council, president Tim Burgess introduced a resolution calling on Olympia to lift the state ban on rent control Monday afternoon. Burgess, considered to be among the most conservative council members, previously said he opposed asking the Legislature to lift the rent control ban. Burgess missed last week’s 3-3 vote on a similar resolution being carried forward by Kshama Sawant.

UPDATE 4:10 PM: The City Council passed Burgess’s resolution in an 8-1 vote with Council member John Okamoto giving the sole “no” vote. Burgess said he introduced the resolution after deciding the Council “needed a fresh start.”

“Dogmatic rhetoric blocked pragmatic steps forward,” Burgess said. “As Council President, I drafted an alternative resolution that better captures the intent expressed by most councilmembers: to request local control for local solutions.”

A stripped down statement compared to Sawant’s, Burgess’s resolution essentially asks the state to do same thing. The resolution argues municipalities should have the power to pass laws that “increase the supply of rent-restricted units and that protect tenants from sudden and dramatic rent increases, without causing a negative impact on the quality or quantity of housing supply.” Burgess ended discussion of the resolution by reiterating that it does not take a position on the actual merits of rent control.

In contrast to last week’s long and heated discussion of Sawant’s resolution, Burgess’s resolution passed with relatively little discussion.

“I don’t particularly care who carries the pen as long as the point gets across,” said Council member Nick Licata, who cosponsored the previous resolution with Sawant.

Sawant praised activists for putting pressure on elected officials and said that the city could not build its way out of its housing affordability crisis. “Why is this happening now? It is happening now because we, our movement, has brought pressure to bear,” she said.

Council member Tom Rasmussen said he didn’t support Sawant’s resolution because it made assertions about the experiences of other cities that he didn’t endorse. He also pointed out that it would likely take years for the Legislature to actually repeal the ban on rent control.

Resolutions are not binding law, they state the intent or opinion of the Council.

Earlier in the meeting, the Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for the end of youth detention. Council member Mike O’Brien, who sponsored the resolution, thanked teen activists with Ending the Prison Industrial Complex for putting pressure on the City and County to address youth detention.

Original report: Burgess notified colleagues about his resolution just hours before Monday’s meeting, when rumors began circulating that he intended to put the measure to vote. Read Burgess’s proposed resolution, below:

Continue reading →

Council committee splits on Seattle rent control resolution

Posted on by

The Seattle City Council’s housing affordability committee couldn’t come to a consensus Thursday, splitting its vote 3-3 on a resolution calling on the state legislature to lift its ban on rent control.

Council member and D3 candidate Kshama Sawant and outgoing Council member Nick Licata sponsored the resolution. The Council’s Mike O’Brien joined the sponsors in voting for the resolution. They were opposed by committee chair John Okamoto and outgoing Council members Jean Godden and Tom Rasmussen.

The vote followed a rambunctious public comments session with many rent control proponents and Sawant supporters booing and hissing property owners and developers who spoke against the resolution.

The resolution is being planned for a vote by the full Council on October 4th. UPDATE: In a call for supporters to “pack” City Council chambers, Sawant said a vote is “likely” during the September 21st full session.

UPDATE x2: The plot thickens…

In the meantime, the first legislation based on the mayor’s affordability goal of creating 20,000 new affordable units in the next decade is moving forward. Sawant has said that the mayor’s plan does not do enough to address the city’s growing demand for affordable housing.

Seattle City Council considers call to end state ban on rent control

Posted on by

Screen-Shot-2015-09-08-at-4.49.49-PMFrom “Top four facts about this affordability crisis” in the mayor’s HALA action plan (PDF)

Though a rent control element was left out of the mayor’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda committee’s recommendations, Council members Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata are pushing to keep the push for limits on rent increases alive. Thursday, a resolution calling for “state legislators to change the Washington State law restricting local governments from instituting rent control or regulating rents” will be introduced at City Hall:

Council’s Housing Affordability, Human Services and Economic Resiliency Committee will consider a resolution on state prohibition of rent control tomorrow, which is co-sponsored by Councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata. The resolution urges state legislators to change the Washington State law restricting local governments from instituting rent control or regulating rents.  If the state ban were lifted, Seattle would have the option to pursue rent regulation legislation locally. Current state law does not allow cities to limit rent increases. Seattle has seen rent increases of up to 145% during 2015. 

