Good evening, everyone.
Thank you for being here.
Thanks to members of the media for covering this very important issue.
It's hardly news to anyone who lives in Seattle or indeed in Washington state that rents have risen sky high.
In fact between 2010 and 2020 the rents in Seattle went up by 92 percent.
That is absolutely astounding.
That's almost a doubling of the rents and we've known that over the last years the struggle for renters has gotten exacerbated and In fact, the support for the rent control legislation that we are here to discuss today has only grown since my office first started collecting petition signatures in 2015. And that's why we are here, because a strong majority of Seattle supports strong rent control, powerful citywide rent control, free of corporate loopholes.
This legislation would mean that landlords would be legally able to raise rents only up to the yearly inflation rate and no more.
I mean, they can choose to not raise the rents, of course, but if they choose to raise the rents, it can only go up to the inflation rate of that year.
And it's also a strong policy in the sense that the rent control law would apply to every single rental home without any exception, which means it would apply to every single rental home regardless of size, type, or date of the building, you know, when the building was built.
such a rent control would provide a significant lifeline for renters.
And you don't have to take my word for it as a socialist elected representative.
In fact, there was a statewide poll that was done three years ago that showed that 70% of our state's likely voters strongly support rent control.
This is an incredible statistic because it's a statewide poll, which means it's not just about the liberal Seattle or the progressive Seattle.
It includes voters from the supposedly conservative counties in eastern Washington.
That's how strong the support for rent control is.
So what do you think the Democrats in the state legislature who have a powerful majority in both houses and own the governor's mansion, what do you think they might possibly have done?
Maybe they used this year's session to lift the unjust ban on rent control, right?
You would think that they would do that given the extreme crisis for the majority of our society.
No.
What they did do was refuse to bring two separate bills to repeal the unjust ban, even for a vote.
And it's not just this year's story.
For the last 42 years, this ban has been in place.
I was just saying to somebody else that, in fact, so many people around me actually right now haven't even been alive for 42 years.
And this ban has been in place longer than you have been alive.
And for those last 42 years, Washington state legislatures and legislators, the Democrats specifically, have controlled the Washington state governor's mansion for 30 out of the last 30 years, the Senate for 20 years, and the House for 23 years.
And the Democrats have controlled all three centers of government power for 15 of those 30 years.
And yet, just like the Democrats in Congress refused to codify Roe v. Wade and then made abortion rights subject to the extremely conservative and reactionary Supreme Court, the Democrats in the state legislature in Olympia also have refused to do the things that we need them to do, which, for example, lift the ban on rent control, much less actually establish rent control statewide as the majority of the population wants them to do.
And that is why this rent control legislation from our office is so important.
It's a trigger law, which means it will go into effect as soon as that ban is lifted.
But we can't just sit and hold our breath for the Democrats to lift this ban.
We have to build the momentum on the ground that will force these Democrats to act in our interest, not in the interest of the endless greed of powerful landlords.
That is why winning this legislation is so crucial.
And don't let anybody tell you it's not legal.
This legislation is completely legal.
It has gone through the review of the city attorney's office.
And You know, the rents have gone up, of course, dramatically in general, and that's the quote-unquote normal process of capitalism, which is screwing over workers and renters and the vast majority of our society.
But the reality doesn't end there.
The reality is even more scandalous than that.
In fact, what an explosive investigative report by ProPublica has found is that, and as three separate lawsuits allege, and I have found that The biggest landlords, corporate landlords in our nation, including the biggest landlords in Seattle, have allegedly, according to these lawsuits, engaged in price fixing and have allegedly acted like a cartel.
And in fact, I just wanted to quote from a Stranger article, the lawsuits charged that RealPage and Big Landlords, quote-unquote, developed and used proprietary artificial intelligence and algorithmic decision-making systems to help Big Landlords operate as a cartel to push up rents, to increase profits at the expense of thousands of unwitting tenants, end quote.
This is a quote from a very important article that has been published just this morning in The Stranger.
And we have the author of that article with us.
And we have one of the plaintiffs from the Seattle lawsuit also with us, which is extremely helpful for us to have them here.
