Thank you everyone for being here.
We are here at City Hall to protest the unjust evictions of at least four tenants of Bryn Mawr Plaza Apartments just south of Seattle by their landlords Steve and Bo Herrer.
These evictions are without cause.
Margetu Argo, Muhammad Tal, Len Wong, and their neighbors have all been excellent tenants.
And we have Margie to Argo here to tell her story in a moment.
But all these tenants have lived there for years.
And many of them even use their own money to do repairs on their apartments.
And now they have received 20 day notice to vacate their apartments.
And when I say that these tenants are being evicted without cause, I mean literally without cause.
I mean that the landlord has literally given no reason whatsoever for forcing them out.
The tenants came home one day to discover that they had been given 20 day notices.
and the reason the landlord has not given any reason is because in unincorporated King County it is legal for landlords to evict tenants without any cause.
Seattle is the only city not only in King County but in the entire state of Washington that has just caused laws meaning that if you're a renter your tenant can evict you only after they give a legally justifiable reason.
So in other words, if these tenants had lived just 1.2 miles up the road, they would have lived within Seattle city limits and could not have been legally evicted in this manner because of Seattle's just cause ordinance.
But because they live in unincorporated King County, They are now facing this crisis because legally they have no protection.
That is why.
As city council member, I am urging the King County Council and King County Executive to pass just cause law in King County.
And I've already sent a letter to King County Council and County Executive Constantine and Jonathan, if you could please share them with everybody.
We have copies of the letter that I sent on Sunday to King County.
Ms. Argo and Ms. Len Wong, who could not make it today, have both spent years of their lives advocating for people facing discrimination and abuse, and now they themselves are facing the same attacks that they have worked so hard to defend others against.
And so community members here are gathered together to send a message to King County, immediately pass just cause law in King County.
We have also sent, my office has also sent a letter to the landlords urging that they renew the leases for all the tenants and not evict the tenants.
So our demands are Stephen Boeherer, renew the lease of your excellent tenants so that they can stay in their homes.
We're asking King County Council pass just cause eviction.
And in fact, when we did social media on this issue, I heard from a number of people saying that they are facing the same problem in King County as well.
So I urge you all to please welcome Margit Wargo, who's courageously fighting this new crisis.
Hi, my name is Mergitu Argo.
I was a tenant of this property almost for 14 years.
I'm a single mother, hardworking.
I was advocate and organized for South King County to fight displacement for a while.
I didn't even think that I'm going to be facing this.
And now it's happening to me.
But there's other, Mohammed, and Lynn, and Mergitu.
Just look at the name, Lynn, Mohammed, Mergitu.
We were just mapped out because of our skin color.
I think that's what happened because I talked to the new manager who came on board May 1st.
She don't even know us, but by looking at the names, she give us 20 days notice.
I walked up to her office.
After calling, calling many times, she didn't respond.
And then she opened the door, say that, oh, you are on my list to call you.
This person never seen me before.
How did she know I was one of the person who got evicted?
Anyways, going forward, I want this thing to stop here.
Even though I moved out from this property as an organizer and as an advocate for a long time, I do not want anyone to face what I'm facing right now.
And I urge the King County and statewide to pass the cost eviction protection law statewide.
Please, that will help everyone to live nicely.
And one thing, 20 days is not enough for someone working full-time to look for an apartment, to give a background check or other things to find a place to live.
And this is why we need to help each other to stop this homelessness in Seattle.
Otherwise, I'll be homeless with my daughter out here trying to find a place to live.
And I want everybody to be on the side of us and talk to the King County Executive Councils and call them, go to their office.
They're right there.
The reason we're doing it here is there is another meeting next to this.
But thank you very much.
I hope you support us.
Thank you, Margeto, for telling your powerful story.
And as Margeto said, most working people are facing an acute affordable housing crisis.
But those who are facing it disproportionately are people of color working families and immigrant working families.
Every tenant that has got this vacate notice in this building is an immigrant family of color.
And that is why we are so honored to have the NAACP of Seattle and King County with us.
And we have Cliff Cawthon who will speak for a few minutes.
Thank you.
Thank you, council member.
So first of all, I want to thank Miss Argo for her bravery.
And I think we need to say it plain, that this is racism, plain and simple.
This is racism.
This is a gross violation of their rights.
And while this may be allowed under Washington State landlord-tenant law, this is just blatantly wrong.
And this does hit home for me, not just as a black man in Seattle, Not just as a black man in Seattle, not just as someone trying to make their way as a working person, but also, I actually live right down the road from Miss Argo.
And my neighbors, any of us, could be victims of this.
