Seattle City Council Sustainability & Renters' Rights Committee Public Hearing 71223

Can everybody take your seats so we can begin?

Good evening, and thank you for making time to attend this specially scheduled meeting of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee of the Seattle City Council.

Today is Wednesday, July 12, 2023, and the time is 6.13 p.m.

I am the chair of the committee, Council Member Shama Sawant.

Would the clerk, Ted Borden from my office, please call the roll.

Council Member Sawant.

Present.

Council Member Morales.

I see Council Member Morales on the Zoom, but you're muted.

Council Member Morales.

We'll come back.

Council Member Nelson.

I also see Council Member Nelson on the Zoom but not coming off mute so we'll work out any technical issues there.

We also have Council Member Lisa Herbold.

Thank you.

So I'm not sure if there are any technical issues, why they're not coming off.

Sorry?

Okay.

Council Member Morales, they're asking me to check again.

Council Member Nelson?

I'm here.

Thank you.

Council Member Nelson?

I am here too.

Will we be able to see the screen that usually shows us, where is the screen?

I'm not seeing it.

where the speakers will be shown on our screen.

Normally there's a rectangle with, you know, that shows the dais.

Yes.

There we go.

Thank you.

So three present plus Council Member Herbold.

Thank you, Ted, and welcome Councilmembers Morales and Nelson, who are members of the committee, and thank you also to Councilmember Herbold, who is joining us for this public hearing.

Councilmembers Juarez and Lewis, who are members of the committee, let us know that they were unable to attend today and will be excused.

Leila Geyser from Council President Juarez's office is in attendance.

Thank you for being here.

Today's meeting has one item on the agenda, a public hearing on the rent control legislation that my office has proposed.

The bill was discussed at our last committee meeting on June 30th at city council chambers and is intended for a vote at our next committee meeting on July 21st, after which it is expected to go for a final vote at the full city council meeting on August 1st.

I apologize that because of technical issues that needed to be resolved, the meeting started a little late, but I hope you'll agree with me it is worth all the trouble because it's in the community and it is at 6 p.m.

as opposed to 2 p.m.

in Seattle downtown where hardly any working people can show up because of most typical work hours.

May I interrupt, Council Member?

Have we officially started the meeting?

I have not started the recording.

Sir, sorry son.

What was that?

Have we officially started the meeting?

The recording has not started yet.

Apologies.

Yes, meeting officially started.

Okay, stand by.

Let me kick off the recording before we can make an official record.

Stand by, please.

And I assume we'll call roll.

Recording in progress.

All right, we are recording now.

Please proceed.

Thank you, son.

Sorry for for official reasons, we have to officially start again.

It feels funny, but I'm going to do it.

Good evening, and thank you all for making time to attend this specially scheduled meeting of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee.

Today is Wednesday, July 11, 2023, and the time is 6.16 p.m.

I am the chair of the committee, Council Member Shama Sawant.

Will Ted Verdone, the clerk, please call the roll?

Council Member Sawant?

Present.

Council Member Nelson?

Present.

Council Member Morales?

Here.

Councilmember Herbold.

Here.

Thank you.

Councilmembers Juarez and Lewis, who are members of the committee, let us know they weren't able to attend, and Leila Geyser from Council President Juarez's office is in attendance.

Today's meeting has one item on the agenda, a public hearing on the rent control legislation, and we'll be talking about that in a second.

But just very quickly, some logistical details.

We are making sure that drinking water will be available to everyone in a few.

It's already available?

OK, great.

Drinking water is already available, so please grab a bottle of water if you need to.

Also, there's Banh Mi.

I mean, it's probably dinner time for most of you, so make sure you get something done.

You don't have to sit here and stay hungry.

And if you haven't already signed up for giving your public testimonial, then there are sign-up sheets back there, so make sure you sign up on that.

And, Ted, you want to just go over the restroom details?

The restrooms are right through here.

So just walk through there and there's signs that will tell you there's one restroom on this floor and then another one downstairs.

And I just want to make sure everybody knows this meeting is, of course, being live transmitted by Seattle Channel.

I'm really thankful to all the staff at Seattle Channel for making this possible.

They've been working very hard to make this possible.

And members of the public who are not here in person, you can, of course, as per council conventions, since the COVID era began, you are able to sign up over the phone using the same public comment sign up system that is used for all other city council meetings.

You can find a link to that sign-up form on today's meeting agenda.

So it's not going to come as news to anybody, rents are skyrocketing and have been for over the last decade and a half.

In fact, between 2010 and 2020, rents in Seattle have almost doubled.

This is a brutal reality for the vast majority of our renters.

And keep in mind, renters now make up well above the majority of the city.

So this is a burning issue.

It's not only in Seattle, though.

Statewide, the crisis has grown.

And in fact, in 2020, we have a statewide poll of the likely voters of Washington state.

And in that poll, 71%, a strong majority of Washingtonians said they support rent control.

So we have So there's no question at this moment, do ordinary people and specifically renters support rent control?

Of course they do, because they know they don't need to be told their lives suck when they are at the mercy of corporate landlords and that they need some policy to protect them.

And yet what we've seen is the ban, statewide ban on rent control, one of the most unjust bans that there ever was, has been in place in Olympia for the last 42 years.

As I was saying earlier, that's longer than many of you have actually been alive.

And so, you know, you can understand the magnitude of the injustice that this ban has been in place for nearly half a century.

Imagine, not only is it legal for your landlord to double your rent, but state law makes it illegal to pass a local law preventing it either.

And has this happened because the Republicans have consistently controlled Olympia and we know they're anti-worker?

Well, of course Republicans are openly anti-worker.

However, That's not the case.

Democrats have controlled the Washington State Governor's Mansion for 30 of the last 30 years, the Senate for 20 years, and the House for 23 years.

And Democrats have controlled all those three centers of government power for 15 of those 30 years.

and yet the ban on rent control has remained intact, much less actually passing a statewide rent control policy.

And so here we are in this situation where as the party in power, the Democratic Party, which decides which bills are brought to a vote, has decided not even, to not even bring bills to a vote.

This session, this past session, there were two bills to repeal the statewide ban on rent control and the Democrats did not even bring these bills up for a vote.

Not, not either one of them.

So, who is responsible?

Who is accountable?

There are never any votes, so the Democrats want us to believe that nobody is to blame, you know, because when you don't have a vote, then whom are you going to blame, right?

Our rent control bill will be put to a vote.

And it's simply a fact that the other, I am a socialist, but the other eight members of the City Council are Democrats, so this will be their opportunity to show where they stand.

I have not heard any council members say they will support this rent control legislation with no corporate loopholes.

I urge council members who are present here, the Democrats who are present here, to announce their support for rent control.

And renters in Seattle should ask your council members if they will support you.

We have to be clear, the rent control policy that I've brought forward will only affect those landlords who gouge their tenants.

If you are a small landlord, or if you want to call yourself a mom and pop landlord, and you don't gouge your tenants, then this law will not affect you in any way.

And in fact, not surprisingly, a survey of landlords and tenants from the last year shows that Ben and Nubia will go over this presentation in more detail, but basically what the survey data shows is that the landlords who are the most likely to raise rents and raise rents by a big amount are really corporate landlords.

They are not, you know, your maybe fellow union member who just happened to have a decent salary and has one unit to rent and that's their retirement lifeline.

That's not the kind of landlords we're talking about because those are not the ones who gouge their tenants.

And nationally, the data is pretty strong.

We know that the majority of apartments are owned by big landlords.

According to data from the 2021 Rental Housing Finance Survey conducted by the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S.

Census Bureau, 61 percent of rental apartments are owned by landlords who own more than who own 25 or more apartments.

And more revealing is the statistic from this same study that fully 54% of all apartments nationally are owned by corporations who own 100 or more rental apartments.

So we are talking about giant corporations.

I don't have corresponding Seattle-specific data handy, but I would only imagine that it is even stronger, if anything.

And so we are seeing this situation of exploitation for renters, and I would call this the quote-unquote normal conditions under capitalism.

And as if that is not bad enough, Now we hear from multiple lawsuits about how there is a widespread alleged price-fixing scheme.

And I want to convey my deep appreciation to the authors of the ProPublica investigative report, Helen Vogel, and other co-authors, and also to Jonathan Rosenblum, who has published a very important article today in the stranger about this explosive issue of the alleged price fixing and we have copies of this article in the back so if you haven't taken one, take one with you and go home and read it.

It will blow your mind.

Using the data from these lawsuits, my office has compiled all the data we could find.

And admittedly, this is going to be incomplete data because we only got what we found.

And so, thanks to Varun Bailur, one of the community organizers in my office who did this detailed analysis, we now know We know all the management companies named in the lawsuits that have buildings in Seattle, and as I said, though it could be a significant undercount, because many of the companies might not list their full portfolios online, which is a common practice for them, or they divide their properties into subsidiary, you know, smaller LLCs, so it's very hard to track it.

But, you know, that caveat aside, Already, the number of apartment homes in our estimate in Seattle that are subject to this alleged scandalous price fixing is shocking 35,376 apartments.

So statistically speaking, I've got to think, some of you live in one of these buildings, you know, just because it's so many apartments.

So at the back, there's another handout which says, Seattle renters, is your landlord taking part in an alleged price-fixing scheme to drive up rents?

You should definitely take a copy of this, because this leaflet has all the names, has the addresses of all the buildings.

that are presumably in the lawsuit because they are owned by all the corporations that are named in the lawsuit that are present in this city.

So take this home and see if your building appears on this list or if your friend or co-worker's building appears on the list.

Take extra copies if you want for your friends and family and co-workers.