And so we are really grateful to have them here.
But before I bring them up, I just wanted to share one statistic with you from the findings.
I mean, the lawsuits, many different corporations are doing this.
So in my office, we did research to find out how many apartment homes, estimate of how many apartment homes might be affected by this kind of alleged price fixing.
What do you think the number of these apartment homes might be?
The least possible number, it's an undercount.
It's 35,376 apartments.
So just statistically speaking, it is very likely that many of the people who are going to come to this public hearing probably live in one of those buildings where you are subject to alleged price fixing.
And so it's important for you to pay attention to this.
And with that, I want to call on Jonathan Rosenblum, who is a labor and renters' rights organizer who wrote this article, and Kimen Trohalakis, who is a renter and plaintiff in one of the lawsuits against RealPage.
Thank you, Shama.
I'm Jonathan Rosenblum, a rank and file member of the National Writers Union and an activist with Worker Strike Back.
My family lives, we have a home in Hillman City.
We own it.
Because of the shameful profiteering by big landlords and developers, we could not afford to own or rent in our neighborhood today if we were moving in.
That's why my family and I are proud to support full rent control with no corporate loopholes that's been put forward by renters and by the office of Council Member Shama Sawant.
I've been active as a union and political organizer for many years and I've spent a fair bit of time in Olympia advocating for working people.
I remember going back nearly 20 years, hearing Democratic politicians promise and then fail to address critical working class issues time and again, like lifting the ban on residential rent control.
I remember specifically sitting in Frank Chopp's office years ago and hearing him, the Speaker of the House, the single most powerful legislator in Olympia, tell union members that the Democratic majority in the House was too narrow to move progressive legislation.
Now, CHOP had this bowl of candy on the conference table in the Speaker's office.
And I remember one time some union members were finishing up a conversation with CHOP in his office.
He had just finished telling us why he wasn't willing to push for more funding for state workers.
And as we're leaving, he says, here, and pushes the bowl of candy at us.
Have some candy, he says.
How insulting is that?
That's how the political establishment acts.
Like we came for wage increases, but we'll settle for a Snickers bar.
Like we want rent control, but we'll be satisfied with Junior Mints.
It's absolutely shameful.
Now today, the Democrats hold super majorities in both the State House and the State Senate.
And of course, they occupy eight of the nine seats in Seattle City Council.
If they really wanted to, Democrats could enact our Seattle rent control legislation this summer and then lift the state ban next January.
If we don't have rent control by early 2024, it will be because Democrats have once again decided to stand with the big profiteering landlords instead of with working people.
And who exactly are they standing with?
They're not standing with Kim and the other renters who are behind me.
They're standing with the big landlords, companies like Graystar, which controls 102 apartment buildings in this area alone, thousands of homes, and altogether 800,000 apartment homes around the country.
They're standing with companies like Essex Property Trust, which leases the building right across the street from here, and tallied $408 million in profits last year for its shareholders.
They're standing with companies like Thrive Communities, very ironic name, which has been jacking up rents in the Central District, accelerating racist gentrification in the heart of our city.
And it turns out these companies are not just making hundreds of millions of dollars of profits on their own, they are outright as Chama said, they're outright colluding with one another to set rates as high as possible.
The ProPublica investigation, which came out last year, showed that the big landlords all work with a company called RealPage, through which they share all their leasing information, prices, apartment size, lease terms, and so on.
RealPage uses artificial intelligence and sophisticated programming, they shamefully call it pricing optimization to figure out how to increase rents as much as possible.
It's no wonder that the average Seattle area rents across all apartments rose 92% last decade, more than double the increase in household income.
It's no wonder big landlords like Equity Residential are boasting their investors about, quote, a stellar 2022, end quote.
with $807 million in profits.
Now I ask everybody who rents, did you have a stellar year in affordable renting?
We have to build a powerful movement because the Democrats are not going to vote for rent control just because they want to.
They will vote for rent control when we force them to, when they feel pressure on their own political careers.
That's why I am proud to be here this evening as a union member, as a socialist, and as a member of Workers Strike Back, and as a part of the growing army of activists that you see here who are determined to win comprehensive rent control.
