All Bellingham residents deserve safe and secure housing. Yet, as housing and rental costs soar, wages have not kept up and the city’s vacancy rate remains extremely low. As a result, 57% of Bellingham renters are cost-burdened, according to an American Community Survey. Working families and renters bear the greatest burden in the housing affordability crisis. Evictions and forced relocations pose both an economic difficulty for individuals and families as well as a public health concern with COVID transmission remaining a problem.
Initiative 1 would require landlords to provide written notice 90 days before a no-cause eviction and/or a rent increase of more than 5%. Further, the measure would require landlords to shoulder some of the cost of rental relocation in the cases of rent increases above 8% and/or evictions without cause. These policies will go a long way towards balancing the power between renters and landlords, and they will help reduce the financial and public health consequences of housing instability in Bellingham.
The initiative is supported by a number of local progressive organizations and elected officials. Vote to approve City of Bellingham Initiative No. 2021-01 to expand tenant rights and mitigate the city’s housing affordability crisis.
All Bellingham residents deserve safe and secure housing. Yet, as housing and rental costs soar, wages have not kept up and the city’s vacancy rate remains extremely low. As a result, 57% of Bellingham renters are cost-burdened, according to an American Community Survey. Working families and renters bear the greatest burden in the housing affordability crisis. Evictions and forced relocations pose both an economic difficulty for individuals and families as well as a public health concern with COVID transmission remaining a problem.
Initiative 1 would require landlords to provide written notice 90 days before a no-cause eviction and/or a rent increase of more than 5%. Further, the measure would require landlords to shoulder some of the cost of rental relocation in the cases of rent increases above 8% and/or evictions without cause. These policies will go a long way towards balancing the power between renters and landlords, and they will help reduce the financial and public health consequences of housing instability in Bellingham.
The initiative is supported by a number of local progressive organizations and elected officials. Vote to approve City of Bellingham Initiative No. 2021-01 to expand tenant rights and mitigate the city’s housing affordability crisis.
Because of a Tim Eyman initiative, the Legislature is required to submit any bill it passes that closes tax loopholes or raises revenue to a nonbinding advisory vote. The Legislature had a historically productive 2021 session, resulting in several advisory votes appearing on the ballot. We hope the Legislature will change the law to remove these meaningless measures in the future.