And if you see any of, if you see your building or somebody you know sees their building listed on it and you or they want to join us to fight back, just click on this, you know, just sort of use this QR code to sign up to talk with us, okay?

I mean, this is, this is, I'll just say, if this, if the information from this investigation about this massive alleged price fixing scheme that is going on in Seattle and nationwide, if this is not devastating evidence why we need rent control, then I don't know what is.

The lawsuits say that RealPage, a company that has developed an algorithm, and the big landlords that are RealPage's customers, that they, quote, developed and used proprietary artificial intelligence and algorithmic decision-making systems to help big landlords operate as a cartel to push up rents, all to increase profits at the expense of thousands of unwitting tenants, end quote.

So if you read this investigation actually, which I have, or if you read Jonathan's article at the very least, it reads like a Hollywood movie about the mafia.

So bottom line, there is already rent setting.

It's being done by big business.

And it's not only just capitalism, it is also an alleged price-fixing scheme.

So the question for the Democrats on the City Council is not whether or not they support rent control, it's whose rent control do they support?

Do they support the rent setting by these rapacious big business?

Or do they stand with renters who are struggling to get by and keep a roof over their heads for their families and children?

We will begin the public hearing soon.

I urge you all, I know it's going to be a long evening.

So I apologize for that in advance, but this is important.

We are fighting for our lives and our dignity.

So please stay with us.

As I said, there's food and water.

And so before we begin the hearing part of it, I'm going to invite Bia Lacombe, community organizer from my office, who is going to quickly go over a very important presentation.

So please pay attention.

Okay, great.

My name is Bia Lacombe.

I'm a community organizer in Councilmember Sawant's office.

I'm going to be giving a presentation on behalf of our office about our rent control legislation and the fight that renters and workers are waging to win it.

So as Councilmember Sawant was outlining, our city's renters are in deep crisis.

Seattle's housing affordability and cost of living crisis is the worst that it's been in decades, and it's only getting worse.

Over the last three years, overall costs in the Seattle metropolitan area climbed more than 20%, more than cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco.

Wages in Seattle, meanwhile, have far from kept up, growing just 16% after a sharp drop at the start of the pandemic.

So why do rents keep increasing so dramatically?

Is it because, as for-profit landlords claim, they need to increase rents to pay their mortgages and taxes, to pay for maintenance and renovations?

We know the reality, which is not that that's the case, right?

It's not what landlords claim.

It's actually a far more troubling picture.

For-profit landlords raise rents because they can.

They have immense power over working class and poor renters, and they take advantage of it.

Unsurprisingly, a survey of landlords and tenants from last year, which Councilmember Swann was referencing, shows that the likelihood a landlord will raise rent goes up with the number of properties they own.

So compare 52% of the landlords who own only one property, saying they will increase rent, with 92% of those who own more than 10 units, saying they will increase rent.

The survey also shows that many mom-and-pop small landlords, genuine mom-and-pop small landlords, plan to raise rents less than what they believe to be the market rate.

Make no mistake, corporate landlords have raked in absolutely astronomical profits from rent increases.

A recent report from Accountable.us found that corporate landlords made enormous record profits in 2022 by, quote, imposing double-digit rent increases, charging excessive fees, and engaging in abusive tactics to evict tenants, end quote.

This report also found that the six largest property management companies in the U.S. made $4.3 billion in profits in 2022, which is actually an increase for them of $1.3 billion more than they made in 2021. At least three of those six property management companies, Invitation Homes, Avalon Bay, and AMH, own multiple properties in Seattle.

Most of the big property management companies like these are owned by major corporations, banks, and other large corporate entities.

And the individuals who rake in these multi-million, billion-dollar profits are multi-millionaires and billionaires.

Corporate landlords, though, don't just rake in huge profits from rent increases, but also by charging predatory fees, like late fees for overdue rent, and even fees on top of late fees, like a delivery fee that tenants have to pay for the privilege of getting a late fee from your landlord.

But in April, renters and Councilmember Sawant's office got organized alongside union members and socialists and won a $10 per month limit on the late fees landlords can charge for overdue rent.

This genuinely was a massive victory for Seattle's 360,000 renters, some of whom reported being charged hundreds of dollars in late fees for paying rent even one day late.

And we won that law.

Yeah, it is shameful.

And we won that law despite the opposition of corporate landlords and attempts by even self-described, quote-unquote, labor Democrats to water it down to serve corporate greed.

So is that the end of the story of how corporate landlords jack up rents?

Not quite.

As if the normal situation under capitalism was not bad enough, as Councilmember Sawant was explaining, multiple lawsuits allege that many property management corporations have conspired to drive up rents using rent-setting software from a corporation called RealPage.

As openly admitted by RealPage, the rent prices generated by its algorithm make far greater profits for corporate landlords, unlike human leasing employees who they said have, quote, too much empathy, end quote, for tenants.

As Councilmember Sawant said, the Seattle data that we have from landlords named in the lawsuits tells us that at least a whopping 35,376 rental apartments are subject to this alleged price fixing.

Within blocks from where we are right now in Capitol Hill, there are multiple buildings owned by the very same corporate landlords who engaged in alleged price fixing exposed by the ProPublica investigation for using RealPage software.

Look at the rents that these landlords are charging.

They, Essex Property Trust, Graystar, and I'll show you some others, are some of the largest property management corporations and are subject to three class action lawsuits for this price-fixing scheme, this alleged price-fixing scheme.

Essex Property Management made $408 million in profits in 2022, which their president and CEO said, quote, exceeded expectations, end quote.

Graystar manages and operates more than $240 billion in real estate across five continents, covering more than 803,000 apartments.

It's the biggest landlord in the U.S., and they're a private corporation, so we don't know their profits, but as you can see here, the CEO is worth $5.2 billion, which is actually $1.5 billion richer than Howard Schultz.

So, Equity Residential, meanwhile, made $807 million in profits in 2022. Avalon Bay logged $1.1 billion in 2022 profits, a 13% increase.

And as you can see, a CEO told his investors that this was based on, quote, a double-digit rent increase on the unit inventory we leased, a very favorable outcome that sets us up well for 2023, end quote.

And, I mean, we're looking at a studio for $1,857.

I mean, this is absolutely insane.

So the question, as Council Member Sawant said, is not whether Seattle should or should not have rent control.

The question is what type of rent setting council members support.

Rent control for working and poor people, or the rapacious price-fixing scheme by big corporations.

So we're all sure, right, that landlords who significantly increase rents ensure regular maintenance and upkeep and respond to tenant complaints in a timely manner.

In fact, even for sky-high rent prices, these are far from well-maintained rental homes.

And in several cases, tenants may be even too intimidated to complain about subpar conditions.

Invitation Homes, for their part, for example, one of these massive landlords, has notoriously engaged in fee stacking against its tenants while forcing them to face leaky pipes, vermin, toxic mold, non-functioning appliances, and months-long waits for repairs.

In 2015, East African tenants of Seattle landlord Carl Hagelin fought alongside Councilmember Sawant's office when Hagelin brazenly attempted to double their rents while ignoring the long-standing mold and roach infestation, broken heaters, and other serious conditions in the apartments.

The tenant struggle not only delivered Hagelin a major defeat, it helped build momentum for Councilmember Sawant's office and the city's working people to win the Carl Hagelin Law, which prohibits landlords with outstanding housing code violations from raising rents.

So I want to move now to talk a bit about how our rent control law would work.

It would make it illegal for landlords to raise the rent by more than the rate of inflation.

Rents could be reduced or kept the same, but if they are increased, the increase can be no more than the rate of inflation.

As wages and costs go up over time, so will rents, but no faster.

Our rent control legislation has none of the corporate loopholes that the landlord lobby has often used to undermine and nullify rent control protections in cities and states around the country.

Our law protects all renters in Seattle.

Many cities and states limit rent control protections to only apply to certain units.

For example, New York City's rent control law only applies to 16,400 apartments built before 1947 that have been continually occupied by a tenant since 1971. In these places, rent control works great if you're lucky enough to find a rent control department, but leaves all other rents unprotected for the predatory for-profit rental market.

Corporate landlords fight strenuously to put in these loopholes, right, and then they dishonestly point to the high rent in uncontrolled housing and claim that rent control doesn't work.

Our rent control law would protect all renters in Seattle regardless of the rental home's size, type, location, or building date.

The other major loophole that our law stops is vacancy decontrol.

Many cities and states, most notably in California, have created a loophole called vacancy decontrol where landlords can raise the rent every time a renter moves.

As a result, the rent control policy becomes ineffective because housing is continually reverting to market prices.

It also creates these outrageous situations we hear about where a landlord will bully long-standing tenants out of their homes in order to raise the rents.

It's notable that a grassroots renters movement in New York State fought and overturned the vacancy decontrol loophole in that state in 2019. So we should look at the lesson from places like California, where they have the Costa-Hawkins Act, which was passed in 1995 and sponsored by a Democrat and Republican in a bipartisan effort, which has been a huge gift to corporate landlords.

It says that all rent control in any California city must include vacancy decontrol, which means that units can be raised to market rents when someone moves out.

It also exempts all buildings built after 1995 and exempts single-family homes and condos from rent control.

rendering all local rent control extremely weakened.

That's why it's so important that we keep fighting against any such loopholes, which serve to protect the profits of corporate landlords.

Corporate landlords love to say that developers will stop building new housing if rent control is put in place.

This claim that rent control reduces both the quality and the quantity of available housing is a myth perpetuated by the real estate lobby.

New York City's two largest building booms took place during times of strict rent controls, the 1920s and the post-war period.

The 1920s and the post-war period between 1947 and 1965. More recently, UC Berkeley researchers have found that the six cities that had rent control in the Bay Area actually produced more housing units per capita than cities without rent control.

