Olympia Inn hotel backs off eviction threats
The Olympia Inn hotel on Capitol Way has backed off attempts to evict a group of long-term residents.
On Saturday, The Olympian reported that residents had received calls saying they had three hours to vacate their rooms.
A spokesperson for the hotel, Lisa Arnold, told The Olympian then that she believed the governor’s statewide eviction moratorium did not apply to people who have continued to receive government financial assistance and were still able to pay their rent.
Later on Saturday evening, hotel resident Bryann Sasso told The Olympian that management had given him until Monday to be out.
On Monday, city officials spoke to Olympia Inn management about the governor’s order, which remains in place until Aug. 1, according to city spokesperson Kellie Purce Braseth.
“We saw the article about it, and (City Manager) Jay (Burney) and (Assistant City Manager) Keith (Stahley) took the responsibility to go over and saw it as our responsibility as a city,” Braseth said. “They talked to the management, and ended up talking to the owner, and as a result of this the owner has committed to not evicting anyone as long as the governor’s moratorium is on.”
On Tuesday, City of Olympia Homeless Response Coordinator Teal Russell met with hotel residents and distributed fact sheets about the eviction moratorium and letters advising tenants to reach out to Community Action Council, which is administering an emergency fund for renters impacted by the pandemic.
Sasso, the hotel resident, confirmed on Monday evening that management backed off their initial threats.
The situation raises the question of how the governor’s order is being enforced, and if that enforcement varies city by city.
Olympia Police Department spokesperson Paul Lower said the police will not enforce the eviction moratorium, and that he would forward any complaints to the Office of the Attorney General’s (AG) landlord-tenant division.
“There’s this eviction moratorium in place, but there’s no resources or process to enforce it, so it’s really on us,” said Olympia City Council member Jessica Bateman. “Our role as a city is to say, this is the law, we need you to abide by the law.”
The AG’s office has an online form where tenants can report eviction complaints.
In May, the AG filed a lawsuit against a Nevada-based property management company for distributing eviction notices to residents of a Tacoma apartment building. That case won $300,000 in direct refunds for tenants.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 6:05 AM.
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