Over the last decade, the Seattle metro area produced the most affordable housing in the nation, with more than 24,000 new income-restricted apartments. New revenue streams helped the region get there, but more work is needed to alleviate the affordability crisis and hit long-term goals.
Seattle renters are largely locked out of cost-saving and comfort-improving clean energy appliances, like heat pumps, induction stoves, and solar panels. Sightline’s Emily Moore argues that newly inaugurated Mayor Katie Wilson could help change that, in part because Seattle owns its own electric uti
Issues with high vacancies, rising operating costs, and federal funding cuts are hitting affordable housing providers hard. The Seattle Office of Housing has stemmed the bleeding with operating support, but broader fixes are needed.
One local builder lays out the case for passing the City’s Multifamily Tax Exemption Program 7 proposal, which would expand access to a wider pool of renters and encourage participation in the program. The Seattle City Council is set to vote today.
The Seattle City Council is set to greenlight a new iteration of the Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) program with higher allowed rents and rent hikes. The program trades a property tax break for setting aside a quarter of the units with lower rents, but some advocates say the new rent structure is
Council President Sara Nelson and Councilmember Rob Saka unexpectedly skipped a housing committee meeting Wednesday, holding up 14 appointments to the shorthanded Seattle Renters Commission. Councilmember Alexis Rinck sharply criticized the “disrespectful” move, as did several nominees.
Landlords have used ratio utility billing systems as a backdoor to jack up rents. It’s time to ban the practice in Washington State.
Here are five things Seattle leaders could be doing to lower your rent, in observance of Affordable Housing Week.
The Washington State Legislature approved a 7% to 10% cap on rent hikes Sunday, after the proposal faced a rollercoaster of obstacles over the course of the 105-day session.
Rent increases would be capped between 7% and 10% under the compromise measure approved by a conference committee Thursday night. It still needs to advance back through both chambers by Sunday night to reach the Governor’s desk.
On Thursday, the Washington State Senate took the leap and approved a rent stabilization bill, but first senators gutted it with provisions that quickly earned the ire of tenant advocates. An original 7% cap on annual rent increases could instead rise to 20% or more.
Wealthy landlords are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to mislead Washingtonians and to try to block a moderate, but protective rent stabilization bill that will finally provide renters with predictability and stability over their housing costs.
The rent stabilization bill that the Washington State House approved this week scaled back other protections for renters, including a cap on move-in fees and late fees. The bill now heads to the Senate.
The Washington State Legislature should pass HB 1217 to stabilize rents statewide. This is an important moment for housing supply advocates to show up in support of more stability for tenants.
Democratic leaders are saying this is the year that the Washington State Legislature will finally pass rent stabilization, with momentum building behind Rep. Emily Alvarado’s bill.
Big changes are coming to the Washington State Senate in 2025, including the elevation of incoming Senator Jessica Bateman to a high profile post as head of the Housing Committee, a symbol of the continued salience of the issue.
Tanya Woo has brandished her affordable housing credentials as owner of the Louisa Hotel in Chinatown. However, some of her tenants portray her as a ‘slumlord’ based on the practices of building management, including frequently pressuring eviction and letting issues like a broken elevator go long un
Housing advocates are pushing back after Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell proposed $1.8 million in cuts to rental assistance and tenant services next year. They hope city council will restore the funding, or even double it.
To prevent homelessness and improve housing stability, Seattle City Council should not cut funding for Tenant Services and Rental Assistance as Mayor Bruce Harrell proposes, and instead double it.
At least half of Seattle’s apartments are priced using algorithms like RealPage, which is facing a federal lawsuit for illegal price fixing. The Seattle City Council should ban such algorithms, Katie Wilson argues.
RealPage is facing a federal lawsuit alleging its price-fixing algorithm illegally set thousands upon thousands of rents nationwide. Tenant advocates are seeking deeper solutions, in addition to banning this practice.
King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay rolled out the Regional Workforce Housing Initiative this week, aiming to use bonding to boost family-sized workforce housing construction. Colleagues were largely supportive, but warned the devil was in the details.
President Biden has called out junk fees, but local landlords continue to charge them. Here’s what Seattle and other cities can do to address them.
Time is running out to pass rent stabilization in the state house or miss a key bill cutoff, putting off rent relief for another year. Supporters are rallying support in a last ditch effort.
