In an inspiring triumph of the human spirit, yesterday small mom-and-pop housing providers â the unsung heroes of this city of woefully ungrateful renters â banded together to stand up to the tyranny of the City Council. These housing providers, including one âthird-generation minority housing provider,â spoke truth to the power that has slowly made gouging renters more difficult, destroying the once fruitful profession of home-owning.
âYou guys made a âhousing crisisâ into a âhousing chaos,â and Iâm going to quit, and Iâm selling, and thatâs all thanks to you. Thank you. Bye bye,â said one âsmall housing provider,â who finally crumbled under the councilâs pro-renter agenda after 40 years in the lung-clogging mines of passive income generation.Â
Based on the public comments made during Tuesdayâs City Council meeting, an average person could have reasonably concluded that Councilmember Kshama Sawant had proposed an ordinance to banish landlords to the gulag. But, no, the object of the landlordsâ ire was the fallen savior of landed-people, Councilmember Alex Pedersen, who proposed saddling these selfless providers with the âundue burdenâ of twice annually reporting information such as the size and price of their ânaturally occurring affordable housing.â O, the humanity.Â
Pedersen would never intentionally piss off landlords. He spoke carefully to his base, acknowledging the difficulties of âabsorbingâ new renter protections. He assured the landlords that he was not using his bill as a Trojan horse for rent control, but rather as a way to collect data to bolster the argument that they play an important role as providers of ânaturally occurring affordable housing,â an argument landlords will make over and over again to counter upzone demands as the city deliberates its comprehensive plan.Â
The council ultimately voted 5-4 to pass the bill. Not only was the council more divided than usual, but the votes didnât split neatly between conservative and progressive factions.
Pedersenâs conservative allies, landlord-whisperer Councilmember Sara Nelson and Council President Debora Juarez voted no. Juarez said she voted no primarily because it would put yet another stress on the Office of Planning and Community Development and the Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections.Â
Nelson, on the other-hand, sided with the angry landlords. âI donât support singling out a group of business owners to generate the data that we'll be using to make [comprehensive plan] decisions,â she said.Â
Councilmember Dan Strauss, a swing vote for progressives and conservatives, also voted no.Â
Not even the staunch progressives agreed on this bill. Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda voted no due to budget concerns.Â
Pedersenâs bill did garner support from Councilmembers Andrew Lewis, Lisa Herbold, and Tammy Morales. Lewis has been middle-of-the-road lately, Herbold tends to vote progressive on renterâs issues, and Morales would be the most pro-renter member of the bunch if not for the lone socialist on council, Kshama âBuild-a-Fighting-Movement-for-Rent-Control-Nowâ Sawant. Though Sawant also supported the bill, in a moment of horseshoe theory she suggested the data would better support her point that landlords were screwing over their tenants.Â
âIt is pretty ironic that in public comment landlords have simultaneously claimed that they charge low rent and also objected to actually disclosing the rent they charge. Itâs not clear at all why it would be a burden to simply report the rent you are already charging. Youâre already doing the paperwork,â she said.Â