Action Alert: OPPOSE SB 5160 (Eviction Ban) & SB 5139 (Rent Control)
Date postedJanuary 15, 2021
Urging all WBPA members to Electronically Sign in Opposition or Sign in to Testify Virtually in Opposition of SB 5160 & SB 5139
SB 5160 – Eviction Ban
- 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.
- Will prevent any eviction for nonpayment of rent that occurred during the COVID emergency period.
- 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.
- 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 focused 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.
Sponsors: Senators: Kuderer, Liias, Conway, Das, Lovelett, Saldaña, Wilson, C.
Hearing: Wednesday, January 20 at 10:30 a.m.
- To Sign up to Submit written testimony, click here
- Testify virtually in Opposition of, or click here
- To Provide opposition to be noted for the legislative record, click here
SB 5139 – 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.
Sponsors: Senators: Das, Lovelett, Darneille, Hunt, Liias, Nguyen, Wilson, C.
STATUS SB: Senate Housing & Local Government Committee
Hearing: Thursday, January 21 at 8:00 a.m.
- To Sign up to Submit written testimony, click here
- Testify virtually in Opposition of, or click here
- To Provide opposition to be noted for the legislative record, click here
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