We are here to tell the political establishment that we're not going to stop fighting.
We're not settling for some stupid candy bar.
We're not settling for any more excuses or delays.
We need rent control, and we need it now.
Solidarity.
And let me introduce one of the named plaintiffs in one of the several lawsuits against real page is Trina is Kim and who's going to speak now.
Thank you.
Thank you.
My name is Kimmon.
I'm a Seattle renter and resident of 17 years.
I'm a proponent of rent control because the practices of these multi-billion dollar property management companies are beyond reprehensible.
They are criminal and inhumane.
They target everyday working class people, but even more so our most vulnerable citizens.
These companies are literally removing individuals and families from their homes, putting them on the street, and very directly contributing to the crisis of homelessness in our city.
I was outraged when I learned that the largest Seattle landlords are working together, literally colluding, to keep housing costs high.
Corporations like Graystar, FPI Management, Avenue 5, and Thrive Communities that manage tens of thousands of rental units in Seattle use a software tool known as RealPage to exchange rental pricing information amongst themselves sorry, to drive up rent, effectively acting as a cartel.
That's why I, along with other renters, have signed on to a class action lawsuit against RealPage and the property management companies that use it.
One of three class action lawsuits brought by renters against these corporations.
But a lawsuit alone is not enough to hold these corporations accountable, nor are the courts guaranteed to weigh in on the side of renters.
That's why I support the universal rent control legislation proposed by Councilmember Kshama Sawant that would decisively put an end to this price-fixing behavior.
It affects me on a personal level, to be sure, and I may very well soon be without a home for the second time due to rent increases.
But I'm able-bodied, healthy, and I can work additional jobs to create my income and keep a roof over my head and that of my child.
But many are not as blessed as I am to be able to withstand it.
Many individuals and families are not afforded the same opportunities I have.
Single parent families, single moms, grandparents raising grandchildren, who already had to choose between feeding their children nutritious food or making rents each month.
Now having to explain to those children that they can no longer go inside and sleep in their beds, but instead be forced to watch as their possessions are tossed in the street like garbage when they are evicted.
Why are these landlords doing this?
Because they can.
Because it's allowed.
Just because.
I want you to understand how serious this is.
It is ruining lives.
It is stripping people of their dignity and denying them a basic human right.
How can this be allowed to continue?
We need rent control today.
I urge all Democrats on the city council to pass rent control without loopholes or delays.
Thank you for listening.
What do we need?
Rent control!
When do we need it?
Now!
What do we need?
Rent control!
When do we need it?
Now!
What do we need?
Rent control!
When do we need it?
Now!
Thank you so much, Jonathan and Kimin.
And Kimin, especially, thank you for sharing your personal story and why you are here fighting for rent control alongside all of us.
And I could not agree more with Kimin.
These corporate landlords who are making untold profits are ruining lives and stripping people of their dignity.
Are we going to stand with Kimin and win rent control?
I also agree that lawsuits alone are not going to solve this problem.
We have to organize on the streets in our workplaces and make sure that city council Democrats understand that their own political careers are going to be in jeopardy.
if they don't vote yes for strong rent control without corporate loopholes.
You know, Jonathan shared a story about Frank Chopp.
I have my own very recent story about state legislators.
You know, these Democrats who failed once again to repeal the unjust ban on rent control.
I sent them an email saying, I'm putting this legislation forward.
You clearly understand that the majority of our city desperately needs this.
Will you support this?
And will you work to lift the ban on rent control?
Do you know in response, they didn't say, yes, thank you so much for doing this.
I'm right there with you or something like that.
What they said was, I mean, they actually didn't even say anything.
They complained.
They complained that I hadn't talked to them often enough.
And that is why they couldn't do anything about this.
Well, let's us, as renters, ask these no good Democratic state legislators in Olympia.
As renters, as your constituents, we are asking you, are you going to do something?
Join me today in the public hearing for doing that.
And in addition, we also have Julia Kobel next, who is a rank and file member of UAW 4121, which is the union that represents graduate students and postdocs at the University of Washington.