And even if you live outside of the city of Seattle, you can be a victim of this kind of capricious loophole in the law.
And more importantly, the fact of the matter is, that you can speak to multitudes of working people, particularly folks of color, particularly African Americans, who have faced this.
In fact, according to a 2018 study that was organized by Housing Justice Project, Seattle Women's Commission, people of color are disproportionately targeted for eviction.
In fact, we are facing an eviction crisis in this region, an eviction crisis in the state, and evictions for less than owing $1,000.
That's not right.
And more importantly, that this targeted eviction is taking families out of our communities.
It's adding to the homelessness crisis.
So I don't just call on King County Council to pass a just cause eviction ordinance, but I also want to remind them that we live in Martin Luther King Jr.
County.
If we are going to live for our values, then it's about time that we pass a Just Cause Eviction Ordinance, protect tenants, protect residents like Ms. Argo, her daughter, and the other tenants of the Binmar Plaza Apartments.
And more importantly, to the landlords, we see you.
We see you and we demand that you rescind the 20-day notices.
We demand that you give these tenants fixed-term leases so they can live their lives like you live your lives every single day in your home.
instead of making just shallow money off of kicking working-class black and brown people, kicking contributors to our society out of their homes, simply out of your capricious bigotry.
And last but not least, the south of the Seattle King County NAACP as a 106-year-old civil rights organization, a premier civil rights organization, in the area and actually west of the Mississippi is ready to stand in solidarity with you.
We're ready to fight.
And we're just going to say this ain't right.
Thank you very much.
We are so grateful for that powerful message of solidarity from the NAACP.
Another organization that has stood strongly with tenant after tenant, building after building, where renters are facing crisis, is the Tenants Union of Washington State.
Yesterday, Tenants Union staff and Margeetu and her fellow tenants had a meeting with King County Council member Dave Upthegrove.
And I am hoping, I am really hoping that we will get a good response from King County Council and from the executive.
I am hoping that they will do the right thing by the renters who are struggling in the county and that they will fight to have MLK county live up to its name and fight with people of color.
And that is why it's my pleasure to invite the executive director of Tenants Union of Washington State, Violet Levati.
Thank you everyone.
I'm glad that we're calling this awareness of what is going on in our state.
The Tenants Union every day fights against some of these issues that we're having and just cause in other cities are.
Shama is right that only Seattle has the protection of just cause laws.
Right now we're urging city council members from King County to pass an ordinance to protect tenants as these buildings as advocates or tenants that live there.
This is not unique.
I am going to repeat this.
This is not a unique that is happening.
We're bringing light to the just cause laws because Landlords or managers can serve the tenant a 20-day notice if they're on month-to-month, and it's legal.
What we want to change is that kind of behavior that's happening in our cities.
As you are aware in the news, there are buildings being served these 20-day notices, and they're asked to leave.
Some of these tenants that are asked to leave are our most marginalized and vulnerable communities that live in the state of Washington.
more than a million renters in the state of Washington.
does not have stable housing.
If you're a renter in the state of Washington, you do not have stable housing, including myself.
And so what we're asking for is a just cause law to be passed in every city so things like this won't happen.
Seattle is the only one that has these protections.
They also got up with the just cause law is close some of the loopholes that we are seeing in the just cause laws of Seattle.
And so what we're asking King County Council members, Larry Gossett, who is a friend of the community, that they look at these ordinances to pass it, to protect tenants.
We're talking about communities of color, communities of low income, senior citizen.
These are the people that are the most marginalized and vulnerable communities in the state of Washington.
It is a fact that black people are the number one people of color that get evicted.
And we wanna change the narrative that housing justice is fair and equitable in the state of Washington.
So our plea and our cry out to city council members in King County is to pass an ordinance that protects tenants all over the state of Washington.
I am a firm believer that we will advocate for a lot of these tenant protections because if we don't there will be more people on the streets.
You will see the homeless number not decrease but increase daily.
We have tenants walk into our tenant clinics all over from the state of Washington.
They call us on the hotline.
We just got served a 20-day notice.
This is an ordinance not only for King County, but for the state of Washington.
And I'm glad that you're listening, and I'm glad we're bringing this awareness to the people of Washington State.
Thank you.
I also wanted to share with you what relates directly to what Violet was saying, which is what is going on in our community.
I wanted everybody to look at the notice to terminate that Margito received.
This notice, and imagine how you would feel when you are living with your family and your landlord tells you you are required to surrender possession of the premises to the owner if you do not on or before the date set forth above, judicial proceedings will be instituted for your eviction.
Imagine being a tenant and a family with children and receiving such a notice.
