OLYMPIA, Wash. — On Monday, state lawmakers are meeting again to discuss a bill that would cap annual rent increases to 7% for apartment renters and 5% for mobile manufactured home renters.
Renters say this is much needed, as prices continue to rise. Some landlords argue that this would be detrimental to their business.
Washington lawmakers, advocates, and renters are looking for solutions that work for everyone.
Michele Thomas with the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance tells us they are seeing more of a need for help every year.
“Evictions are at an all-time high, the highest they’ve ever been, people can’t pay rent increases, the increases are putting people out of their homes, HB-1217 puts controls on that,” Thomas said.
HB 1217 is back on the table Monday in the Ways and Means Committee.
“If this bill isn’t passed, we will see landlords continuing to raise rents beyond necessary to meet costs and more people with face evictions and homelessness,” Thomas said.
In a public hearing, we are hearing from landlords on both sides.
Some say this bill would crush their profit margins.
“Simply put, rent control is bad policy that will push scarce capital from new construction to other states,” Carl Shorett with Avalon Bay said.
Other landlords say there is no need to keep raising prices.
“The scourge of private equity groups racing to acquire throughout our state, only to egregiously and repeatedly raise rents, can only be described as unrestrained greed,” Roger Jones said.
This year’s legislative session ends on April 27th, if the bill doesn’t pass by then, it will likely be reintroduced next year.
As the bill moves through the senate, we are watching this closely and will bring you all updates.
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