Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: Finding a Rental in Bellingham

Monday, August 18, 2008

Finding a Rental in Bellingham - A Reader's Experience

The following is from an interested reader and speaks to the need for landlord licensing.

"When we first moved to Bellingham in 2001, we went to several rental agencies to try and find a house in which to live. Two professional adults were shown the most run down, decrepit houses unfit for living. The floors were cracked and rotting, the ceilings had large, gaping holes, the paint on the walls was peeling... Need I say more? When asked if the landlord/rental agent would be renovating, we heard guffaws and snorts. We were told that Bellingham was a student-driven market and that any house we wanted within our price limit would be a run-down rat-trap. My words, not theirs.

Our first rental was in Xenia Lane area. Not a pretty neighborhood. We tried to make it more livable, but the residents were not interested in keeping the space proper. Very loud, rampant and unattended children. Each person lives as he wishes. This is why we looked for a more pleasant neighborhood. As suggested by many, we moved. Luck us!

Since purchasing a condo, hoping for a quiet dwelling away from renters(!), we have seen the phenomenon of condo owners who rent out their property without a permit to rent. It is so much fun to live in a quiet community with 5-8 students who party all night. Whom do I call in these cases. I won't risk going over to complain to drunk students/young adults.

I was a student for about 9 years. I always lived near campus in a single apartment, campus housing, or a rental house meant for a couple. This was in Kansas.

Personally, I don't know that students should be all required to live on campus. The dorm rules can be a bit silly. They tend to treat students like 15 year olds. No boys in the room after 12 midnight. No alcohol in the room-even if you are 21. Get out fast during Winter Break. No coed living. These are some rules with by today's students are not ready to abide. They feel that are independent, young adults. They do not want the Resident Assistant watching over them like a child.

I believe that the university should move from the double dorm room or quad suite situation to more of an apartment/rooming house situation. I would recommend that freshman and sophomores live in a "traditional" residence hall and have Resident Assistants so that they have some similitude of guidance in their first and second years away from home. However, when students reach 20-25 years old, they should not be subjected to some of the more restrictive policies of the typical residence hall. I had this experience and I moved out of the residence hall after my 2nd year.

If the university could buy land and build basic homes (1-2 bedrooms) and apartments in 3 zones around town, near bus lines, or near the university, then the community would perhaps feel some relief from the current situation.

I read 6 months of your blog. Some of the posters feel very strong about your ideas-both for and against your purpose. I can see both sides as I have recently been a renter and now live in a purchased condo. I wish you luck and look forward to reading more."

The reader's experience is not unusual. See my blog entry Misrepresenting Single Family Home Rentals of 23 Oct 2007 (click here to read).

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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.