EVERETT — Landlords in Snohomish County no longer have to meet with tenants for mediation before pursuing eviction, after a pandemic-era program intended to reduce evictions ended this summer.
Over the past two years, Volunteers of America processed 10,203 cases in Snohomish County and mediated 608 meetings between landlords and tenants. In cases where the nonprofit knew the outcome, 95% of tenants stayed in their homes.
The program was “incredibly successful for what it was set up to do,” said Donnell Austin, interim director for the Volunteers of America Dispute Resolution Center.
Now, landlords can go back to evicting tenants without a face-to-face meeting.
The county’s executive departments don’t comprehensively track eviction rates, and don’t know whether evictions have trended up since the end of the program.
In 2021, state lawmakers created the Eviction Resolution Pilot Program to staunch “the risk of mass evictions flowing from the COVID-19 emergency.” Starting in November 2021, landlords had to give tenants the opportunity to meet before pursuing an eviction.
Washington counties processed a total of 78,102 cases involving 170,919 tenants and landlords, according to Resolution Washington data.
In Snohomish County, the Dispute Resolution Center moderated the virtual meetings. Through mediation, tenants could learn about rental assistance or come up with payment plans with their landlords. They could also agree to leave their building early in exchange for the landlord not filing for eviction — parting ways with a clean rental history.
Mediations were valuable because tenants who were behind on rent might also avoid communication with landlords, she said.
“The major issue was communication, above and beyond money,” Austin said.
Lawmakers did not renew the program, and the 2021 law funded the program through June. Volunteers of America canceled all mediations previously scheduled for July.
State Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, said she was sad to see the program go.
But the pilot program was challenging from an “operational standpoint,” she said. Dispute resolution centers weren’t always getting the staff and the amount of training they needed, she said.
In November 2021, four people at Volunteers of America were working on the program for Snohomish, Skagit, Island and San Juan counties. Over the next 18 months, that increased to 12.
Snohomish County required dispute resolution centers to schedule a mediation within 21 days of the landlord filing a notice under the Eviction Resolution Pilot Program, or ERPP.
In practice, mediations were often scheduled at least a month out, Snohomish County Legal Services attorney Olivia Clark said.
“Sometimes we were able to get them in two weeks,” Austin said. “Sometimes, to be honest, it took a couple months.”
Galina Volchkova, the Volunteers of America Housing Director, discusses the volume of applications for rental assistance her office received. (Katie Hayes / The Herald)
Snohomish County has one of the highest eviction rates in the state, said Jane Pak, executive director of Snohomish County Legal Services. Her organization represents low-income people in civil cases, free of charge.
The Dispute Resolution Center worked with a Snohomish County family of five who fell behind on rent after one family member lost her job. The family was “extremely concerned” about losing their home and changing their kids’ schools mid-year, a mediator wrote in a testimonial provided by Volunteers of America.
The property manager offered a list of resources the family wasn’t aware of. The family and property manager created a payment plan. The manager “stated many times” her goal was to keep the family from having an eviction on their record, the mediator wrote.
If a landlord opens an eviction lawsuit against a tenant, it can cause “irreparable harm” to their chances of finding housing going forward, Pak said. Even if the case is dismissed, future potential landlords can find out about it.
In certain cases, tenants even negotiated “cash for keys” deals in which tenants would move out by an agreed-upon date, debt-free and without an eviction lawsuit, Clark said.
Landlords filed most cases due to late rent. But in mediation, landlords and tenants could also address other issues, like repairs and ongoing mold issues, Clark said.
Although the program is over, landlords and tenants can still voluntarily enter mediation, Austin said.
Last month, Snohomish County recommended investing $750,000 in federal COVID relief dollars in the Volunteers of America’s Dispute Resolution Center.
The investment will “help renters remain safely and stably housed,” while also “helping prevent landlords from initiating costly eviction proceedings,” county spokesperson Kelsey Nyland said in an email.
“We know that one of the most important things we can do to address homelessness is to keep people in their homes in the first place,” Nyland said.
Rob Trickler, the Everett-based head of the Washington Landlord Association and an attorney with All County Evictions, did not respond to requests for comment.
Snohomish County Legal Services can still offer free legal advice and representation to low-income tenants.
For other rental assistance and housing resources, dial 2-1-1 or text 898211 with the message “211WAOD.” About a third of 211 callers in 2022 received assistance, according to county statistics.
Counties with the most evictions
King: 4,737
Pierce: 3,219
Snohomish: 2,063
Spokane: 1,511
Clark: 1,171
Yakima: 593
Source: 2017 data from the University of Washington Eviction Study.
Surya Hendry: 425-339-3104; surya.hendry@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @suryahendryy.
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