As of December 8th, tenants in Tacoma have more legal recourse against rent increases, landlord retaliation, high late fees, and even some evictions. Tacoma’s Measure No. 1, which passed by a narrow 370-vote margin in November, represents the strongest suite of tenant protections in the state, according to the
Landlords are pushing to delay implementation schedules and lessen fees. When asked about the causes of climate change, most may picture cars, coal mines, and power plants. But fewer consider the buildings we occupy. Yet, our buildings represent a sizable portion of planet-warming emissions. Nationwide, residential and commercial buildings account
Tacoma For All is pushing a sweeping tenant bill of rights, and the City is planning a weaker package of changes. Affordable housing and tenants’ rights have been gaining traction as a hot topic for many American cities especially since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. While eviction bans were
Partnering with Republicans on housing supply may have helped doom tenant legislation. Last Wednesday marked a major deadline for bills in the Washington State Legislature, and rent stabilization didn’t make the cut. State Democratic leaders had talked about the need for a three-legged stool of housing supply, subsidy, and
The bills we have been tracking from previous weeks did not see a lot of movement. Design review reform made it out of its first committee and the Evergreen Basic Income Pilot survived a flurry of amendments. But really, the big news this week is a few big new bills
In 2022, the Stay Housed Stay Healthy Coalition successfully pushed passage of a suite of renter protections in five cities across King County and plans to build on that work in 2023. For Burien City Councilmember Cydney Moore, who as a single mother once lost her housing because of high
After a tense night of debate, the Burien City Council voted to preserve an affordable housing program for another two years at its October 24 meeting, reversing a decision from the beginning of the month that would have allowed the program to expire and endangered at least one housing development.
Rent stabilization and ending apartment bans, a match made in heaven. Rents are going up, and almost no one is being spared. Even tenants in subsidized affordability programs are being impacted by rising housing costs. This is because those rents are set to the area median income (AMI) as determined
In the first veto of his tenure, Mayor Bruce Harrell struck down a recently passed bill seeking to track more rent data from Seattle landlords. Because that bill passed with five votes and overturning a veto takes six votes, that veto appears likely to stick. In his veto statement, Harrell
Discussions at this week’s Bellevue City Council meeting centered around three topics: reviewing Juneteenth as a paid holiday for city staff, approving funding allocations for A Regional Coalition on Housing, and providing comments on the city’s Conflict Resolution Center and their program to mediate landlord-tenant repayment plans. Juneteenth
Despite skyrocketing housing prices across Washington State, the state legislature has failed to pass any bills easing statewide housing restrictions and promoting missing middle housing housing growth in sacrosanct single-family zones. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell had concerns with the missing middle bill and declined to endorse it, but he is
The Seattle Times editorial board has long been a foe of housing diversity and density, and they proved that yet again yesterday. The editorial board, which represents the state’s largest newspaper, came out against legislation seeking to reform single-family zoning statewide. Desperate to derail housing reform efforts, the cranks
Much advocacy and media focus has been rightly granted to the newly-elected Mayor Bruce Harrell’s one-month extension of Seattle’s eviction moratorium. However, this level of protection for tenants already expired for the vast majority of Washington state residents when Governor Inslee’s statewide bridge moratorium expired this past
Today, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced a 30-day extension of Seattle’s eviction moratorium, which covers residences and small business and non-profit commercial tenants. The previous executive order under Mayor Jenny Durkan was set to expire on January 15th, which makes the new expiration date February 14th under Harrell’s order.
Council President Lorena González’s resounding loss to former Council President Bruce Harrell marks the third straight Seattle mayoral election in which the progressive fell to the corporate-friendly centrist. González conceded the race Thursday. To make matters worse, progressives also lost a Seattle City Council seat and the City Attorney’
King County received $145 million in rent assistance from the Federal government to distribute to tenants in what could be a godsend for many. The catch is that King County has been lagging behind other counties in disbursing those funds. In a press release today, King County Executive Dow Constantine
On Monday, the Seattle City Council had a busy — and consequential — day of voting on council bills related to renters’ rights in the face of steep rent increases. The Council also voted on an ordinance related to density bonuses for religious institutions building affordable housing. By the end of the
