We must help Thurston tenants without driving local landlords out of business | Opinion
A recent wave of tenant protections have been enacted locally to help renter households stay housed. Praised by tenant rights advocates, these protections were primarily intended to slow down “economic evictions,” the displacement of tenants due to significant rent increases. Other measures were intended to improve living conditions.
Not too surprisingly, these changes haven’t been universally welcomed by landlords, some of whom see these measures as going too far. Are there better approaches?
In 2022, both Olympia and Tumwater city councils voted to slow down rent increases by extending the required notices of rent increase to a minimum 120 days for increases between 5-10% and a 180 days for increases greater than 10%. Under state law, landlords must provide a minimum of 60 days notice of any rent increase, which locally would apply to increases of less than 5%. Additionally, both cities offer landlord-tenant information on their websites.
Beyond these required notices, Olympia is considering a rental property registration program intended to support “housing preservation, ensuring basic health and safety for tenants, supporting landlords by sharing information and resources, and gathering data about housing trends to target needs,” according to the city’s Proposed Rental Housing Registry and Inspection Program.
Lacey has an existing rental registry program with more limited goals to “prevent neighborhood blight and deterioration... to offer incentives for the voluntary compliance by the owners of all residential rental buildings with the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Program, and participation by the owners of all multiple-family rental buildings in the Crime Free Multi-Family Housing Program,” according to the city’s Municipal Code.
In all three cities, these tenant protection laws were developed by staff, discussed in public meetings and then voted into law by their respective city councils. While the Olympia City Council-level decision reflects the 52% renter majority population of Olympia, homeowners are the majority in both Lacey (57%) and Tumwater (56%).
Tenant protections are being enacted in other parts of Washington, where similar measures are being supported by cities with majority owner-occupants. The Tacoma City Council ran a tenant protections ballot measure in the recent election, where it passed by a slim margin of 361 votes. It’s notable that Tacoma is 56% owner-occupied. By letting the voters decide, Tacoma’s new law clearly shows that a majority are concerned about renters in their community.
Tacoma News Tribune columnist and editor Matt Driscoll summed it up well in a Nov. 15 opinion piece: “From the start, I’ve acknowledged the issues the citizen-led effort is designed to address are real. I’ve also argued that everything the initiative includes … are protections renters in Tacoma deserve. Still, the initiative’s approach feels unnecessarily and indiscriminately vindictive, placing too much of the burden of systemic failures squarely on landlords, no matter who they are. “
Locally, some landlords echo Driscoll’s assessment. Reluctant to be quoted, these landlords privately share concerns that the protections will make it too expensive for them to stay in the rental property business. Some noted that it might backfire and cause more private rental property owners to sell off their properties, leaving a larger share of corporate-owned rental housing stock. And none of these measures remedy the fact that over half of Thurston County renters are paying more than 30% of their income for housing, and that 75% of extremely low-income renters pay over half of their income on rent, according to the Thurston Regional Housing Council. That’s a lot of folks at risk of homelessness.
Clearly, local renters need help. While landlords may prefer a free-market approach to keep rental rates lower through competition, it appears the market continues to price out low-income tenants. Finding ways to reduce rental costs would offer the greatest relief for low-income renters, but not if it drives more landlords to sell.
A more balanced approach of some regulation, more accessible rental assistance and incentives for property owners to keep rents affordable may offer the most lasting solution.
Anna Schlecht is retired from the City of Olympia where she worked on housing and homeless issues for several decades. This column is part of her year-long exploration of housing issues in our region.