Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: York Neighborhood Resident Tells It Like It Is

Saturday, September 22, 2007

York Neighborhood Resident Tells It Like It Is

I received this note below after appearing on the Mike Kent radio show this morning with Garey Vodopich and Rick Chartrand. You can sense the frustration of this York neighborhood resident. We had one caller on the radio this morning who would speak only off-the-air for fear of retaliation in his neighborhood. A sad commentary on this state of affairs.

"Hi,

I met a gentleman yesterday. He was working at the Condo building site on Lincoln St so [I] asked if he was the builder [but] he was just doing the plumbing. I said to him the University should be buying [this] housing for the students. You see they made more parking for them just a short distance from the Condo site. He agreed went on to say how bad It's gotten where he lives so I found your blog site...containing your great letter. He's really interested in this project [as] he lives in [a] single family dwelling … and is fed up too. Did you see the Best of Bellingham paper this week? The York neighborhood rated the Best Neighborhood. I grew up here and there's a lot of not so very good things about this neighborhood and we need to start a blog [on that]. Bellingham rated #1 place to live is not agreed with by several of us, there's a lot of information that needs to be out there. If we have a lot of elderly people moving and moving into the rowdy neighborhoods [and] we don't have enough police protection [for what] goes on here in the York Neighborhood. You call them and it can sometimes take more than an hour to get here on party night."

Name withheld

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The Rationale for Rental Licensing

There is the definitive experience of cities that have already adopted rental licensing and inspections in the face of exactly the same opposition as we saw in Bellingham over the last decade. Ultimately, each of these cities was proven correct in its resolve to move ahead to protect the safety and health of the renters. We already know that the city of Pasco, WA found that 15% of the units inspected under their program had serious life/safety issues. 10% had mold problems. A full 85% had problems of varying degrees. The city of Gresham, OR performed over 1600 inspections in 2009 and issued, as a result, over 4,000 citations. Lexington, KY performed inspections of units near the University of Kentucky and found that 50% had life/safety issues. Sacramento, CA began an inspection program during which one third of the units inspected had serious safety and health issues. The question why does anyone believe that the condition of rental housing here in Bellingham does not mirror that which is found in cities that have the statistics to show that time and time again the condition of rentals in our cities is problematic? All we have had to date from those who oppose licensing are broad statements by the landlords and their paladins that are completely and utterly unsubstantiated. The Zonemaven has searched in vain for the horror stories that these opponents of licensing and inspections have predicted. On the other hand, The Zonemaven did find over 100 cities that have licensing AND inspections without the catastrophic effect for the rental markets that the landlords would have you believe. (See this blog's sidebar at bottom left for list)

One Reason Illegal Rooming Houses Do Not Work

The limit for unrelated persons at a single family home rental is three residents. Leases are signed by three people who then invite additional renters to join them to lower per capita rental rates. The perverse effect is that rental rates tend to rise under these circumstances making it difficult for single families to rent single family homes. Some local rental agencies facilitate this practice.

"To say that a family is so equivalent to a ragtag collection of college roommates as to require identical treatment in zoning decisions defies the reality of the place of the family in American society, despite any changes that institution has undergone in recent years. Only the most cynical among us would say that the American family has devolved to the point of no greater importance or consideration in governmental decision making than a group of college roommates." (Stegeman v. City of Ann Arbor)

That being said, accommodation ought to be made for protected classes, especially non-traditional unions and group houses for the disabled. These classes are laid out in federal and Washington State law.