She's also an activist with workers strike back.
Welcome Julia.
Thank you.
Thanks, Bia.
Hey, I'm Julia Cobelt.
I'm a research scientist at the University of Washington and a rank-and-file member of UAW 4121, speaking in personal capacity.
In 2019, my union passed a resolution in support of rent control.
That's how long we've been fighting for this.
And I'm proud to be here tonight alongside my fellow union members to speak in support of this desperately needed legislation.
Last month, postdocs and researchers at UW went on strike for a week to fight for raises that keep up with the insane cost of living in Seattle.
And by going on strike, we won over 26% increases to minimum pay.
This is an important victory considering that for years, UW has underpaid researchers by 30%.
But we know that even these substantial raises are not enough when we live in a city where rents have increased by over 90% in the past decade alone.
Out of 1,300 UAW 412N members who filled out a recent housing survey, a shocking 80% are rent burdened, and 22% reported experiencing homelessness while at UW.
And on top of that, UW is planning to sell off four student and family housing complexes.
which currently charge around 60% of market rate rents, to a for-profit real estate company, which we know would jack up the rents, and they may even sell to a corporation that's part of this scandalous alleged price-fixing scheme that Jonathan and Councilmember Sawant just talked about.
These corporations don't care about us and will almost certainly displace dozens of families, which is why UW students and UAW rank and file have been protesting this outrageous selling off of affordable housing by a public university.
I think it's extremely urgent that the whole labor movement gets organized to take on the bosses and the landlords.
That's why I'm an activist with Workers Strike Back, where union and non-union workers are actively discussing the most effective way to fight within our workplaces and to build a broader movement of workers and young people to win affordable housing and free health care for all.
And that's also why I'm here today as a union member, speaking out in support of Councilmember Sawant's strong rent control legislation, which would be a lifeline for renters and workers here.
It's honestly shameful that Democratic Party politicians like Nicole Macri, who spoke at my union's rally while we were on strike, have refused to speak out in support of this strong rent control legislation.
Macri, who is the Washington State Representative for this district, will gladly say platitudes in support of striking UW workers when there's nothing at stake for her political career.
But she refuses to lift a finger when it comes to renters and workers needing her to stand up to her own party's leadership, who have represented landlord greed for years and years.
I read in a Stranger article this week that Macri said, quote unquote, it's actually pretty funny, end quote, that her fellow state Democrats are refusing to support this rent control legislation and are attacking council member Sawant's office.
How could anyone say that anything about this situation is funny when workers are literally skipping meals to afford rent?
Any politician claiming to be pro-worker who will seek the support of unions like UAW when it comes to election season must clearly stand with our movement and publicly voice their support for rent control in Seattle.
If you won't side with renters on this, what reason do we have to vote for you?
Why would our union members give a single cent of our dues money to your campaign?
The Democrats, who are in full control of the Seattle City Council and the Washington State Legislature, are well aware of the data on the housing crisis.
They know that the for-profit housing market is unable to solve the crisis, and they know that universal rent control with no corporate loopholes would only help renters and working people.
It's simply a matter of political will.
UW was also well aware that they were underpaying us by 30% for years and did nothing about it until we unionized and went on strike.
This is why we need to build a mass movement to put political pressure on our representatives.
That's the way that we won the $10 cap on late fees, the Amazon tax for affordable housing, and the $15 minimum wage.
As organized workers who know how to fight and win, union members have a crucial role to play in the movement for rent control.
I hope as many union members as possible will come out tonight and on Friday, July 21st to speak in support of rent control before the Renters Rights Committee vote.
Thank you.
As Julia said, Renters' rights are workers' rights.
And we've heard about how the Democratic Party politicians and the leadership has refused to stand with renters.
And regardless of their platitudes, as Julia said, they end up endorsing the greed of these for-profit corporations, the wealthiest in this state, not just in this city.
and especially given not only just as I said the normal situation under capitalism but given this explosive revelation about these allegations of price fixing the question for the Democrats of the City Council is not will they support rent control No, no, no.
The question is, whom will they allow to control rents?