Washington State’s eviction machinery may soon be operating at high gear after a brief pandemic-induced hiatus. As that threat looms, the Stay Housed Stay Healthy Coalition is once again asking for an eviction moratorium extension through the end of year, but a statewide extension appears unlikely. On Thursday, the
King County officials are scrambling to distribute $145 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to tenants and are far behind schedule. Those delays could spell disaster for thousands of tenants who will no longer enjoy protections from Governor Jay Inslee’s eviction moratorium “bridge” emergency order by October
In July, the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) released their draft three-pronged Regional Housing Strategy (RHS). The strategy is to be a collection of regional and local measures to preserve, improve, and expand the region’s housing inventory. It hopes to encourage fair and equal access to housing for the
There has been quite a lull in pro-housing advocacy opportunities since the controversial Mandatory Housing Affordability and Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda rezones of 2019. But thankfully things are starting to HEAT UP. Here are the top things we think you should know about in Seattle. This list is for
A proposed name change could kick off the fight to end exclusionary zoning in Seattle. So, what’s exactly in a name? Juliet Capulet pondered this question of Romeo Montague in Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. In the case of “single-family” zoning, the name brings to mind an image of
In a 6-3 vote yesterday, the King County Council approved a bill greatly expanding tenant rights in unincorporated King County. Sponsors Girmay Zahilay, Jeanne Kohl-Welles, and Dave Upthegrove introduced the legislation in March, but they ran into headwinds as the Rental Housing Association of Washington (RHA), which represents landlords, fiercely
Landlords came out in force at the King County Council meeting on Tuesday to speak against a proposed tenant rights bill. Unfortunately, their cause was hurt by many of their own talking points being blatantly false. Several County Councilmembers chastised the Rental Housing Association of Washington (RHA) for spreading misinformation
Seattle has been taking the lion’s share of the region’s housing growth for the last decade, but developers are starting to look to Tacoma in greater numbers. One big reason why is that Tacoma’s permitting and approval process is simple and quick, while Seattle’s has increasingly
Yesterday, the Seattle City Council passed three bills extending protections for tenants facing the threat of eviction. They also voted unanimously to send a letter to Mayor Jenny Durkan and Governor Jay Inslee asking them to extend their respective eviction moratoriums, which both expire June 30th, through the end of
The Seattle City Council’s Renters’ Rights Committee passed three bills providing further protections from evictions and rejected a bevy of amendments from Councilmember Alex Pedersen seeking to weaken the measures. On 3-1 votes, Councilmembers Kshama Sawant, Tammy Morales, and Andrew Lewis defeated amendments and advanced the bills for a
In a unanimous vote Monday, the Seattle City Council guaranteed the right to counsel to tenants facing eviction proceedings. Sponsored by Councilmembers Kshama Sawant, Tammy Morales, and Andrew Lewis, the legislation sought to get ahead of a wave of evictions feared when the eviction moratorium, put in place to lessen
A group of tenant advocates and progressive organizations are banding together to push for new renter protections in a “Stay Housed, Stay Healthy” campaign, starting with a kickoff event from 6:00pm to 7:30pm on Monday, March 29th. The event is spearheaded by the Seattle Transit Riders Union (TRU)
Earlier this month, a 47-group-strong coalition urged Mayor Jenny Durkan to extend Seattle’s eviction moratorium through the end of the year. That pressure has borne fruit. On Monday, Mayor Durkan announced a three-month extension. Governor Jay Inslee’s decision is still pending [Update: On March 18th, Governor Inslee extended
You would have to be quite old to remember when it was cheaper to live in the city than the countryside. It’s been a long time since that second-floor bachelor pad in Chinatown was more bargain basement than that cottage up the hill, and by now we’d be
Historically, Berkeley has been a hotbed of resistance to new housing and an innovator in excluding people of color. In fact, Berkeley was the first city to implement single-family zoning in 1916. Last month, the Bay Area city took a major step in changing that legacy. The Berkeley City Council
At month’s end, the eviction moratorium is scheduled to expire, which would put thousands of tenants at risk. A broad coalition spearheaded by the Transit Riders Union (TRU) is urging a nine-month extension of Seattle’s moratorium as soon as possible to ease worries for tenants. The Urbanist joined
State senators and representatives are scrambling to get their bills out of committee with a “Do Pass” recommendation before the cutoff on Monday, February 22nd. An exception allows revenue-generating bills a longer lease on life if they are declared “necessary to implement the budget,” so don’t worry about “tax
Since the Reagan administration, the federal government has gotten out of the game of producing social housing itself. A new report titled “The Case for Social Housing” calls for the federal government to reverse that in a big way and produce twelve million social housing units by 2030, echoing a
Vox explains why eviction is a crisis in America and what might or might not be done about it.