In addition to rent control, our movement also needs to fight to win victories like the Amazon tax, which taxes big business to fund a massive investment in social housing.

Once other factors were controlled, a 2015 scientific study of New Jersey's rent control policies over 40 years found that the policies did not adversely affect new construction or housing markets.

There is a deeply unjust statewide ban on rent control, which powerfully benefits the greed of property management corporations and big banks.

Democrats and Republicans have had a bipartisan agreement in maintaining this 1981 law, which prohibits any municipality in Washington state from passing any law regulating rent.

To address this, our rent control legislation is essentially a trigger law.

If passed by the city council, it will become effective the moment the state law banning rent control is overturned.

This trigger law is completely legal and our legislation has been thoroughly reviewed by the city attorney's office.

So why push for the trigger law now?

Will it make state legislators even more determined to uphold the ban?

Winning this trigger law in Seattle would actually generate incredible momentum to put pressure on state legislators to lift the rent control ban.

After four decades of betrayal by state Democrats and Republicans, renters and working people simply cannot spend more time hoping that they will act on our behalf.

There were two bills this year to lift the rent control ban and neither one was even brought up for a vote.

When our grassroots 15 Now movement was fighting in 2014 for Seattle to become the first major city with a $15 an hour minimum wage, many cautioned that it would jeopardize statewide rent increases.

Instead, after Seattle won, it built the momentum for the labor movement to win historic minimum wage increases statewide.

So who is our opposition in this rent control fight?

Naturally, corporate landlords, big banks, millionaire and billionaire shareholders are fighting hard against this crucial protection for renters.

One of our most prominent opponents so far is Avenue 5 Residential, whose Senior Vice President of Operations recently emailed the City Council against our bill.

Avenue 5 is the 10th largest apartment management company in the entire country, with over 100,000 units.

They manage $25 billion in multifamily and single-family assets nationwide, and they have 28 buildings with more than 4,000 units in Seattle, and they are headquartered in this city.

These are the outrageously unaffordable rents that Avenue 5 is charging in places like the International District and Belltown, which have undoubtedly forced many families, especially communities of color, from their homes in those neighborhoods.

They are certainly not concerned about maintaining the affordability of housing in the city.

As you can see, landlords are spending millions to defeat rent control measures across the country.

Their billions in profits are on the line.

Who else opposes rent control?

The corporate media, who will gladly repeat the lies of corporate landlord lobbyists and bring them on as guests for uncritical interviews, hoping to ensure working people believe that rent control is a pipe dream.

We unfortunately have to count the Democratic Party and its Washington State elected officials as our opponents in this fight.

The Democrats have held the governor's mansion for 30 out of the last 30 years, the Senate for 20 years, and the House for 23 years.

Yet, in spite of the stunning housing crisis in Washington and a growing national debate on rent control, they continue to refuse to give any sort of rent control policy a vote, or even officially discuss lifting the ban.

Meanwhile, who supports rent control?

All of you in this room, of course.

Renters, working people.

ultimately the majority in our city.

As Councilmember Sawant said, a 2020 survey found a vast majority, 71% of likely Washington voters support rent control.

And since 2015, 35,000 Seattleites have signed petitions for strong rent control.

So thank you all so much for being here tonight, and please join us next Friday, July 21st at 9.30 a.m.

at City Hall for the vote that will be taking place at the next committee meeting.

Council members will be voting in the Renters' Rights Committee on our rent control bill, and please email our office with questions or if you'd like to get more involved.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Bia.

That was a very important presentation.

I hope you all got a lot out of it.

And of course, feel free to ask my office for a copy of that.

Or if you have any questions, technical or political, we're happy to answer.

Just very quickly, as Bia said, July 21st is when the committee will be voting on this legislation.

That will be Friday at 9.30 a.m.

And unfortunately, it will be a morning meeting, but as many of you who are able to show up, please come because we need your support there.

And also, something that I've already said for committee members, you know, council members who are on the committee, but I just wanted to share with members of the public here as well, that the deadline for committee members or other council members to send amendments to this bill is tomorrow, July 13th.

Now that sounds like I'm giving them just less than a day, but that's not true.

We've shared this deadline all the way back on June 30th when we had this discussion, you know, more detailed technical discussion at our committee.

So this is something council members have known since then, but I just want to make sure everybody knows that tomorrow is the deadline to send any amendments in consideration for the staff who will be working on this and also working people who have the right to see what kind of loopholes Council of Democrats are planning to bring forward.

And I want to be clear, as I've said before publicly, I won't be supporting any watering down loopholes or any loopholes in favor of corporations, but if there are any strengthening amendments, we certainly welcome them.

Strengthening amendments in favor of renters.

And so, we will start public hearing and public comment in one second.

Just very quickly, those of you who, some of you actually told us that you may have signed up online, but you are actually here in person.

If you are here in person, we want to hear from you in person.

So, if you signed up online, but you're here, can you make sure, if you haven't already, to sign up physically in the sign-up sheet at the back of the room?

We'll make sure to collect all the new sheets as they come because that will make it easier for us rather than having to read your name from the online list.

And before we begin the public hearing, we have two speakers who are going to speak very, very briefly, but it's important to hear from them.

First, we have Kaylin Nicholson, who is an organizer with Socialist Alternative and with Worker Strike Back, and she is also a mother to two children, and I know personally how much she and their family juggle their time and their limited income for childcare, for paying rent, and for buying other necessities for their family.

Go ahead, Kaylin.

Thanks, Shama, and thanks, everyone, for being here.

As Shama said, my name's Kaylin Nicholson.

I'm a renter in Seattle, and I'm a mom of two.

And as a member of Socialist Alternative, I've been involved in the fight for rent control in Seattle for the past 10 years now.

Socialist Alternative was out at Pride the other weekend building for this event and collecting signatures on our rent control petition.

And it made me think of the last time we had a town hall in this building in the All Pilgrims Church.

It was back in 2014, the year after Shama had first been elected to the city council.

And there had been this outbreak of violent attacks against LGBTQ people across Capitol Hill and across Seattle.

So we had organized a LGBTQ rights town hall here in this building.

But the town hall ended up focusing overwhelmingly on the demand for rent control, which every time it was mentioned, was met with just thunderous applause by the hundreds of people in attendance.

There were many, many queer activists who spoke to the urgent need for safe and affordable housing for LGBTQ people, and especially youth, who experienced rates of homelessness 120% higher than the general population.

several speakers identified housing as the single most urgent issue facing the LGBTQ community.

And this was nearly a decade ago.

Since then, rents have nearly doubled in Seattle.

And now for the first time, over half of renters nationally are officially rent burdened, meaning they pay more than a third of their income in rent.

Stable, affordable housing is an urgent issue for everyone, for all working people, but it's a particularly urgent issue for marginalized people who experience higher rates of housing and wage discrimination, homelessness, and violence and harassment by family members, partners, and other members of their household.

So rent control, therefore, is a queer rights issue.

It's a racial justice issue.

It's a feminist issue.

It's an indigenous rights and a disability rights issue.

So I've lived in Seattle for coming up on 15 years now.

And for the first 10 years that I lived here, like many, many renters, I moved an average of once per year for 10 years.

For the last five years, my family has been lucky enough to have found a genuinely kind and respectful small landlord who in five years has never raised our rent above the amount that his property taxes have gone up.

So this rent control legislation, I want to be super clear, this rent control legislation would not impact our landlord at all.

It would not impact him.

But if he were to face unexpected expenses or medical issues that put him in a position where he had to sell his property, my family would almost certainly have to move out of the city because we are the small exception to have found a landlord like this.

And there is absolutely no way that we'd be able to afford market rate rents.

If we imagine a family of four with two parents working full-time minimum wage jobs in Seattle, this would mean the household would earn $74,760 a year.

If you subtract from that the average rent for a three-bedroom apartment, which is $4,678 a month, and the average cost of full-time child care, which is $1,480 per month, You are left with just $864 for a full year of utilities, food, clothing, gas, etc.

It's absolutely absurd.

It's completely impossible, obviously, to live on that.

In fact, you would need two parents working full-time for more than twice the minimum wage.

That's more than $35 an hour, two parents working full-time to not be rent burdened in a three-bedroom apartment.

So many, many working families have been and are currently being forced to move out of the city.

And often that means moving away from friends, family, the schools that their kids have grown up going to.

Many families end up forced into substandard housing, unsafe housing, because that's all they can afford.

Many women end up losing their jobs and forced out of the workforce because they can't afford reliable childcare on top of rent.

I think every working class parent in this city knows how incredibly difficult and expensive it is to raise kids here.

We shouldn't have to worry about moving every year because greedy landlords are raising the rent or refusing to keep our housing up to code.

Economic displacement prevents us from developing the safe, stable communities that our kids deserve to grow up in.

They shouldn't be the ones paying the price so these massive corporate landlords can squeeze an extra million dollars in profit every year.

And that's why I think, you know, we, all of us here today, we are not the exception.

We are the norm.

There's not a single district in Seattle where people aren't rent burdened and where there's not overwhelming support for rent control.

So we really need every single city council member to stand with their constituents, to stand with working people, families, and marginalized people and vote in favor of Council Member Sawant's rent control legislation with no loopholes.

Thank you so much, Kaylin, for sharing that.

And I was also on my way here thinking about that LGBTQ rights town hall that we did almost 10 years ago.

So now I'm very happy to introduce Joe Sugru, who is an educator and a member of the North Shore Education Association.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

As you said, my name's Joe Segrew.

That's better.

I'm a teacher in the North Shore School District, a member of the North Shore Education Association, and a renter in Wallingford.

And my own rent has been increased twice in the last year and a half.