Is it going to be rent setting, price setting, or price fixing in the interest of the insatiable greed of these millionaires and billionaires?
Or is it going to be rent control in the interest of the survival of the majority of our working people?
So it's really, which type of rent control?
And while the Democratic Party leadership thumbs its nose at the most struggling people among their constituents, we do have rank and file Democratic Party activists standing with us.
That is how we have won all the victories that we have won.
And that's why we are especially glad to have Sally Soriano, who is a member of the 32nd Legislative District of the Democratic Party and is a former Seattle School Board member who is standing in support of rent control.
Hi, I'm Sally Soriano, a member of the 32nd District Democrats and a precinct committee officer in District 5. Lack of affordable housing and the absence of rent control has been a major issue for the 32nd District Democrats for years.
We unanimously passed a resolution in late 2019 in support of rent control in Seattle and in support of lifting the legislative's shameful 42-year-long statewide ban on rent control.
Our resolution was then passed by the King County Democrats in January 2020. King County Democratic organizations have stated their unwavering support for rent control.
With 40% of residents in our state being renters, we therefore had reason to expect decisive leadership and effective legislation from our state representatives in this last legislative session.
The legislature, however, failed us and failed renters across the state in their 2023 session by not passing rent control with House Bill 1389. This bill would have reflected the values and priorities we clearly communicated.
Instead, the legislature continued to serve the benefactors in the real estate industry.
The public is continually told that simply building more housing will produce enough affordable rentals.
More building has not produced sufficient affordable rentals, but has lined the pockets of the real estate investors and pushed unprecedented numbers of people out of housing into the streets.
The way to break this cycle is for Seattle to pass Councilmember Sawant's rent control legislation and for the legislature to remove its own 42-year-old ban on rent control.
The provisions of Sewance legislation have long been supported by Democrats.
Under this bill, there is a cap on rent increases at no more than the rate of inflation.
All of the rental housing in Seattle will be protected.
Landlords cannot raise the rent when a renter moves out of an apartment.
There is a one-to-one replacement of affordable units any time there is new construction.
There is a rent control board to deal with exceptions.
For instance, small landlords facing unforeseen costs may appeal to the board.
Seattle area rents, as we have heard, unbelievably have gone up by 92% between 2010 and 2020, the largest increase in this entire nation.
Also, a $100 increase in rent is associated with an estimated 9% increase of the homelessness rate.
$100 and you get a 9% increase in homeless rate.
So raising rental rates increases homelessness.
Rent control without corporate loopholes is the solution to decreasing homelessness and alleviating the chaos and suffering our neighbors endure on the streets.
And now, last but not least, we are excited to have Jordan Young, who is a PCC grocery worker at the View Ridge Store, member of PCC Workers United, and member of the UFCW 3000 Union PCC Bargaining Committee.
Welcome, Jordan.
Hello, everyone.
My name is Jordan Young.
I'm a PCC grocery worker.
I'm also a member of UFCW 3000. And I'm also proud to be supporting PCC Workers United, which is a rank and file group of workers in our union fighting for a strong contract at PCC this year.
Many PCC workers struggle to survive in Seattle.
And when talking to co-workers, I find that unaffordable and precarious housing situations is often the number one barrier to people in our stores being able to remain in our beautiful city of Seattle.
Our union contract is up at the end of this year and we are demanding a $25 per hour starting pay rate with at least $35 an hour after three years as well as cost of living increases.
We are thankful for support in this fight from Councilmember Sawant's office and Workers Strike Back.
PCC Workers United was also excited to pass a resolution last week in support of the universal rent control legislation.
with no corporate loopholes, which is legislation that is being brought forward by Councilmember Sawant and our Renters' Rights Movement.
In the resolution, we also called on our union leadership of UFCW 3000 to support the rent control legislation as well.
I have lived in Seattle all of my life.
I've been a renter in Seattle for the past decade and I currently pay over half of my monthly income on rent alone.
That's not counting the utilities and other household bills that I have to pay as well.
I've had various neighbors in my apartment complex get priced out and forced to move.
