Washington Democrats have landed on a new proposed limit on residential rent increases after negotiations in the Legislature.
Under the version House and Senate Democrats announced late Thursday, annual rent hikes statewide would be capped at 7% plus inflation, or 10%, whichever is lower in a given year. The latest bill would also nix a proposed carveout for some single-family homes and shorten the time that new construction would be exempt from the cap.
The news provides a potential middle-ground resolution for a bill that is a top priority for progressives and a policy idea that failed to win approval in Olympia last year.
Rep. Nicole Macri, D-Seattle, said Thursday that “I know that there will be many tenants around the state who will have wished for a stronger policy, but this bill brings important protections.”
Lawmakers once appeared set to push through a 7% cap despite staunch opposition from Republicans, some moderate Democrats and many landlords.
But the Senate thwarted that plan this month when lawmakers raised the limit to 10% plus inflation in a surprising move that squeaked through by a single vote. The Democratic senator who proposed the change said at the time that a 7% cap “is dangerous.”
Republicans and a smattering of Democrats also moved successfully in the Senate to exempt single-family home rentals not owned by a real estate development trust or company, carving out a sizable chunk of landlords from the potential cap.
Advocates argued the Senate’s changes “gutted” the legislation.
The compromise measure removes the single-family home exemption.
Through the process, lawmakers had also moved to exempt new buildings from the cap for their first 15 years. Negotiators dropped that period down to 12 years in the new plan.
The restrictions on general rent increases would expire after 15 years, as the Senate had proposed. A 5% per year limit on rent increases for manufactured home tenants would not have an expiration date.
The House and Senate could vote on the new version of House Bill 1217 as soon as Friday evening. The legislative session is slated to end Sunday.
If both chambers pass the bill and the governor signs it, the policy would go into effect immediately.
Democrats last year pushed for such a cap on rent increases, only to have moderate members of their own party and Republicans block progress. They believe a known limit on increases would provide stability to renters who could be forced out of their homes by steep rent hikes.
“I think this is life-changing legislation for a lot of families across Washington state,” said House Housing Committee Chair Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds.
Republicans have argued the cap would force builders out of the state and put landlords in a bind as they struggle to keep up with inflationary maintenance costs and property taxes.
On Thursday, conservative lawmakers expressed frustration about being shut out of the negotiating process, and continued to decry the proposal.
“I do believe that the policy that’s before me tonight is going to be devastating for our housing providers, and we need housing providers to be a part of the solution in the housing crisis that we have,” said Rep. Sam Low, R-Lake Stevens.
Through all the debates on what is, perhaps, the most contentious policy bill of the legislative session, Gov. Bob Ferguson has remained mum on his feelings about it.
The negotiated bill otherwise contains many of the provisions included in earlier iterations.
For example, landlords also could not raise rent by any amount in the first 12 months of a tenancy. If landlords violate the new law, tenants or the state attorney general’s office could bring litigation.
Buildings owned by nonprofits or public housing authorities would be exempt from the limits. The same goes for duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes if the owner lives in one of the units.
This story was originally published in the Washington State Standard.
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