Councilmembers Sawant and Licata support having rent control as an option as part of a bold and comprehensive set of solutions to preserve affordable housing in Seattle.

Members of the public are encouraged to share their perspective during the public comment period at this Thursday’s 9:30 a.m. meeting. This will be Council’s first discussion on the resolution.  Councilmembers Licata and Sawant debated the concept earlier this year at Town Hall Seattle in front of hundreds of spectators. 

The committee is expected to vote on the proposal at the following meeting on Thursday, September 24 at 9:30 a.m.  The resolution will then be considered at Full Council.

Were it not for the state limits on rent control, the City Council would “design and enact ordinances or other provisions which regulate the amount of rent appropriate to the City of Seattle,” the proposed resolution reads.

The full resolution is below. Continue reading →

20 things CHS heard during Monday’s *hot and heated* Seattle rent control smackdown

Posted on by

“We don’t need trickle-down economics… We need affordable housing.”

vs.

“Rent control does nothing to create new housing. We need solutions now … There are people homeless and sleeping in their car tonight.”

Forgoing Seattle’s usual non-confrontational forum-style political events, Monday evening’s debate on rent control was a heated affair. Around 1,000 people tried to pack into a balmy Town Hall at 8th an Seneca to hear City Council members Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata argue the merits of rent control with Republican Rep. Matthew Manweller and Smart Growth Seattle director Rodger Valdez. There was a large crowd outside unable to enter the at-capacity venue.

The event ostensibly centered around four questions posted to the debaters but was mostly a relentless back-and-forth on rent control more broadly.

1. What has caused housing-affordability crisis in Seattle?
2. What have been the affects of rent control where it has been adopted? 
3. Without rent control can the market make housing affordable?
4. What will be impact of rent control on Seattle?

The answers were broad and there was, of course, no clear winner other than the idea that rent control — in some form or fashion — remains a popular ideal for Seattle residents struggling with affordability.

But it’s not the answer to lower rents, the anti side argued Monday night. “Rent control does nothing to create new housing,” Valdez said, a common refrain from the opposition. “We need solutions now … There are people homeless and sleeping in their car tonight.” Continue reading →

Capitol Hill EcoDistrict | Rent control, yes or no and why?

Posted on by

15-0709 POLL on Rent Controlby Joel Sisolak, Capitol Hill EcoDistrict

How do you feel about rent control? We want to know. Participate in the Dialogue.

Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata are squaring off against Smart Growth Seattle Director Roger Valdez (and a player to be named later) on the topic of rent control. Scheduled for July 20th, this free-to-view cage match (kidding about the cage) promises to be bloody.

Both sides are passionate and articulate advocates from opposite sides of one of the most hotly debated topics in Seattle. Rent control, love it or hate it, is a possible intervention being considered for addressing the skyrocketing rents in Capitol Hill and across King County.

Where do you stand?

Mr. Valdez contends that we don’t need rent control; that rent control feels good (“who doesn’t want to the cost of rent to just stop?”) but actually makes housing prices go up and is, by the way, prohibited by state law.

Councilmember Sawant wants tenants, unions and community organizations to organize to pressure the state to remove its ban on rent control. Councilmember Licata agrees.

There are thousands of people in Seattle already living in rent controlled apartments, also known as affordable or subsidized housing, like the 47 buildings operated by Capitol Hill Housing. But there are far more apartment buildings that are not subsidized where rent rises and falls with the market.

How do you feel about rent control? Do you believe the City of Seattle should institute rent control as a partial solution to skyrocketing rents?

PARTICIPATE NOW IN A PUBLIC DIALOGUE ON RENT CONTROL: https://capitolhillecodistrict.consider.it/Rent_Control