On October 14th, Governor Jay Inslee issued another extension of his eviction moratorium and rent freeze through the end of the year and also prohibited utility shutoffs until the Covid-19 crisis is over. The Governor’s previous eviction ban had been set to expire the following day. “We don’t
Join Share The Cites and The Urbanist in welcoming Shane Phillips to a Seattle-centered discussion about his book The Affordable City this Thursday September 24th from noon to 1pm. The book is a comprehensive look at how to make housing more affordable and has 50 recommendations focused on what the
Construction of new apartments has reached a five-year low in Seattle, according to data compiled by RentCafe. While it makes sense that construction would slow down as a result of Covid pandemic, the numbers are still significant. Rentcafe estimates that 29% fewer new apartments will be completed in Seattle in
At a Thursday press conference on the state’s Covid response, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced he was extending the eviction moratorium and presumably the rent freeze through October 15th. He also promised that at least $100 million in rent assistance was on the way via the federal CARES Act,
On Tuesday, Governor Jay Inslee did something that normally would have made big news if not for police riots and Mayoral abdication of responsibility grabbing headlines. The Governor announced he was extending Washington’s statewide rent freeze and eviction moratorium through August 1st, providing some more breathing room for those
Being evicted for nonpayment of rent won’t really be a thing for Seattle tenants in 2020–at least if tenants assert the rights they won at city council today. Council President M. Lorena González introduced the emergency ordinance extending the eviction moratorium, which Governor Jay Inslee enacted and Mayor
Washington renters breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as Governor Jay Inslee announced a rent freeze lasting two months. The governor also extended the eviction moratorium that he first issued in mid-March to June 4th as well. “All it took was a pandemic to get rent control in Washington state,
On Monday, the Seattle City Council by a 7-0 vote passed a winter eviction ban aiming to protect tenants during the three coldest months of the year. Although some cities do bar evictions on days with inclement weather, the policy Seattle just passed would be the most far-reaching in the
Seattle and Washington State want to maintain housing affordability and the other Washington (D.C.) laid the groundwork to do it via legislation providing tenants the right to buy their home. I recently attended a 2020 legislative preview hosted by Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness. Rep. Nicole Macri (D-Seattle)
Mayor Jenny Durkan revealed the slate of affordable housing projects the City would be funding next year to the record-breaking tune of $110 million on Monday. The 13 buildings funded will bring 1,944 apartments affordable below 60% of area median income or lower. “Over the last three years, we
The Urbanist is co-hosting a Tenant Rights Bootcamp on Wednesday, December 4th with renter advocacy nonprofit Be:Seattle. The bootcamp is from 6pm to 8pm at Ada’s Technical Books and Cafe in Capitol Hill, and rent control will be a major topic of conversation. Be:Seattle describes its tenant
I was reading hot takes on what will happen tomorrow when polls close and early election results are announced. Very few pundits have predicted a favorable result in a race in which I’ve become invested: Seattle City Council District 4 (D4). It’s my home district and it also
We live in alternate realities. I realized this when I received a pro-Alex Pedersen mailer from People for Affordable Livable Seattle (PALS) political action committee (PAC) arguing that recent development had cost more low-income housing than it replaced. Longtime housing rabble-rouser John Fox of the Seattle Displacement Coalition endorsed Pedersen,
“If Sawant’s rent control bill went into effect, my apartment would get turned into a condo and I’d lose my place to live.” “Developers won’t be able to make a profit so it will destroy new home construction.” Those aren’t exact quotes, but I think it
If you’ve taken introductory economics, you’ve likely heard some bad things about rent control. Most economists (e.g., 81%) don’t like it. Generally, economists argue rent control restricts housing supply and is counterproductive to affordability in the long-term. But could that consensus be eroding? Seattle rents doggedly
On Monday, the Seattle City Council approved Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda’s tenant protection bill targeting multifamily buildings up for sale. The city council also adopted changes to sign regulations in and around the Seattle Center Arena, approved an interdepartmental property transfer for a new skatepark, and authorized property acquisition to
The Seattle City Council’s housing committee will take up further discussion and possibly vote on a new tenant protection measure sponsored by Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda today. Her proposal would expand the notice of intent to sell an affordable housing rental building. The current law only applies to multifamily buildings
As Seattle City Council debates legislation that would require additional housing affordability contributions from developers, big questions have emerged about whether efforts to preserve affordable housing would hurt or help. “Naturally occurring affordable housing” has become a buzz word in urban planning and policy circles in recent years. It refers
Most economists dismiss rent control as a “quick fix” but tenant advocates say immediate relief doesn’t sound so bad. As the first US state to pass statewide rent control, Oregon has found itself at the vanguard of a new push for housing affordability. Similar to nationwide trends, housing affordability
On Wednesday, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Councilmember Lisa Herbold both issued policy ideas to stem displacement. Mayor Durkan issued a new executive order outlining how city departments should act in developing anti-displacement policies over the near-term. Likewise, Councilmember Herbold released a draft of legislation that she proposes would ideally