I have co-workers who currently share a home with five or six roommates and I myself did the same for many years.
When a handful of wealthy individuals and businesses have the ability to write the rules and rake in billions of dollars like we are seeing corporate landlords do here in Seattle, it takes a brutal toll.
Thousands of working people suffer.
We should expect this from billionaire companies whose only interest is profit.
And our response must be to get organized and fight back.
But big developers and landlords can only get away with their greed if elected officials let them.
For decades, that is exactly what Democratic politicians on the Seattle City Council and in the Washington State Legislature have done.
The undemocratic state ban on rent control is the smoking gun.
I was so angry reading the responses from Democratic legislators Peterson and Paulette to Council Member Sawant's request for statements of support for her bill to pass universal rent control with no corporate loopholes in Seattle.
And Representative Macri thinks that their hostile, personalized responses from her Democratic Party colleagues to Councilmember Sawant are actually pretty funny.
This felt like salt in the wound.
I voted for Macri because she billed herself as a progressive, a person who cares about working people, renters, and the poor.
Well, we really are hurting out here.
Our fight back against being gouged by predatory landlords is no joke to us.
Since state Democrats refused to answer the question when since the city council member Sawant asked, maybe you will answer a grocery worker, a Seattle renter, and a proud rank and file member of UFCW 3000. Will you send a statement of support for our rent control bill and for lifting the statewide ban on rent control?
And will you lift the statewide ban on rent control in place since before I was born?
Renters in Seattle desperately need rent control.
Elected officials of this city and state need to act with urgency to eliminate the statewide ban and give cities the freedom to enact rent control.
Our movement is not going anywhere.
We are going to do everything in our power to offset the influence of the developers and corporate landlords, and we will not relent until this much-needed legislation is passed into law.
So thank you all, and solidarity.
I could not agree more with Jordan.
I'm laughing at the brazenness of the Democrats, but the reality is, as Jordan is saying, there is nothing funny or pretty funny about the crisis we are facing as renters and working people.
That struggle is all too real and it is brutal.
And we will see now which politician stands with us.
I want to make sure that those who spoke already in the press conference, we do want to hear from you at the public hearing as well.
So please don't leave.
And of course, the same goes for everyone.
This was just a preview.
This press conference is a preview.
We're going to go into the church hall and then have the actual public hearing.
But before that, if the members of the media have questions for any of our speakers.
Thank you so much for that question.
The question is about are there any specific corporate loopholes that we might be thinking about that the council members might bring forward?
Yes, there are.
In fact, if you look at the experience from and the history of rent control legislation throughout the country, what we see is that when rent control is all-encompassing, meaning all the rental homes are covered, then it works extremely well because it protects everyone.
But over the years, every time renters and workers have been powerful enough, our movements have been powerful enough to actually win strong rent control, then you see corporations, the real estate barons, and the Democrats and Republicans who support them.
Because we know that supporting Wall Street is a bipartisan agenda for the Democrats and Republicans.
That's definitely one of the things they agree on.
And so when they get together with the real estate lobby, they put in carve-outs, as you said, or loopholes basically to weaken what is strong rent control.
One of the very common loopholes, and these are really, I mean in some ways loopholes are really mild terminology for this, this is actually devastating for people when these so-called loopholes are inserted.
So one of these loopholes is called vacancy decontrol.
What it means is that every time you as a tenant move out of the present rental home where you're living, because that happens all the time, people move for family reasons, work reasons, whatever, and when that happens, If you have vacancy decontrol as a loophole in the law, that allows your landlord to increase the rent immediately and get it to market rate and free it from the rent control anytime a tenant moves out.
So can you imagine all the cities where corporate landlords and the politicians who represent them have put vacancy decontrol in place?
it has meant that over the years thousands upon thousands upon thousands of rental homes then end up coming out of rent control and so very soon even though you have rent control policy officially on the law you have many many people not covered by rent control.
Now let's be clear even with these loopholes The rent control policies have been a lifeline for millions of working people.
But what we are looking for is rent control that covers everybody, all the renters in our city.
That is why we are fighting for a strong rent control without loopholes.