(The Center Square) – Dozens of people turned out for a spirited public hearing Friday before the state Senate Ways & Means Committee on controversial legislation to cap yearly rent increases
Engrossed House Bill 1217 caps rent increases to 7% annually for most residential tenants, prohibits rent hikes during the first year of tenancy, and requires landlords to provide 90 days’ notice before raising rent in most cases.
The bill passed the House of Representatives on March 10 and is now being considered by the Senate.
Tawana Reed with the Tenants Union of Washington testified in support of the bill.
“Fifty-seven years ago on this day, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated,” she told the committee. “Much has changed since 1968, but severe racial disparities persist. Black households in Washington are more than twice as likely to be renters and are more likely to be rent-burdened than white renters.”
Carl Shorett, with Avalon Bay Communities, said capping rent is not the solution to Washington state’s affordable housing crisis.
“Simply put, rent control is bad policy that will push scarce capital and associated tax revenue from new construction to other states,” he explained. “Developers go where they are wanted and sell out of markets where they are not.”
Kelley Rinehart, who identified himself as a small landlord, said he supports the bill to keep good tenants.
“I try to keep my rent increases well under 5% to provide stability, and all of my tenants are now stable and long-term,” Rinehart stated.
Rick Glenn, a landlord in Yakima, said the bill is far too punitive to property owners.
“1217 will make an existing problem even worse; 95% of this bill is actually related to landlords,” he said. “It penalizes them, and there is little mention at all about tenants. This bill needs to fail.”
Longview Mayor Spencer Boudreau also spoke out against the legislation.
“I personally now know of over one thousand rental units in Longview that will be sold … if this passes,” he said. “That is one-eighth of the market in my jurisdiction. You’re taking local control away … I urge you to kill this bill.”
Other landlords shared stories of banking their retirement on the few rental properties they own and now fearing they will be forced to sell to developers who ultimately could rebuild for high-income rentals that further restrict the supply of housing.
Like many others, Gordon Haggerty was wearing a bright red “No Rent Control” T-shirt. Just ahead of Friday’s hearing, he told The Center Square he had attended several hearings on EHB 1217, hoping to convince lawmakers the bill is a bad idea.
“Affordability goes both ways. I need to be able to afford to provide affordable housing, and so finding that sweet spot to local conditions to be able to do that requires the market with supply and demand to be involved,” he said. “The more control there is from the outside, the more I have to push back with my own controls.”
One of the last people to testify grew emotional as she urged members of the committee not to take away her livelihood by passing the bill.
“I escaped from China. I have lived in Seattle for more than 20 years, and I’m 71 now,” Jin Yang told the committee. “I want to tell you that any human control is increasing government power and reducing our individual freedoms against the free market.”
Yang raised her voice, begging lawmakers not to force her out of Seattle.
“This is wrong; this will destroy my life,” Yang said, who was then told by committee Chair June Robinson that her time had expired.
EHB 1217 is set for executive session before the same committee on Monday.
