(The Center Square) – Landlords could now face millions of dollars in new costs after the Spokane City Council imposed on Wednesday what local housing providers have called another “unfunded mandate.”
With a 5-2 vote, the officials passed a proposal from Councilmember Paul Dillon, Kate Telis and Sarah Dixit that allows tenants to install air conditioning at their landlords’ expense. Council President Betsy Wilkerson and Councilmember Michael Cathcart voted against it after requesting deferrals on Tuesday.
While narrowed in its final form, the mayor raised concerns about the policy in an email to the council on Tuesday, expressing appreciation for the intent while warning about a lack of enforcement funding.
“Adding new enforcement obligations to the Code Enforcement Department without a plan and path to add new resources to the department is not sustainable,” Mayor Lisa Brown emailed them on Tuesday.
The impact on code enforcement could pale in comparison to the new unfunded mandate on landlords.
The council ultimately passed the policy without a citywide cost estimate for landlords or enforcement.
“Fundamentally, we don’t even know how we’re going to pay for our share of this,” Cathcart explained.
Wilkerson said she voted against it due to the lack of code enforcement funding and the thin margins low-income housing providers are operating under, arguing it will set expectations the city can’t meet.
CEO Amber Johnson said the policy would cost Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners over $1 million.
Representatives from the Downtown Spokane Partnership, RenCorp Realty, Black Realty Management and the Washington Multifamily Housing Association also testified Wednesday.
They join several other housing providers who have expressed opposition to the ordinance since it was introduced last spring.
Some said Wednesday that despite grave concerns about costs for housing providers, the council will now require landlords to retrofit units built decades ago without the infrastructure needed to comply.
“Retrofitting them is not as simple as installing an air conditioner; in many cases, compliance could require building-wide electrical upgrades, rewiring, reconstruction of units, new mechanical systems, and ongoing maintenance,” DSP Board Chair Dana Harbaugh testified during Wednesday’s meeting.
She said those costs raise rents, result in deferred maintenance and investment, and reduce supply.
“The ordinance also requires that all new construction permitted after January 1, 2027, includes [central air conditioning, an evaporative cooler or a portable cooling device],” according to a city news release.
Dillon, Telis and Dixit proposed the policy in response to the 2021 Northwest Heat Dome, which they say caused at least 19 deaths in Spokane County, with over 300 people seeking medical treatment.
The sponsors had envisioned a policy that would’ve required landlords to retrofit tens of thousands of units with devices capable of keeping every room at or below 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The one passed this week replaced that threshold with one tied to health risks and cut the 2031 compliance deadline.
Instead, enforcement will be complaint-driven, but Brown says code officers are already stretched thin amid ongoing budget woes; on Thursday, her administration unveiled a $35.6 million deficit for 2027-28.
Under the ordinance, tenants must provide their landlords with 72 hours’ notice before installing the air-conditioning unit or other cooling device and deducting up to $500 from their rent. A prior version would’ve allowed tenants to install one in every room, and some of the council still wants to get there.
“I would like to see cooling in every bedroom,” Councilmember Kitty Klitzke said Wednesday, arguing that the policy should apply to every bedroom in more than 20,000 rentals, before voting in support.
“When we passed the early version of this ordinance back in 2024-25, some people testifying against it said it was a ‘slippery slope’ like, eventually we’re going to require cooling,” Klitzke said. “Absolutely, because I think at the end of the day we should be asking ourselves what a good community would do.”
Former city officials previously estimated that the 80-degree threshold and AC mandate for each room in every rental unit across Spokane would lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in costs for landlords.
“How much is a human life worth?” Dillon questioned Wednesday. “What is the cost of doing nothing?”