This year, we have an opportunity to make Seattle housing more affordable. The question is this: will we share our growth and prosperity, or will our city be an exclusive enclave that only the highest-wage earners can afford? By passing a citywide version of Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) that is
Quick quiz: Can you name all fourteen goals of Washington state’s Growth Management Act? Would you guess that addressing climate change is not one of them? Nearly thirty years ago, Washington passed the Growth Management Act (GMA), a comprehensive piece of legislation dedicated to responsibly managing our state’s
Yesterday King County Superior Court Judge Suzanne Parisien issued a ruling striking down the first-in-time law regulating rental properties within the city of Seattle. The case will likely be appealed. The first-in-time rule had required landlords to rent to the first qualified tenant to apply for an opening. The Seattle
On Monday, the Seattle City Council voted to impose a one-year moratorium on rental housing bidding platforms. Landlords in the city had been using several platforms like Rentberry and Biddwell that allow prospective renters to bid on the price of rent instead of sticking with the listed price. The Associated
The urbanist community spit-taked last week reading a glib op-ed in The Seattle Times that railed against a project planned for Fremont which includes small efficiency homes. The author (who lives in an ample Fremont townhome likely priced around $800,000) said living in a small efficiency is akin to
The budget season is in full swing. The Seattle City Council met on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss different proposals by councilmembers to add and subtract from the budget as well as request reports and condition how money is spent. The city council considered a variety of possible changes to
In March of 2016, having recently been let go from the Cleveland Browns due in part to truancy and public drug use, Johnny Manziel applied to live in an apartment. The property manager who processed his application was at first delighted that she would have the opportunity to rent to
The Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) program has approved 7,518 affordable units, as of the end of 2016. 855 affordable units were officially added to Seattle’s MFTE rolls in 2016, while one building with 12 affordable units saw its tax exemption expire along with the rent restriction. The 163
In the midst of election season it’s hard to keep up with the volume of candidate questionnaires and the information they offer. One questionnaire might be interesting for readers of this website. Seattle Fair Growth, took the time to craft questions focused on land-use, housing, and zoning. These questions
If you take the Route 44 bus all the way to the end of the line in Ballard, you’ll find yourself at the intersection of NW Market Street and 32nd Ave NW. Apartments buildings surround the intersection, but if you walk 150 feet west on Market Street, away from
During a full council meeting on October 17th, 2016, the Seattle City Council voted 7-2 to send Council Bill 118817, popularly known as the “move-in fee legislation,” back to committee. The crowd in attendance at this full council meeting had a decidedly “Occupy” ethos. Clad in red Community Action Network
After five years of rapidly escalating rents, many Seattle tenants are familiar with the classic landlord letter, “Due to additional taxes and labor costs, your rent is going up a bazillion percent.” If a new initiative is successful, landlords will be required to accurately indicate their costs in relation to
Bigger buildings and thousands of new residents and jobs could be headed to Uptown in the coming years, depending on the outcome of an urban design framework moving into its final stages. The Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) released a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) last week to
Renters in Seattle are poised to get more political representation in the city. Tenants–the fastest growing demographic in the city making up 54% of all households–have long been left with little representation in City Hall, relying on advocacy groups like the Tenants Union of Washington to try to
Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat–whom you may remember for leaking a draft of the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) committee report in 2014 and then stoking a single-family home preservationist backlash–has struck again, and this time he got smart. Rather than make his appeal directly about the
Do you want to see something sad? According to a slide prepared for a meeting of largely anti-HALA (Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda) people, the HALA.consider.it site was largely dominated (as of last month) by voices opposing changes that will allow more affordable housing. Do you want to
Welcoming Wallingford is a new group seeking to engage in the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) dialogue in the Wallingford neighborhood. This is a cross-post from Wallyhood. Here in our wonderful, walkable Wallingford, we’re neighbors. Some of us have been in Seattle, or in Wallingford, for decades. Some
Two years ago the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) Advisory Committee tried to put forward the idea of changing Seattle’s rigid single-family residential zones to something more flexible, termed Residential Small Lot (RSL), that would allow duplexes and triplexes on lots where they are currently prohibited. But somebody
The Seattle City Council adopted new tenant rights in December. The meat of the new tenant rights was a cap on move-in fees, which would also require most landlords to offer a six-month installment plan to reduce the upfront burden that move-in fess can have on tenants. The legislation had
Right before snow coated the Emerald City’s streets on Thursday, more than a hundred housing advocates gathered at the Central Library to hear a panel titled “Building Affordability Through Community Ownership”. Councilmember Mike O’Brien and Puget Sound Sage Director Rebecca Saldaña (who was just appointed 37th Legislative District