Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: Rental Licensing in Bellingham Subject of City Council Work Session

Monday, October 18, 2010

Rental Licensing in Bellingham Subject of City Council Work Session

Rental licensing will be the topic of a work session of the Planning/Neighborhoods and Community Development Committee of the Bellingham City Council on Wednesday, October 27th from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the City Council chamber. Members of the committee are Terry Bornemann, Jack Weiss, Seth Fleetwood and Michael Lilliquist. The council last took up the issue of rental licensing at its meeting on May 24th at which time it directed staff to schedule a committee work session.

I encourage those who support rental licensing and inspection to attend this work session. Although public comment is not allowed during committee sessions, it is important for the council to know by your attendance that the public is interested in and supports rental licensing and inspections. Citizen presence at the committee session will also provide valuable information for those who plan to comment during a subsequent city council meeting at which the topic will be brought before the council as a whole. The date for such discussions has yet to be set.

I am asking the council to consider the letters sent to them in support of rental licensing from the Samish, Sunnyland and York neighborhoods, the editorial stance supporting licensing taken by the Western Front student newspaper and the resolution supporting licensing passed by the Associated Students of Western Washington University. It is also worth mentioning that the City Council, in its 2009 document on Legacies and Strategic Commitments to future generations, commits to “support safe, affordable housing.”

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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.