It's made living extremely difficult, hardly affordable, as we're always stretched thin.

One of the opponents of the legislation who spoke in Council Member Sawant's Renters' Right Committee last month claimed rent control would make things unpredictable for landlords.

What is really unpredictable is without rent control, the vast majority of renters really don't know what our costs of living and budget are in the months ahead, and therefore, our entire housing situation is unpredictable.

Unpredictability is coming home from a long day of work to an unexpected piece of white paper taped to your front door that says your rent is increasing, and if you can't afford it, then that's too bad.

You can move to a worse rental apartment, or in some cases, become homeless.

Two school years ago, I worked as a music teacher for Seattle Public Schools.

I worked in seven different schools, Tuesday to Friday, and was therefore only paid 80% of a teacher's full salary.

Positions like this are completely unacceptable and a product of the Democrats' refusal to fully fund public education.

Those workplace conditions, inadequate pay, and continuous rent increases in my apartment building and across the whole city forced me to look for work in the North Shore School District.

Even with a higher wage now, I am one rent increase away from being forced to move out of Seattle altogether.

Instead, what we need in Seattle and statewide is for all school districts to be fully funded by taxing the rich, and we need fully comprehensive rent control with no loopholes.

Families in this city and in this state and really in this country, the world, need rent control.

And some of the excellent points made last month by my union sibling Rose about the thousands of homeless students and families in our state, they are absolutely despicable numbers, they point to that.

More broadly, housing affordability and stability is an issue that is important to the entire working class.

As Kaylin had mentioned, this is an LGBTQ issue.

It is an issue for black people and other people of color.

In fact, rent control is one of the most effective ways to fight against racist gentrification.

It is a women's rights issue.

This is an issue for the entire working class.

The fight for rent control is also absolutely a union issue and the labor movement has a key role to play.

A main task that we have as organized workers in a union is to defend and extend our rights in the workplace and also fight for higher wages.

That is true, but what good are higher wages if the cost of rent continues to go up and up with no end in sight?

And so this is something we have to collectively fight, you know, fight for rent control.

So I appeal to all rank and file union members here who are listening, who will listen to this later.

to get in touch with Council Member Sawant's office or with me personally or other rank and file members at this meeting.

We can discuss how to pass meaningful resolutions in our unions to support this legislation and make a plan to mobilize our union siblings to upcoming events and into the struggle for real rent control and housing justice.

Solidarity.

Thank you so much, Joe.

And I really echo what Joe said.

If you are a union member and you're watching this or you're going to watch a recording of this, please fight to pass resolutions in favor of this legislation in your union.

That will go a long way to help us win this.

We are going to start public comment.

And without further ado, I just want to let everyone know that we have received very strong letters of support from some very important community advocates.

And I will read parts of those letters during the public hearing.

But I just want to let you know who all has already supported it.

We have a letter from Tiffany McCoy, who is the advocacy director of Real Change.

We have.

Hold your applause till I say all the names.

Paula Lukasek, who is the President of the Washington Federation of State Employees Local 1495. Violet Lovatay, who is the Executive Director of Tenants Union of Washington State.

Kate Rubin, who is the Organizing Director of vSeattle and is also here, so she'll be speaking personally.

And also, we have a very interesting, I will read this later, a very important and interesting anonymous statement from a property manager in support of rent control.

So the microphone is right there.

You're going to come there if you're in person.

I will call all the in-person names first and then the online names.

Everybody, every person will have one minute.

I know that's not a lot, but try to keep, you know, just try to keep it within one minute so that we can hear from everyone.

Obviously, this is not the end of the conversation.

We're not going to be able to win unless you all keep showing up and we keep getting organized.

But keep your comment to One minute.

I will read out three names at a time.

And if you hear your name, please stand in order so that we don't waste time for people trying to come out of their chairs and everything.

So we just keep a very steady flow.

So if you hear your name, come and stand in the line.

And also save your applause, assuming you want to applaud.

Save your applause till the end of that minute comment so that their time is not eaten up, because the timer will be running.

So don't take their time away from them, but feel free to applaud.

at the end, or if you have any other reaction, that's also fine, just do it after they finish.

Okay, so I will read three names now.

The first three names are Penton Mott, Heather, is this not a name?

Okay, Penton Mott, Heather Redrow, and Anitra Freeman.

Hi, my name's, where's it?

Hi, my name's Penton.

I'm one of Seattle's first carbon-neutral housing providers.

You're right to be angry.

Housing is a human right.

Safe, sanitary, and climate-resilient living options are a human right.

Science is real, and it is our best instrument for solving the problems of both climate change and housing.

So, what does the peer-reviewed science say?

A 2018 Stanford study of San Francisco's rent control policy found that it, quote, reduced rental housing supply by 15 percent and, quote, limits renters' mobility by 20 percent.

They concluded, quote, we find losses to all renters in San Francisco of $2.9 billion due to rent control's effect.

A study by the City of Seattle in the same year found that, quote, a large majority of landlords reported that city ordinances place an undue burden on landlords and may reduce housing access for lower income residents.

The reason small landlords like me are selling out to big corporations is because of policies like this.

A Harvard paper on the effects of rent control in New York City says it, quote, freezes the city and stops it adjusting to changes.

Freezes people in apartments and stops the motion that is inherent in cities.

A loss in welfare which could be well over $500 million annually to the consumer of New York.

Both we consider the social losses due to the undersupplied housing.

Time has expired.

Aristotle said it's the mark.

Time has expired.

Can I?

Thank you for your politeness.

One second, one second, one second.

So please watch the screen.

Ted, can we do that?

Yeah, I don't know why the ding didn't go off.

I'm restarting the screen.

OK.

Hopefully that will make it.

OK.

Yeah, pay attention to the sound and also the ding and also the screen.

Go ahead.

Thank you for being polite listeners.

My name is Heather.

Rent control has been tried already and it only takes a cursory review of the results to see how it has failed.

First, rent control reduces the supply of housing.

Artificially reduced prices will increase demand for housing while reducing the incentive to provide this housing.

Meanwhile, for fear of increased regulations, housing providers will stop building homes, further decreasing the supply.

Housing shortage crisis will continue.

Second, rent control reduces the quality of housing.

When landlords don't get paid to improve housing quality, they will no longer have the incentive to maintain a top quality unit.

Rent control diverts new investments.

Investments will go to outside of the city where it is more lucrative.

Rent control exemplifies good intentions but poor economics.

Before Anitra goes on, I want to read the next names.

After Anitra is Austin Price, after that Eva Metz, and then Kelly Young.

Please come to the front.

Go ahead, Anitra.

Thank you.

Wheel, a grassroots organizing effort of homeless and formerly homeless women, stood another Women in Black vigil today for 20 more homeless people who died outside or by violence in King County.

Without shelter, people die.

It's 162 people already this year.

And when rent goes up, homelessness goes up.

When homelessness goes up, the deaths go up.

Duh!

It is outrageous what I learned.

Landlords are organizing to keep the rents high.

Landlords are killing us.

We have to organize to lower the rent.

Rent control now.

Thank you.

After Austin, it's Eva Metz.

Is Eva Metz here?

And then Kelly Young.

Go ahead, Austin.

Hey there, I'm Austin Price.

I'm a renter in District 5. There's not really a lot I can say to follow that one up.

That's pretty potent.

But I will say that I urge all Democrats on the City Council, especially after hearing this and a million other stories you're going to hear that testify to how inhumane these rent increases are, that we need to stay with working people and not wealthy landlords.

And I urge you to vote yes on Councilmember Savant's rent control legislation with no loopholes or watering down.

I'll see the rest of my time.

Hi, my name is Eva Metz.

I'm a nursing student and a home health care worker in SEIU 775. And because I'm a renter in Seattle with astronomical rents, I also clean houses and I pet sit to try to keep up on my rent.

Speaking today also to urge the Democrats on the city council to stand with working people.

Vote yes on council members who want rent control legislation with no loopholes or watering down.

I've moved five times in the past five years because of rent increases and predatory landlords.

That's not because I like moving.

It's terrible.

It's exhausting.

It's expensive, means time off work, time off studies.

But this is in some ways what's considered lucky for a renter in Seattle.

Lucky that I've even been able to find a place by cramming in with other roommates and spending a lot of time searching and hoping.

Council members have a very clear choice Stand with working class and poor renters and support rent control or stand with greedy landlords who are making their profits from exploiting renters like myself.

Next.

Next is Kelly Young.

After that, it's Brett Looney or Lowney.

Sorry, I'm not able to read properly.

Then Kate Rubin and then Dylan Colt.

Go ahead, Kelly Young.

Do we have Kelly Young?

Give me one second.

Sure.

So if we don't have Kelly Young here, the next is Brett.

Brett.

We do have Brett.

Kate Rubin, you're next, I guess.

And then after Kate, it's Dylan Cold, and then Martin Hain.

Yes, we're ready.

Hi, I'm Kate Rubin.

I'm the organizing director of Be Seattle and I'm a renter.

I live in Beacon Hill.

I, like every other person I know, live in fear that my landlord will raise my rent and I will be forced away from the home that I love, forced to live with roommates that I don't like or know.

My living situation constantly changes, and this is just the standard.

The profits that these landlords are making are on the backs of working class people, on the backs of everyone here.

Being a landlord shouldn't be a way to get rich.

And that's what's happening, and especially with this price gouging, it's just getting worse.

So I urge all of council to protect the 400,000 plus renters that live in Seattle.

This is what we need to stay stable and not further increase the housing crisis.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Dylan Colt.

I'm a renter in Lake City and one of the precinct committee officers for the 46th district for the King County Democrats.

I'm honored to represent the most vulnerable people living in Lake City.

