Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: Landlords Continue Mis-information Campaign

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Landlords Continue Mis-information Campaign

In the November 24th issue of the Cascadia Weekly (Click here to read that issue.), there appeared a letter from Van and Barbara Hudson that contained a "warning" about a pending action of the City Council with regard to rental housing licensing. For the most part, the letter contained inaccurate and misleading information. Here is the letter:

“LANDLORD LICENSING LAMBASTED

Do you own rental property in Bellingham? Are you aware there are a few people pushing the City Council to pass a rental licensing ordinance that includes mandatory inspections? This has been discussed in the past, but now the council has put it on the agenda for Dec. 7 and it could possibly be voted into law that evening. It would mean a yearly fee for a license and inspections of all rental properties. This license will then be used as leverage against a property owner in a variety of ways that will affect both landlords and renters. For example, the cost of the licensing and inspections will raise rents, and renters’ privacy will be affected by inspections. Plus, property owners could be held responsible for tenants’ behavior and have their license revoked. Bellingham does not have a rental property problem. There are laws already in existence to address every issue. But if you don’t contact your City Council person right now and find out what is going on, there could be a new layer of bureaucracy we will all have to deal with.

—Van and Barbara Hudson, Bellingham”

Here are the facts. The City Council is to receive a briefing on a study on rental housing licensing on December 7th. I had previously confirmed this on November 23rd with Mark Gardner, the Legislative Policy Analyst of the City Council. Although the Hudsons claimed that a licensing law could be voted into law on December 7th, nothing could be further from the truth. The decision by the Council on December 7th will pertain to direction to staff. The Council may decide to proceed with formulating a licensing code or may take other actions as it sees fit.

Since there is no draft law to be presented that evening, it is disingenuous for the Hudsons to claim that there is a proposed law that will do this or that. There are many options open to the Council based on the study prepared by Mr. Gardner. “Tea party” tactics with regard to license fees, inspections and other options for a rental licensing law is not a healthy or productive form of debate. Reasonable minds may differ on the subject of rental housing licensing but let us adhere to the facts. You can read more on the subject of inaccurate and specious information on the part of the landlords on my blog entry of 24 November (click here).

The Hudsons suggest that you “contact your City Council person right now and find out what is going on”. I second the motion that the Hudsons do just that - and get it right.

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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.