WLA Action ALERT: Rent Control - SB 5139 & Eviction Ban Bill - SB 5160

Rent Control Bill SB 5139 Scheduled for Public Hearing

SB 5139 has been scheduled for a public hearing Thursday January 21st at 8:00 am in the Senate Housing and Local Government Committee 
 
WE NEED YOUR VOICE TO STOP RENT CONTROL!
 
·     SB 5139 will prohibit a housing provider from increasing rent or other charges for the first 6 months after the end of the Governor’s emergency eviction ban. 
 
·     After the first 6 months expire, housing providers are then limited to only increasing rent by 3% over the previous year’s consumer price index, for a subsequent 6 months, based on the rental rate as it was on March 1, 2020. 
 
SB 5139 would seek to aggressively limit rent increases in a period where lawmakers have decided to prevent the enforcement of rental payments. Small housing providers are faced with a total lack of protections for large increases in property taxes, utility costs, and potential devastation of their credit with lenders.
 
Rent control has proven to be a terrible policy for both housing providers, city planners and tenants alike. The policy creates perverse incentives, shadow markets, and punishes maintenance and reinvestment in residences. It locks tenants into their rental properties forcing people to commute farther and farther to their places of employment, and allows more affluent renters to pay reduced rent rates, blocking the units from being available to those in need. 
 
Sign up to testify here. 
 
Please register for our Rental Housing Coalition Grassroots Briefing Room here, where we will be discussing the future of this bill and others on a weekly basis every Monday at 10:00 am. Speak directly to lobbyists, industry attorneys and government affairs staff who can help you share your voice.
 
You can contact the Senators in the Housing and Local Government Committee directly at their emails below: 
 
Chair Patty Kuderer - patty.kuderer@leg.wa.gov 
Vice Chair Mona Das - mona.das@leg.wa.gov 
Phil Fortunato - phil.fortunato@leg.wa.gov 
Chris Gildon – chris.gildon@leg.wa.gov 
Shelly Short - shelly.short@leg.wa.gov 
Annette Cleveland - annette.cleveland@leg.wa.gov 
Liz Lovelett - liz.lovelett@leg.wa.gov 
Jesse Salomon - jesse.salomon@leg.wa.gov 
Judy Warnick - judith.warnick@leg.wa.gov 

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SB 5160 Eviction Ban Bill Scheduled for Public Hearing
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SB 5160 has been scheduled for a public hearing Wednesday January 20th at 10:30am in the Senate Housing and Local Government Committee 
 
WE NEED YOUR VOICE TO OPPOSE THIS DEVASTATING POLICY PROPOSAL 
 
·     SB 5160 also mandates that housing providers renew any rental agreement or month-to-month tenancy for 2 years after the end of the emergency period ends, unless the property owner sells the unit, or moves into the unit themselves. 
 
·     SB 5160 will prevent any eviction for nonpayment of rent that occurred during the COVID emergency period 
 
·     SB 5160 requires any debt that is outstanding during the emergency period can be pursued in through collection actions only if the housing provider has offered a payment plan as defined in the bill. 
 
·     SB 5160 mandates that all tenants have access to state funded counsel in an unlawful detainer, automatically seals court records, and increases the filing fee for unlawful detainers  
 
These two policies will have a devastating effect on small housing providers who are already strapped financially from increasing costs and missing income in 2020. Many small housing providers are desperately searching for a way to have their units create income to pay taxes, utilities, mortgages, and keep staff employed.
  
The Legislature should be focus on polices that protect both housing providers and tenants who have been damaged through no fault of their own by the government shutdowns in response to the COVID pandemic. This is not the year to pursue broad changes to the eviction process, or contested landlord-tenant laws.
 
You can sign up to testify here. 
 
Please register for our Rental Housing Coalition Grassroots Briefing Room here, where we will be discussing the future of this bill and others on a weekly basis every Monday at 10am. Speak directly to lobbyists, industry attorneys and government affairs staff who can help you share your voice.
 
You can contact the Senators in the Housing and Local Government Committee directly at their emails below: 
 
Chair Patty Kuderer - patty.kuderer@leg.wa.gov 
Vice Chair Mona Das - mona.das@leg.wa.gov 
Phil Fortunato - phil.fortunato@leg.wa.gov 
Chris Gildon – chris.gildon@leg.wa.gov 
Shelly Short - shelly.short@leg.wa.gov 
Annette Cleveland - annette.cleveland@leg.wa.gov 
Liz Lovelett - liz.lovelett@leg.wa.gov 
Jesse Salomon - jesse.salomon@leg.wa.gov 
Judy Warnick - judith.warnick@leg.wa.gov 
 
You can find a detailed summary of SB 5160 here.