My constituents are those most impacted by oppression, trauma, and greed by the owning class.

I call on all of the Democrats and the City Council to stand with working people, with our elders and disabled community, all of Seattle's youth, and those systematically marginalized, not wealthy landlords.

Vote yes on Councilmember Sawant's rental control legislation with no loopholes.

I also work for Country Doctor and Healthcare for the Homelessness and have dedicated my life to dignified community care and I'm literally sick.

from the avoidable suffering caused by not a housing crisis, but a lack of affordable housing crisis, both my own and others.

Personally, I have been forced to move over 30 times in my 18 years as a Seattle renter due to lack of rent control.

Thank you.

One second.

After Martin, it will be Buruk, Aragavi, and then Marshall, Bender, and then Henry Graham.

Please line up if you heard your name.

So the point I'm going to bring up is one of the issues with this legislation is tying it to inflation, the CPI, is a flaw.

There are certain costs that are not included in the CPI.

That includes Insurance for these large buildings, we have two rentals in two large buildings.

The insurance on those buildings are increased 53% per year.

If we pass that cost on to our tenant, it's 3%.

Doesn't include property taxes that are borne by property owners.

In 2022, those went up 6.4%.

So that's a total of almost 9% that we have to take on.

We have now reached a tipping point where if we sell the unit, and put it in a 5% savings account, it will actually garnish more daily income for our fixed income needs than continuing to rent it.

We have lost money every year for the last seven years on our unit.

This is one of the realities that this legislation does not take into account.

I will also say, thank you.

I guess not, so next is...

Oh, sorry.

Go for it.

Go for it.

Hello, everybody.

My name is Baruch Aragawi.

I've lived in Seattle for about 10 years.

I've been renting all that time.

I've moved a few times.

Most of my friends have not moved every year.

That seems abnormally represented here.

But I do understand the increasing rent, and it is a pressure on my life as well.

But let me say a few things, and I think this is a little bit of echo chamber, so I think you might as well hear.

Many cities in Seattle, sorry, many cities in America would love to have Seattle's problem and that it grows rapidly and that they're growing pains.

There are dying cities in this country with very low rent, okay, that would love to have this kind of problem rather than their problem.

OK?

When you make rent capped at just the inflation rate, that means that real estate cannot be an investment.

That means that people are not just going to randomly invest it.

If you want real estate to not be investment, then let's say that and let's have a conversation about the consequences about that.

Let's not have an indirect method to do that, OK?

Thank you.

Please don't interrupt any speaker and just, you know, let's do it after they speak.

I got the microphone as high as I can go.

My name is Marshall.

I live in the D4.

I've been a renter there for four years, moved six times.

When I used to work in restaurants, I had co-workers had to commute from Seattle as far away as Federal Way because they couldn't afford the high rents.

A city where this happens is doomed to fail.

We must pass rent control to protect the people who live and work here, who want to raise family here, and who see a future here.

Seattle has the space and ability, but you, City Council, need to have the guts.

Vote yes on rent control with no loopholes.

I could care less about company profits.

Everybody here who's talking for the landlords is just crocodile tears.

They can make nothing for all I care.

Housing should not be a commodity because the commodification of housing kills people.

It drives them into the street.

It makes us all unsafe.

It makes us angry.

And for a community to thrive, to be safe, to be a good place to live, to grow, for the economy, for small business, and for people to be free, they have to be housed.

It needs to be affordable.

It needs to be here.

Vote yes on rec control.

Now we have Henry Graham.

Sorry, one second.

After Henry, we have Dominic Wolfgang Wallace, Joan Wright, Julia Cobelt.

Go ahead.

Hello, my name is Henry Graham.

I'm a renter in District 4 and a lifelong resident of Seattle.

I came here today because I want an answer from Councilmembers Mosquito, Morales, Herbold, and Lewis.

Will you support Citywide Rent Control legislation without corporate loopholes?

It is the responsibility of progressive Democrats to pass this trigger law and to join the fight to overturn the statewide ban which their party has imposed on the people of Washington.

This vote will decide whether you stand with a handful of wealthy donors or everyday working people.

You can choose the 71% of likely Washington voters who say they support rent control and the 35,000 Seattleites who want legislation, or you can throw your weight behind the corporate landlords bleeding this city dry.

Hello, I'm Dominic Wolfgang Wallace.

I am a Seattle renter in the zip code 98105. I've come here to urge all City Council Democrats to stand with working people and not landlords in our support of this rent control bill that you have heard overwhelming support from renters from here today.

specifically calling out those who have remained silent on whether they would support this Mosqueda, Morales, Erbold, and Lewis on supporting the people you are supposed to represent.

The Democratic Party has not done this in the 30 years it has been in power, but hopefully y'all can do it right now.

I see the rest of my time.

Thank you, everyone.

My name is Joan Wright, a union tech worker with OPIU and an activist with Workers Strike Back.

I urge all Democrats on the City Council to stand with working people and not wealthy landlords.

It's your party that has upheld the unjust ban for over 40 years.

For our rent control legislation here in Seattle, Council Member Shama Salwan asked 21 state legislators representing Seattle to go on record in support of rent control.

Not a single Democrat has said they would stand with working people and renters here in Seattle.

Shamefully, three legislators, Jerry Pollitt, Jamie Petterson, and Nicole McCree, even responded with snarky, flippant responses, going so far as to call the situation funny.

This is beyond inappropriate and shameful, and their refusal to speak in support of this legislation speaks volumes.

State Democrats wouldn't answer council members Tom Watt, but maybe they will answer renters, union members, and workers of Seattle when we unite and demand rent control.

So to all state Democrats, will you send a statement of support for our rent control bill?

Will you lift the statewide ban on rent control, which Democrats have had in place for nearly half a century?

After Julia, we'll have Quill Freitas, Yuli Matthew, Preston Sahabu, and Jonathan Rosenblum.

Thank you.

My name is Julia Cobelt.

I'm a rank-and-file member of UAW 4121 and a renter in District 6. I urge all City Council Democrats to vote yes on rent control in Seattle because my fellow union members and I are being crushed by the cost of housing.

We desperately need universal rent control with no loopholes.

It's shocking that Democratic Party politicians like Nicole Macri will come speak at my union's rally while we were on strike last month, yet have refused to voice support for this strong rent control legislation, even after Councilmember Sawant directly reached out to them.

State Democrats wouldn't answer Councilmember Sawant.

I hope they'll answer to all of this pressure we're putting on them when there's overwhelming support from 71% of Washington state residents.

I ask all Washington State Democrats, send a statement of support for our rent control bill.

Lift the statewide ban on rent control.

Anything less amounts to siding with the corporate landlords who are at the root of the housing crisis and is a betrayal of the thousands of renters and working people in your districts.

Hello, my name is Quill Freitas.

I'm a UFCW 3000 member, a PCC grocery worker, and a member of PCC Workers United, a rank-and-file group fighting for our fair, strong contract, including $25 an hour minimum wages, and up to 35 in three years.

And a big part of that is because 25 is what it takes to qualify for the bare minimum housing in Seattle and beyond.

We're not just talking about living in our communities, we're talking about living in this state at all.

And I want to be clear that my co-workers are in tears when they talk about their housing situations.

We have people in shelters.

We have people considering bringing their kids to shelters for safety.

The fact is that if you're siding with the landlords, you're not even siding with the business community.

The businesses cannot continue to subsidize the egregious and double-digit profit margins year after year.

You're going to see businesses shudder, and we are going to fight because we're going to get our wages one way or the other, and we're going to keep our housing.

Hello, my name is Yuli Matthew.

I'm a recent UW graduate and a resident of Howler Lake in District 5. I want to urge all the Democrats on the Seattle City Council to vote yes on Councilmember Sawant's rent control legislation with no loopholes or watering down.

I've lived in Seattle my entire life and I've watched this city become more and more expensive.

and now I'm one of the growing number of young adults who's living with their parents because rents and cost of living have become unaffordable in this city.

Seattle's affordability and cost of living crisis is the worst it's been in decades.

Over the last three years, overall cost in Seattle climbed over 20%, which is more than cities like New York and San Francisco and LA.

Wages, meanwhile, have far from kept up, growing just 16% after a drop at the start of the pandemic.

So I want to ask the Progressive and Labor Democrats on the Council who have not yet said anything public about this legislation.

So that's Councilmember Mosqueda, Morales, Herbold, and Lewis.

Will you support Councilmember Sawant's legislation for citywide right of control?

My name is Preston.

I'm a renter in District 4. Over the last decade, rents in Seattle have nearly doubled.

And as everybody in this room knows, nobody's wages have doubled in the last decade.

I live in the U District where corporate developers and landlords lobbied for up zones and giveaways with minimal affordable housing requirements.

And now the UW is openly giving away their housing stock and land to those same corporate developers.

Students and workers, meanwhile, at the UW are being chased around the city, uprooting their lives year over year, just so some corporations can nudge their margins even higher.

Corporations which, as we've recently learned, are openly colluding with each other through price-setting AI.

Like, this is like the actual black mirror that we're all living in.

I know Councilmember Sawant stands with working people, so my question is, will the Democrats in the city grow a damn spine and follow our movement?

Pass universal rent control with no loopholes now!

After Jonathan, we have David Galvin, Ellen Anderson, Sasha Somer, Steven Derosky, and Natalie Bailey.

Go ahead.

Jonathan Rosenblum, National Writers Union member and Workers Strike Back, speaking in full support of rent control.

The question for Democrats is not whether Seattle should or should not have rent control.

It's what system of rent setting they support.

Rent control to benefit working people, as we're demanding, or rent controlled by the billionaire landlords who, according to multiple class action lawsuits, have been engaging in price fixing to jack up rents.

