Last week the state Supreme Court heard arguments related to legal challenges against two tenant-rights laws passed in recent years: the “First in Time” ordinance that requires landlords to rent a property to the first qualified tenant who applies; and the “fair chance housing” ordinance that restricts landlords’ ability to use a potential tenant’s criminal record to deny tenancy. The two cases took different paths to get to the Supreme Court, but the legal issues raised have significant overlap. The legal theory underlying both legal challenges is essentially the same: that they restrict one of the landlords’ fundamental rights of …
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How much will it cost to fix Seattle’s unreinforced masonry buildings?
According to SDCI, the City of Seattle contains 1,145 buildings with unreinforced masonry that could collapse in a major seismic event. While records are incomplete, the city estimates that about 11% of those have already retrofitted the building to address the issue. Another 68 of them are owned by various government entities. That leaves 944 buildings in private hands with unreinforced masonry: in total about 20,200,000 square feet, containing 10,400 residential housing units with 22,050 residents. Thirty seven of those buildings contain 1,559 designated affordable housing units. Every few years the city attempts to move forward legislation to mandate that …
Continue readingHearing examiner rules for city in ADU EIS appeal
This afternoon, the Office of the Hearing Examiner released its ruling on an appeal of the adequacy of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the City Council’s proposed legislation relaxing rules on the construction of ADUs (aka “mother in law apartments” and “backyard cottages”) in single-family residential zones in Seattle.
Continue readingCity Council moves to extend moratorium on rent-bidding platforms
Fresh off a double-win in the courts, the Seattle City Council is set to extend its ban on rent-bidding platforms such as Rentberry’s while the city finishes a study on the impacts of the technology.
Continue readingUnderstanding Rent Control
Council member Kshama Sawant has decided that 2019 is the year to push for rent control in Seattle — even though there is still a statewide ban on it. She held a rally last week announcing that she would be introducing rent control legislation (to become effective if/when the state lifts its ban), and earlier this week she invited the Seattle Renters Commission to present in her committee (video here) on why they are recommending that the city implement rent control. I’m not an economist, not a landlord, nor a renter. But since we’re having this debate, I went to …
Continue readingUpdate to vacant building monitoring program advances
This morning, the Planning, Land Use and Zoning Committee took up a bill that makes some adjustments to the city’s vacant building monitoring program.
Continue readingCouncil passes “city-wide” MHA legislation
This afternoon, after years of work, the City Council gave final approval to the “city-wide” MHA legislation, which upzoned and applied affordable-housing requirements in the city’s urban villages .
Continue readingRentberry takes a double-loss in its case against the city’s moratorium
Friday was a bad day for Rentberry in Seattle. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones ruled against it in its lawsuit challenging the City of Seattle’s moratorium on rent-bidding web sites. And in a separate case, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a blow to Rentberry’s key argument — and its best hope of winning on appeal.
Continue readingAnti-displacement bill gets first discussion
This morning, Council member Lisa Herbold’s bill requiring developers to replace any affordable housing units demolished by construction projects got its first hearing, in the Planning, Land Use and Zoning Committee. And it didn’t get the warm welcome that one might expect. Rather, there was a complicated and sometimes frustrating conversation.
Continue readingKnow your city: downtown development
The Downtown Seattle Association, a local advocacy group boasting 2,000 corporate, nonprofit and residential members, has published a report on downtown construction in 2018, and what we can expect for the next 2+ years.
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