Dozens rally outside City Hall for tenant rights, but some landlords think they go too far

More than 60 people rallied outside Olympia City Hall Tuesday evening in support of renter protections the council adopted months prior, while calling for more action.

In December, the City Council adopted a rental housing registry and inspection program aimed at supporting landlords and keeping tenants safe. The council also limited move-in fees, pet deposits and other fees property owners can charge tenants.

The City Council then held a public hearing Tuesday evening on more renter protections, including providing relocation assistance for tenants. Council members Dani Madrone, Clark Gilman and Robert Vanderpool joined other community leaders in a call for even bolder moves to combat rising rent costs.

Dave Toler is chairman of Olympia For All, a coalition to adopt a Landlord Fairness Code. The coalition includes the League of Women Voters of Thurston County, Olympia Education Association, and the Tenants Union of WA.

Toler said Olympia renters have seen a nearly 40% jump in rent prices in just three years.

“That has meant that half of renters in Olympia now are in housing instability,” Toler said. “Housing instability is defined as over 30% of your monthly income has to go towards rent, which means you have to pull back on a lot of other things in your budget, which means that eventually you might be houseless.”

Toler said the hope is the Olympia For All initiative will slow the tide of homelessness in the community.

“We’re at a point now where I think our elected leaders are beginning to recognize we have a serious housing crisis,” he said. “And if we continue to just let this go the way we have, it’s going to be much worse in another three years.”

The campaign calls for a ban on rent increases on units that have code violations. Landlords would be required to give six months notice for all rent increases as well.

It also calls for capping late fees at $10 per month, and it discourages extreme rent increases by requiring relocation assistance for rent increases over 5%.

Lastly, the campaign calls for a prohibition on evictions of families with children during the school year and cold weather.

During the rally, council member Gilman said he questioned the word “belonging” being added to the city’s goals for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

“I’m thinking from my own experience, if you’re working for cash under the table, are you fully belonging?” he said. “And if your housing is insecure, or the rent keeps changing at random amounts, are you belonging? How do we create belonging? And one of the ways we create belonging is by having anybody welcome to own real estate.”

Rachel Dreon is a candidate for Thurston County Commissioner District 2 and a landlord. She said having access to stable, affordable housing made it possible for her to become a homeowner today. She said she provides two community houses in the county for recovering addicts, and she wants to build on her success to provide more stable housing around the county, which she said is a basic human right.

Dreon said as things stand, her daughter, who is graduating college, can’t afford to move home and live in the Olympia area because there’s nothing available in her price range.

The city’s proposal

During the council meeting Housing Program Specialist Christa Lenssen said staff considered updates to city code for relocation assistance for neglected properties, junk fees, tenant rights to install cooling devices in their units, and giving tenants the option to break their lease if their rent is increasing by more than 5%.

Staff also drafted Economic Displacement Relocation Assistance provisions, which would require landlords to pay relocation costs to tenants forced to move because their rent increased by more than 5%.

The proposed Olympia code would be similar to ones in Tukwila and Lakewood, Lenssen said. It would require landlords to pay relocation assistance if a property is condemned. If relocation funds aren’t provided within seven days, the city will pay the tenant directly and seek reimbursement from the landlord.

The amount of relocation assistance is three times the monthly rent, or $2,000, whichever is more.

State law also allows cities to require relocation assistance for low-income tenants if their unit is demolished, substantially rehabilitated or the use of the building changes. The maximum amount is $2,000, and the city may only require landlords to pay half and the city covers the other half.

Another public hearing would have to be scheduled for updates to relocation assistance.

Lenssen said staff also drafted amendments that would allow tenants to break their lease early without penalty if they find alternative housing before a rent increase of more than 5%. Tenants just have to provide 20 days’ written notice.

Pushback from landlords

Former Mayor Bob Jacobs said he believes Olympia has done an exemplary job in providing housing for those most in need. He said he served on the Home Fund steering committee when that campaign first started.

But Jacobs said the required relocation assistance for rent increases over 5% annually is thinly-veiled rent control.

“The national burden of providing housing to those who cannot afford it should fall on all of us, not just landlords,” he said.

He said the move could lock at or below market rents that landlords voluntarily established to help lower-income tenants. He said it’s particularly hard on small landlords, many of whom are renting to supplement their retirement income. Instead, he said the proposal of relocation assistance should be put in front of the voters.

State Rep. Andrew Barkis spoke in opposition to the ordinance as well. He said he works with one of the largest housing providers in the county, having housed thousands of Olympia residents in the last 25 years.

Barkis said he’s been working as a state representative to come up with solutions to the state’s housing crisis. He said Olympia’s ordinance is not a solution, but rather it creates a broader problem.

He said the solutions Olympia is trying to come up with are one sided, similarly to how the issues have been addressed at the state level.

“There is no collaboration,” Barkis said. “The one group that I have not met with that refuses to meet with me to work with me is around the tenant advocacy groups. And why is that? Because there is an agenda that they’re trying to push for the policy that you’ve heard.”

Barkis said it’s unbelievable how much landlords may have to pay for relocation. On a $1,500 rent, a 5% increase is $75 a month, which would be enough to allow tenants to break their lease.

“You can’t have tenants without housing providers,” Barkis said. “We must work together, so I encourage the city not to do this. Let’s work with the legislature and do this at the state level.”

Whitney Bowerman said she’s been a small landlord in Olympia since 2007 and also runs a nonprofit that works with unhoused folks in the county.

Bowerman said she’s deeply concerned the ordinance will make it more difficult for small landlords to operate and will lead to more leaving the market.

“Olympia needs more than Wall Street running its housing,” she said. “I am also concerned that the city is charging ahead with a lack of vision for how it wants its housing palette to look.”

Bowerman asked for more collaboration as well, imploring the council to slow down and bring in all stakeholders.

“I believe that Olympia needs all hands on deck, small landlords, corporate landlords, public housing entities in order to adequately address the housing crisis,” she said. “I believe Olympia needs more than regulation, because regulation on its own is only going to increase prices.”

Bowerman said supply needs to be increased as well. She said Olympia is notoriously difficult to build in, which needs to be addressed.

She said she’s already heard of some unintended consequences that have stemmed from the city’s housing work so far. For example, she said the limits placed on up-front pet deposits have prompted more landlords to charge monthly pet rent instead.

“I don’t want to see more unintended consequences from the implementation of these policies,” Bowerman said. “I think a big part of the solution finding is bringing everyone to the table. Don’t craft these policies in a vacuum.”

Olympia City Council unanimously OKs rental housing code changes that limit move-in costs