Companies like Thrive, which have been accelerating racist gentrification in the Central District.

Democrats need to stop stalling and declare whose side they're on.

Council Member Morales, hello there.

You represent D2, my district.

On May 2nd, when you were asked by The Stranger whether you supported rent control, you said, we'll know more when we see a draft of the bill.

Well, you have the draft.

You have had the draft.

Whose side are you on, Councilmember Morales?

Renters or big landlords?

Hi.

I don't have any stats or anything, just a personal experience.

I'm a little confused.

Our rent went up for next year, so we're moving.

And when they listed our apartment, it's listed at what our rent currently is, which just tells me that they didn't...

Oh, I'm David.

They didn't...

Anyway, yeah, so they didn't need to raise the rent, I guess, because whoever's going to live in it next year is going to be paying what we paid this past year.

But if we were still there, we would be paying more.

So that doesn't make sense.

Also, I would just like to say that Statistics are not science and also science should be questioned and re-experimented because that's what science is all about.

Redoing the science that you've already done to reconfirm and maybe change things.

All right, thank you.

Your landlord just did is not legal under Seattle law based on what you said.

So talk to somebody in our office so we can follow up.

Okay, so we have Ellen Anderson, Sasha Somer, Steven Derosky, Natalie Bailey.

Please come to the front when you hear your name.

And before Ellen goes ahead, I just want to make sure everybody knows, should pick up one of these leaflets because All the powerful testimonials that we are sharing today, if we don't have you with us on July 21st, we will not be able to win because that's when the committee will be voting and then it goes to the city council.

So we need you again and again because otherwise, if we don't remain organized, then we're not going to be able to put the kind of pressure we need to put on the Democrats on the city council.

So make sure you take this leaflet.

And also, there's more banh mi and water in the back.

If you get hungry or thirsty, make sure you get some.

Awesome.

Hello, I'm Ellen.

I'm a small mom and pop style renter living in Beacon Hill.

I don't have any corporations backing my search for housing.

It's just me.

So I've lived here in Seattle for eight years and of course I've moved six times.

Every single time, not because I wanted to, not because I didn't love where I was at, or my community that I had built there, but because of an increase in rent that I could no longer afford, or just unsafe housing conditions that my landlord refuses to fix.

Every year that I have had to move, the availability of affordable housing options have disappeared, eaten up by the greed of landlords trying to make a massive profit off of this basic human right.

We have continually heard from these landlords that they are doing Seattle a favor by providing housing.

But the reality is that the workers who actually build our housing in this city are completely unable to afford the units that they build.

This is why it is so clear that we need to stand together and fight for rent control, no loopholes.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Sasha.

I'm a central district renter and a recent Seattle Central graduate and.

I've been, the way that I've survived in Seattle is living with an unreasonable number of roommates.

I've lived with 12 roommates for four years.

And that's just not an acceptable way of getting through this.

I urge all Democrats on the City Council just to vote in favor of the rent control bill, the Kshama Sawant's rent control bill, with no loopholes or watering down.

And I just want to say to the audience here, we've won a lot of things.

We've won the tax, the Amazon tax for affordable housing.

We've won a number of renters' rights.

And that's taken workers and renters getting organized and putting the pressure.

And so today is really important, but we all really need to come back on the 21st to the Renters' Rights Committee where the vote is going to be happening.

Yeah, so today we're asking the city council members that haven't made their position known, Mosqueda, Morales, Herbold, Lewis, will you support council members to launch legislation for citywide rent control with no corporate loopholes?

And we'll be back on the 21st to hear your answer.

That's right.

Hello, my name is Stephen Dorosky.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who spoke tonight.

And I listened very carefully to Bia when she was speaking, and she said something that's really struck out to me.

She said that these corporate landlords and the interest, the profit interests that are with them, think that the problem is too much empathy.

You know, that doesn't even make sense to me.

I think the problem in the whole world is that there's too little empathy, okay?

But I want to talk about it a little bit because I live in assistance housing, okay?

I work.

Some of the people I live with are older.

They're close to retirement age.

It's very difficult for them to work.

that some of the people that I live with are formerly incarcerated.

It's very difficult for them to get a job.

And if you think that there's no financial problems with assistance housing, guess what?

Our rent goes up too, and we have late fees too.

Vote yes to have rent control.

After Natalie, we'll have Jason Belak or Belsak or something that for some reason that name is struck out.

But if you're still here and if you want to speak, go ahead, Jason.

And then after Jason, we'll have Jordan Young, Brandon Ang, and Dominic Civitilli.

Go ahead.

OK.

Am I audible?

OK.

My name is Natalie Bailey.

I urge all Democrats on the City Council to stand with working people, not wealthy landlords.

I urge you to vote yes on Councilmember Swann's rent control legislation with no loopholes in watering down.

I've lived in Seattle for over 10 years, and I've had to balance house to house.

I have lived in apartments where I was given the privilege to pay an extra, you know, $200, $300 to stay in a rat-infested apartment with basically raw sewage pouring through the ceiling.

That's been my experience of living in this city with the lack of rent control, and that's, I think, One reason that we really need to fight for this, we need to have rent control with no loopholes, but also expand social housing by expanding the tax on Amazon.

And I urge all working people and union members and renters to join me in this fight for rent control.

Thank you very much.

Solidarity.

Hi, my name is Jason.

I'm actually a recent Seattle resident.

I only moved here in January of this year, currently living in the University District.

And I've fallen in love with the city in the short time that I've been here.

I think the people here are fantastic.

I think everybody in this room is amazing.

But the sad fact of the matter is, because of the absolutely awful housing prices and the absolutely despicable actions of a lot of these corporate landlords, there's a very real possibility that I won't be in this city next year.

Despite how much I want to stay here and how much I want to make a life here, I might have to move out of this city and out of this state because even doing the job that I do, which is pretty solid, I barely make enough money just to pay my rent, let alone anything else.

That's why I'm urging city council Democrats to pass rent control with no loopholes and stick it to corporate millionaires.

All right, thank you.

My name is Jordan Young.

I'm a PCC worker, a rank-file member of UFCW 3000. I've lived in Seattle all my life.

I've been a renter in Seattle for the past decade, and I currently pay over half my monthly income on rent alone.

That's not counting utilities and other household bills.

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 to six roommates, and I myself did the same for many years.

I think the need for rent control is fueled by the overarching economic inequality we are seeing in our country and internationally.

When a handful of wealthy individuals and businesses have the ability to write the rules, they proceed to corrupt and capture our elected officials in the effort to make sure that legislation designed to level our economic playing field never sees the light of day.

Rent control helps to level the economic playing field for working people.

It helps to keep the most valuable, vulnerable in their homes so that they can have a little bit of stability.

And that is why so many of us are fired up to fight for this change in the law.

So with that, we urge all Democrats on the City Council to stand with working people, not wealthy landlords.

We urge you to vote yes on Councilmember Sawant's rent control legislation with no loopholes or watering down.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Brandon Ang.

I'm a UW undergrad student and I am absolutely fed up with this ever-increasing rent and I demand that the city council members stand with so on to support this rent control legislation.

I've been in search for a new apartment to move in after my lease expires at the end of August.

And the sheer shortage of units available within the budget that my mother and I can afford has put a good deal of stress.

And while I have a plan to move in, I cannot guarantee that these units are, that the landlords are not using methods to extract as much rent as they can from us.

So please, support our rent control measure.

Thank you.

After Dominic, we'll have Julian Hernandez.

Tricia Coley, Alicia Burton, Harriet Saston, and Syed Saqib.

Go ahead.

My name is Dominic Sivitilli and I'm a rank and file member of UAW 4121. Our union passed a resolution in support of rent control in 2019. Our members are heavily impacted by the rapidly increasing cost of living in Seattle.

What little wages we are making are immediately siphoned by corporate landlords.

These landlords are making record profits as working people are forced out of their homes to live on the streets.

These landlords are fighting for their greed while we are fighting for our lives.

Here is a path to solve this problem at its source.

We need a solution.

We don't need homeless sweeps.

We don't need hostile architecture.

And we don't need excuses.

What we need is rent control.

Hello, my name is Julian Hernandez.

I'm a renter from one of the ten major Seattle companies being sued for collusion and artificial price gouging using very sophisticated algorithms to price-fix units down to a unit-per-unit level.

I don't have an algorithm to fight back.

The people of Seattle don't have an algorithm to fight back.

There's meant to be a method to protect us called rent control, but it's banned.

Seattle renters are the victims of class warfare, and the state has outlawed them fighting back, basically.

The result is the current black mirror situation we're in.

This legislation won't unban rent control in this state, but it's a very real step forward in building a movement that can overturn the unjust ban.

And if you support representing the will of the majority of the people of Seattle, I really urge you to vote yes on this legislation as it stands.

Thank you.

And also, just to be clear also, Julian, if this legislation helps us to build momentum to repeal the state ban, and the ban does get lifted, then the law, our rent control law immediately goes into effect.

So it's both together.

After, so first is Tricia now, and then Alicia, and then Harriet.

Go ahead.

Good evening.

I'm Tricia Coley and I am a longtime Seattle residents being in district 2 for almost 50 years and I my husband and I come here in in full support of rent control in this city as we have this vision long-term vision of what has happened to people's housing, homelessness, and recently we're particularly in tune with the impact to children because we are both working in the public schools.

I'm on the Seattle PTSA advocacy chair And one of our great concerns in the public schools is the impact of unstable housing for children.

If a child ends up without a coat in the morning, you can get them a coat.

If a child ends up without breakfast, you can get them breakfast.

But the impact of not having stabilized housing, being in the same neighborhood, having friends and attaching to the school is almost impossible.

