Seattle City Council to consider instituting rent control

Rent control could be coming to Seattle. Western Washington is already one of the more expensive places to live in the US.

A vote by Seattle City Council could upend the rental market even more by instituting rent control, The Sustainability & Renters; Rights Committee considered the measure Friday.

Rent control could have a huge impact on rentals whether they are new or old apartments. Most new apartment buildings would fall under the rent control umbrella. Even if Seattle passes rent control there is a major catch to whether it can be implemented: Right now rent control is illegal under Washington law. Seattle’s council would only be passing a measure that would trigger if state law changes.

Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant is hoping to pass legislation for the city as one of her final civic acts, before leaving office at the end of the year.

Right now Seattle has some major protections for renters, landlords must provide tenants six months’ notice before increasing the rent.

Low-income tenants get financial assistance if they have to relocate due to a rent increase of 10% or more.

Low-income tenants facing evictions also have a right to an attorney.

Under Sawant’s proposal, a Seattle landlord would not be able to increase rent more than the rate of inflation.

Advocates argue this is necessary to keep more people from being priced out and possibly ending up on the streets.

But the group that represents independent landlords says it could actually backfire.

Kate Rubin spoke before the city council and said she was a renter in Seattle, she favored the rent control measure, “By implementing strong rent control without loopholes, we can challenge the unjust power dynamics in our housing markets.”

Sean Flynn is executive director of the Rental Housing Association of Washington. The group represents independent landlords, and Flynn spoke out against the potential for rent control in Seattle, “It sends a message to anyone who is thinking of building new housing in the city of Seattle, Seattle’s not the place to do it. Why would anyone want to build new housing in a rent-controlled environment? It also tells existing housing providers they are not welcome in the city.”

If rent control is enacted in Seattle, it would be by unit according to the language in the proposal. Even if someone leaves a unit, landlords would likely not be able to impose huge rent hikes.

If a landlord wanted to raise the rent above established thresholds, the language in the potential ordinance dictates that the landlord would have to lobby a rent control board to make that happen.

This rent control would apply to new and old buildings with some exceptions but first, the state would have to get rid of the law banning rent control.

The vote failed 3 to 2, but it’s still headed to the full council in a few weeks.