Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: Knutson and Lilliquist Get It Right on Rental Home Licensing

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Knutson and Lilliquist Get It Right on Rental Home Licensing

Gene Knutson and Michael Lilliquist are correct in their assessments that now is the time for licensing of rentals in Bellingham. Michael suggested his support in a recent comment appearing on the NWCitizen site (click here to read that article with Michael’s comment) Michael states, in part, “Licensing would be a funding mechanism precisely so that nuisance problems would be investigated and enforced by the City, not by neighbors. This would make it so that it is not neighbor against neighbor, which is what we have now. We are talking about trained civil employees of the Police Department following up on parking problems, noise and litter problems, and unsafe living conditions and fire code violations that threaten both tenants and neighbors.” Although the Zonemaven has always contended that nuisance violations are only a part of the totality regarding code enforcement in Bellingham, there is the additional problem of unwanted, uncontrolled and unregulated infill caused by illegal rooming houses. Zoning enforcement by nuisance control is nonsensical. A rental licensing program would serve as a tool to control both nuisances and adherence to zoning codes.

In the current Cascadia Weekly (click here), Gene indicates that the city will “have to go there (licensing)." He continues, “You know, when this first came up the landlords went ballistic. We had a meeting over at the ferry terminal [read the Zonemaven blog entry on this fiasco by clicking here] and everyone was yelling and screaming and hollering, but landlords are operating a business and I think we need to hold them accountable as business owners. I’m hearing a lot of horror stories out there from single-family neighborhoods that are impacted by this. In terms of the costs of addressing those concerns, we’ve heard anything from $250,000 to $500,000. But even if you added $25 per year on to the cost of a rental unit, we would probably generate enough money to put four or five inspectors on this issue.”

Amen.

Gene is running for re-election, unopposed for his Ward 2 Council seat. Michael Lilliquist is a candidate for the Ward 6 Council seat. Both deserve your vote on November 3rd.

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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.