So thank you very much for all of you who have done this work.

We really appreciate it.

Good evening.

My name is Alicia Burton, and I am from Nicholsville Central District.

Thank you, Council Member Solomont, for this honor.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, people need to earn $40 to $60 an hour to live just in the Seattle metro area.

That's impossible.

Seattleites making minimum wage needs to work 88 hours per week before they reach the medium monthly income rent.

Income growth has not kept pace with rents, leading to an affordability crunch with cascading effects that for people on the bottom economic rung increases the risk of homelessness.

This needs to stop.

We need rent control now, not tomorrow.

Vote yes.

Good evening.

My name is Harriet Saslow.

I am a resident of Nicholsville, Northlake.

We need rent control now.

We support this legislation 100%.

According to Zillow, communities where people spend more than 32% of their income on rent can expect a more rapid increase in homelessness.

We see that every day on the streets around here.

According to the Washington Department of Commerce, after examining potential drivers of the upward trend in the number of people experiencing homelessness, it appears the increase is overwhelmingly caused by growing rents pushing people living at the margins into homelessness.

I'm one of those people.

My rent was dramatically increased by twice what it was.

I couldn't afford to live that way.

I was going to be one of the people in the tents you see out here and fortunately I got into Nicholsville thanks to Wheel.

But we need rent control now.

More and more people are getting evicted and can't afford their rents.

We need this now.

Thank you.

After Syed, we'll have Linda Hendricks, Super Liv Morgan, River Martin, Al Rostholder-Harris.

Go ahead, Syed.

Hi, my name is Syed Saqib.

I am a member of the PCC Workers United, a grocery store worker, a rank and file member of the UFCW 3000. We're fighting for $25 starting pay with $35 after three years.

The rent situation is crazy.

I spend over half my income on rent alone.

And you still have to consider food and utilities and other kinds of expenses.

I have to pay for a dog.

I have to pay for my wife.

I have to support a family.

I heard that the past three years during this pandemic, we had the largest wealth transfer in human history.

They made so much money over a pandemic and they haven't stopped.

I don't see what the need is for them to continue to make profits off us, off of housing.

It's too much.

We need to do something now.

I stand for rent control.

I hope everyone else is with us.

Please vote yes on the rent control legislation bill.

Thank you.

Linda Hendricks.

My name is Linda Hendricks, and I'm here as a senior I'd like to offer a couple of comments.

I live on North Seattle by shoreline I'm in shag housing which is supposedly a private nonprofit Where to get in initially people have to show income of 40 to 60 percent of the Seattle medium or two times the monthly rent.

Our rent increases average 7% a year.

Some seniors may be paying 50% of their income for rent.

And all this for long-term broken washers and dryers on every floor.

To qualify for the smallest apartment, a parson would have to have at least $2,600 a month in income.

much higher than most people's Social Security, especially older women who generally have less due to lower pay or years of raising children.

Most income is Social Security, but some have annuities, but the income does not increase by 7% annually.

Every year when the rent increase is announced, some people move out and generally move in with a relative or out of Seattle, which is kind of sad because we get very close to each other.

So I really hope that rent control can go through, and that's why I'm here as a senior, and I'm gonna keep coming, too.

We have Super Liv.

I'm River.

River.

Is Super Liv Morgan here?

Okay, after Super Liv, we have River, Martin, and then Al.

I just want to say if you have already spoken in public comment, but you're able to stay and listen to others, your fellow renters, please stay so that, you know, they feel like they have support as well.

I understand if you have to leave, but if you're able to stay, please stay.

Go ahead.

Thanks for allowing me to be here and be a lead community activist.

And as an intersex person that lives in Seattle Housing Authority building, People have this sense and notion that just because you live in low-income housing, like Seattle Housing Authority, that they won't raise the rent on its low-income tenants.

That is a myth.

A lot of the tenants have come to me expressing and saying that SHA is now starting to raise the rents beyond 30% of their income.

Just because they live in low-income housing, we need comprehensive rent control legislation to pass to include us low-income renters in buildings like Seattle Housing Authority.

Hi, my name is River Martin.

I'm a renter here on Capitol Hill.

I also live in a low-income building owned and operated by Community Roots Housing.

I'm lucky enough that I haven't dealt with any rent increases recently.

But if it weren't for the relatively low rent that I pay, I wouldn't be able to afford living on Capitol Hill at all.

Finding housing in an income-restricted, low-rent building in Seattle is kind of like winning the lottery.

I got lucky, but thousands of renters in the city can't say the same.

Reasonable rents shouldn't be sequestered to these unicorn buildings.

Rent should be affordable for all working people.

I urge all Democrats on the City Council to stand with working people and not wealthy landlords.

I urge you to vote yes on Councilmember Swann's rent control legislation with no loopholes and no watering down.

Thank you.

Next we have Al, followed by Leah McCready or McCready, sorry I can't read your name properly, but if you think I said your name, come forward.

Then after Leah will be Josie Ubelhauer and then Maddie Danks.

Before Al goes forward, though, I just wanted to quickly read an extract from a very important letter that has been sent by Tiffany McCoy, who is the advocacy director of Real Change.

and I'm just going to read a small part of it.

She says, beyond the individual level on a systemic level, rent control aids in the development of social housing and other affordable housing by helping to lower the speculation of land and property prices.

There is evidence from cities such as Vienna that has shown the presence of rent control not only improving the lives of residents but also making it easier for the city's municipal housing developer to acquire land for lower prices allowing for faster growth of the social housing sector.

And this is a letter from the entire Real Change Advocacy Department, so we really thank you.

But I think this is a very important point, that not only do studies show that actually rent control does not inhibit the construction of for-profit housing, although that's not our desired type, But in addition to that, it actually helps bring down the property prices such that social housing is less expensive and more affordable, and that's the main kind of housing that we need.

And in a little while, I will also provide some evidence that refutes the, I think the first public comment that said that, that quoted a Stanford study, so that's coming up, but go ahead, Al.

Hi, my name is Al Russell Harris.

I live in District 3. I'm a property owner, and I'm here because before I was able to get a condo because of family wealth privilege, I was a renter for 10 years.

And I think it is my duty to be here as a person who owns property.

And while I was renting for those 10 years, I made minimum wage.

Shout out to the people who work at PCC and are organizing for $25 an hour because that place kills your soul.

And people deserve to be paid, I don't know, $100 for every shift there.

Anyway.

or an hour there.

And I lived in a house, I would say it was a small people probably identify themselves as a small town mom and pop property owner, and they wanted to raise my rent to 30% or 30%.

from 550, which was way below market value, to 720. And this was rooms in a house.

So I was living with four other people in a house.

I did some math, and that would be $3,600 just in passive income, the person not working.

for the house, that comes to $900 a month, which comes to $22 an hour if you're working 40 hours a week.

And this was seven years ago, so the minimum wage, I think, was $12.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is $10 more an hour that this person would be getting if they were working minimum wage.

Yeah, so support, run control.

I'm going to be watching you if you don't support this, and I will work hard to make sure you don't regain your seat.

Before Leah goes forward, I want to make sure everybody knows, you know, Al just mentioned that they're in support of the PCC workers, and many of the PCC workers spoke about how they are fighting for higher wages, livable, you know, barely livable wages, and also for rent control.

So if you support them, because you know if they win, then we all win, make sure you sign the petition, community petition.

Barun is holding it up back there.

So before you leave, don't leave now, I don't want you to leave now, but before you leave, make sure you sign that petition in solidarity with the PCC workers.

Go ahead, Leah.

All right.

Hello.

My name is Leah, and I'm a renter in the Seattle area.

Earlier this year, my rent was increased by $100, shortly followed by nearby road construction cutting down all of the trees that reduce noise from the road and provide shade to the building during the day.

In effect, my roommate and I are paying more money for a louder apartment that gets hotter in the summer faster.

In addition, I have seen multiple of my neighbors move out or get evicted soon after the supposedly small rent increase.

A 2020 national study by the U.S.

Government Accountability Office showed that a $100 increase in rent is associated with a 9% increase in homelessness.

I urge all Democrats on the City Council to stand with the working people, not wealthy landlords.

I urge you to vote yes on Councilor Sawant's rent control legislation without loopholes or watering down.

I also urge other renters who are watching this to please join in the fight for rent control.

The best time to pass rent control is years ago, before the alleged price fixing.

The next best time is now.

After Josie, it's Maddie, then Monica, and then somebody you signed as M.

Roy.

Hi, my name is Josie E. Bulhaer.

I'm a social worker for the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, a member of WFCE Local 889, and a renter in Seattle.

Corporate greed continues to make it harder and harder to live in this city.

Price-fixing and selfish rent-raising by corporate landlords or grassroots housing providers, or whatever they want to call themselves, pushes working families out of their homes.

As a social worker, I support families in searching for affordable housing almost daily, and it is truly impossible in Seattle.

Lack of safe and stable housing is a crisis impacting the safety of children across Washington, and rent control is a solution being placed at our feet.

Democrats in Seattle and Washington have continued to fail working people for decades by allowing the state ban on rent control to continue.

I urge Democrats on City Council to support City Council members' swance rent control legislation with no loopholes or watering down.

Hi, my name is Maddie, and I am a renter just a few blocks from here.

I am here to urge the Democrats of City Council to stand with working people, not wealthy landlords, and to vote yes without watering down Councilmember Sawant's rent control legislation.

Councilmembers Mosqueda, Morales, Herboldt, and Lewis, whose side are you on?

Will you stand with renters, or will you sell out like your fellow party members have done for 42 years?

Which way you vote on this tells us what you truly care about, the survival of working class and poor renters, or the profit margins of landlords.