So I really hope that this message goes loud and clear to the King County Council Because as the Tenants Union and the NAACP have correctly said, this is not just about these four tenants.
This is about the absolute crisis of homelessness and affordable housing that we are facing, not only in our city, but in our entire region.
And every elected official has a moral and a political responsibility to act quickly.
And so I urge the King County Council that is right there in that building, are you listening to us?
Are you going to pass just cause eviction ordinance right away?
I also want to second what Cliff said, which is that there is an eviction epidemic in our region, and that is why this is extremely critical.
I wanted to acknowledge some of the community members who are here with us.
Christine Nielander, who is a resident of Tukwila, who belongs to the Working Families Party.
We also have a renter from the University District named John Stovall, who heard about our press conference and is standing here with Margetu.
Another person who is standing with Margeto and her fellow tenants is Renee Holmes who has been fighting her own battle in the Central District against economic eviction and I wanted to invite her to say a few words of solidarity.
Thank you, Councilmember.
I just want to say I stand here with Megito and I stand here for all the residents of Seattle.
We need Just Cause.
We need Just Cause right now.
We do see homelessness increasing all the time.
It's really sad, but we just can't just look at it and not care.
So if you care, pass Just Cause and do it now.
Thank you.
Thank you, Renee.
Right on.
Thank you, Councilmember.
I also wanted to recognize we have a small business owner from Tukwila named Taufiq Mouda, who's standing in solidarity with Margitu and her fellow tenants.
One of the last things I'll say here, and I'm happy for the media to ask any of us questions, which is that as far as our research indicates, the law that could be passed by King County will affect all unincorporated areas in the county.
So we urge the King County Council to immediately pass just cause law so that all unincorporated regions in the county are covered by the law just like Seattle.
But it also shows that this is a call to action for the state legislature.
What is the state going to do when we have a raging housing crisis statewide How is it that the state session ended with no just cause laws, with no lifting of the rent control ban?
I think this is a failure of political responsibility and that it is our duty in the grassroots to call that out.
I also want to say that because this law could only affect unincorporated areas, my office will also be sending letters to every city council in King County and every mayor in King County urging that they should also pass Just Cause laws on their own initiative so that it sends a real strong message to the state that if every city in King County is doing it, this is a message to the state legislature.
You need to do this.
You need to do your job and protect renters throughout the state.
And I have one question for everybody who is here with me.
If we need to stand with Margeto and her fellow tenants in a direct action outside her building, will you stand with us?
Yes.
Because when we fight, we win.
No cause, no eviction.
No cause, no eviction.
No cause, no eviction.
We also have a message for the landlord.
We're demanding that they do what?
Renew the lease!
Renew the lease!
Renew the lease!
Woo!
I don't think exploiting renters and gouging tenants is anybody's right.
I believe that landlords have every obligation to conduct themselves in a society full of justice.
And in fact, we have many, many landlords who are supporting us, not only in just cause, but also in rent control.
And look at Seattle.
Seattle has just cause.
How is that detrimental to landlords?
Construction is booming.
Landlords are making a lot of money.
For me?
How much, how difficult has it been for you to find some place in 20 days?
It's very difficult.
Like I said earlier, I work full time Monday through Friday.
Those are the time that you look for apartment because they close the door at the same time I leave work.
And on top of that, I told you I'm a single mother and finding in 20 days not housing, even a hotel or other things, they have to do background check to stay more than a week.
So it was very hard mentally, emotionally.
It was very hard for me.
You've been successful in finding a place.
What about your fellow tenants who are also in it?
I can't say I found a place because they did a background check and my employment check, but the only thing they have a problem is to get hold of my landlord.
So, the 30th is Sunday, right?
Say what?
June 30th is this coming Sunday.
Yes, this coming Sunday I have to move out from that place and I don't have a place secure yet.
So let me, thank you.
You know, Essex asked us if, what is the 20 day notice entail?
You have tenants who've lived there maybe 14, 15 years.
In 20 days, you have to move your family.
You also have to find a place to move to.
That means background checks, finding the money to move to another place.
The thing is, there are a lot of good landlords out there.
The Just Cause laws will help tenants find another place.
It's not taking from the landlord.
Actually, the landlord's business is the tenants.
What we're asking is a fair amount of time to tenants all over the state of Washington, including some who are on fixed incomes that are $700.
Why do I say this?
Because I see it every day.
And so the 20-day notice is unfair.
I mean, If somebody gave me a 20 day notice, can I move in 20 days?
Absolutely not.
This month is almost the end of the month.
Is that reality for tenants to find places in 20 days?
Absolutely not.
And that's why we need the just cause order protection in every city.