Jonathan Rosenblum's piece in The Stranger makes it clear.

Because Democrats in Washington state have failed to overturn the rent control ban, landlords have been allowed to run wild with ridiculous rent hikes and price fixing.

As many have already said tonight, rents in Seattle rose nearly 92% last decade.

Not through magic or market forces, but simply because landlords can raise rents at the cost of renters.

To my fellow renters, I ask you to please join us and to continue the fight for rent control at City Hall at the vote on the 21st so we can take this fight all the way to Olympia.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Monica.

I'm not part of any organization in particular.

I'm a renter and just a regular degular citizen in District 2. My building is listed in the real page scam.

I'm currently in what is considered an affordable housing building.

My rent went up nearly $500 after my lease ended, and due to bureaucratic incompetence, my paperwork has been resubmitted more than three times, a process that I've learned is unnecessarily invasive and hostile.

While this is the first time I've been able to live in a building with an elevator, which is kind of cool, I know that the statistic that people are about three paychecks away from homelessness.

I am now part of this cohort.

after illness and a change in career.

In the time I've lived in my building, I've seen tenants move out cyclically around every six to nine months.

It's been really hard to connect with my residents.

The property management hires private security for their leasing office during work hours and blasts air conditioning, while our units do not, are heating routinely circuits out in the winter, and human waste and trash piles in our communal areas.

All of my friends and neighbors are struggling to stay afloat in this city.

I particularly worry about my elderly neighbors, because I do not know what happens to them when they move out.

This city is not dying or vanishing.

It's being systematically killed by greedy landlords and spineless public officials, for-profit and non-profit consultants and attorneys.

I've gone to enough meetings.

I don't care about party lines.

I'm sick of pleading for Democrats in this city to do your job.

Power does not concede and I do not accept city council members willfully aligning with corporate interests.

Do not water down this rent control legislation.

Pass this trigger law and support your constituents.

If you cannot do your job, if you cannot choose to see outside of the white imagination and acknowledge the people of the city are suffering, I am ready to do anything, including a rent strike.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Maharshi Roy, a sophomore student at the University of Washington.

I have seen students searching food from garbage cans.

Numerous students are residents of Seattle, but we are not able to have a place to stay.

The quality of life and affordable housing are two things we have to work to make Seattle a place for youngsters.

a place for BIPOC community, working and retired people, and disabled people to live.

My friend was given a notice with one or two days in hand.

Later, her belongings were thrown away from her rented house.

Her situation, as I witnessed, was pathetic.

Where is she going to stay?

She called the cops, but the cops couldn't do anything.

Our people need safety and security.

I urge all Democrats of the City Council to stand with the working people, not the wealthy landlords.

I am grateful to the office of Shama Sawant for making Seattle an anti-caste discrimination city.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Maharishi, and especially for mentioning the historic ban on caste discrimination that we just won here.

The next names are Madeline Hughes.

Sorry if I'm not saying your last name right.

Hayes, Mott, Julissa Sanchez, and A.

Ray Ward.

So Madeline Hayes, Julissa, and A.

Ray, in that order.

And I quickly wanted to read extract from the letter sent by Paula Lukaszek, who is the president of the Washington Federation of State Employees Local 1495. She says, I represent 2,000 workers at the University of Washington and University of Washington Medical Center, including custodians, maintenance workers, and food service workers.

We work hard day in and day out.

Without us, the University of Washington cannot function.

Yet most of us struggle just to make ends meet.

Many of us cannot afford to live in Seattle.

One of the main reasons for this is the high cost of rent.

That's why my union members push not only for better wages, benefits, and working conditions, but also for affordable housing, and we urgently need rent control.

I know that there are a lot of workers out there who support rent control, but who don't think it's possible.

That's understandable, given how long the politicians and pundits have been saying that we can't win it and that we should settle for less.

But let's remember, they said the same thing about the $15 an hour minimum wage until We built a powerful movement and forced a Democratic politician to support 15 or pay a political price.

And then in April of 2020, then-Mayor Jenny Durkan, Democratic Mayor Jenny Durkan, said the Amazon tax is, quote-unquote, never going to happen.

Three months later, we were celebrating victory, and now we are taxing Amazon and other big businesses over $200 million per year for permanently affordable housing and Green New Deal programs.

It's time once again to prove the naysayers wrong.

Let's build a powerful fighting movement of workers and renters, and let's win rent control in Seattle.

Hi, my name is Madeline and I'm here with Worker Strike Back in favor of establishing rent control now.

I want to urge all the Seattle City Council members to please stand with the working people.

I urge you to stand with us and vote yes on Councilmember Sawant's rent control legislation with no loopholes.

I am here specifically to ask Mosqueda, Morales, Herbald, and Lewis if you will support Councilmember Sawant's legislation for citywide rent control.

I ask you this because you are council members who represent the Progressive and Labor Democrats on Seattle City Council.

I urge you all to support this legislature without watering it down.

I will not accept the Democrats on City Council using this excuse that there is a statewide ban on rent control.

It is your party that helped pass this unjust ban, and you are accountable for this.

Help us pass the trigger law for rent control, and you can help force state Democrats to lift this ban.

Thank you.

My name is Julissa Sanchez, a Seattle renters' commissioner and former community organizer for the Tenants' Union.

And as a community organizer, I have witnessed Seattle renters' pleas for rent control gone unheard for years on years on years.

I, as a Mexican woman, single mother, have been gentrified out of this city.

More than two times, but I'm fighting to give my son a community with his schoolmates So we're here on Cap Hill right now, but you know Let's see how that last how long that lasts Our homeless crisis is beyond heartbreaking and the fact that rent increases are the main causes of homelessness displacement and gentrification is being ignored by the city is disheartening and I urge all Democrats on the City Council to stand with El Pueblo, the people, the working people, to vote yes on City Council's rent control legislation and no loopholes or watering down.

Also, I want to say that Just Cause started in Seattle and it inspired the movement for statewide Just Cause.

So if we do this in Seattle, it's going to inspire the movement for statewide rent control.

the just cause victory we won here that inspired, that basically put pressure on the statewide Democrats to do it also.

So there you go.

After Ray, we have Karen Taylor, Sean Butterfield, and Will Busset.

Go ahead.

Okay.

I am Ray.

I live with family because my landlord at the time sold the house and did not give me or my roommates adequate notice.

It was supposed to be 90 days.

I think she gave us either 60 or 30 days.

And my roommates at the time, when I asked them about fighting the landlord on it, they said, and I quote, essentially, what is the point of doing anything?

We don't have any rights anyway.

And it's a joke, because tenants don't have any rights.

And it's the bare minimum that the City Council Democrats can do is to pass this legislation not watered down and with no loopholes, because what's happening is the people who work here and who make your food and all these things increasingly can't afford to live here at all.

And these rapacious, predatory property developers just come in and profit off of the whole thing.

Every Democrat on the city council must support the legislation for rent control, not water down, no loopholes, and furthermore, pressure the state legislature to repeal the unjust ban.

Hi, my name's Karen.

I have a disability and I'm a domestic worker and I rent.

I definitely can't afford housing in Seattle on social security disability so I clean people's houses under the table so that I can support myself.

And what I wanted to highlight is someone misspoke a little bit earlier, when they meant to say the most vulnerable, they said the most valuable.

And we have to remember that that's true.

I'm cleaning people's houses, and I take that money from my active work, and I give it to the community.

and give it to my landlord, it doesn't matter that he's a mom and pop landlord, it passive incomes to him.

And so we are the people creating the value and we can set the standards for what our housing is going to be like.

We all know the problems and I'm glad we have a solution.

Democrats, please vote for this legislation.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Sean Butterfield and I'm a registered nurse and rank-and-file member of SEIU 1199. I urge all Democrats on the City Council to stand with working people and not wealthy landlords.

I urge the supposedly pro-labor City Council to vote yes on Councilmember Sawant's rent control legislation without corporate loopholes, especially vacancy decontrol.

I work in home hospice, which means I help families take care of their dying loved ones.

I've worked in hospice for less than six months, and I've already seen many families struggle to keep a roof over their heads while they care for their loved ones on their final journeys.

I can just imagine my patients' landlords salivating when they see me arrive at their tenant stores, knowing they'll soon get to jack up the rents on their next tenants as soon as my patients finally shuffle off their moral coils.

And I can't stand the thought.

Please pass this legislation for me, my patients, their families, and you know, your souls, if you believe in such a thing.

I suspect many of my patients have unkind things to report to St. Peter about their landlords, and I wouldn't want to be standing next to them like many of the Democrats on City Council have been when my patients share the absolute bullshit they've had to deal with on their deathbeds.

Thank you.

I'll read out the next names.

It's Avi Matarazzo, I think.

Then Kimen Trohalakis, Logan Swan.

Go ahead, Will.

Hello, my name is Will Bassett and I'm a renter here in Capitol Hill.

I urge all Democrats on the Council to stand with working people and not wealthy landlords.

I urge you to vote yes on Councilmember Swan's rent control legislation as it is with no loopholes.

Displacement is visible everywhere in this city, and it will only get worse without rent control.

I can't imagine a future for myself, my loved ones, or other working people here if rents keep going up as they have.

Council members, and specifically the so-called progressives and labor Democrats, Mosqueda, Morales, Urbold, and Lewis, the way you vote on Swanson legislation will indicate whether you support the survival of the poor and working class, or if you endorse the price gouging of wealthy landlords.

Which side will you be on?

Hi, everyone.

My name is Avi Matarazzo.

I'm a renter and the vice president of UAW Local 4121, the union of academic workers, postdocs, and now research scientists at the University of Washington.

I'm also an organizer with our union's Housing Justice Work Group, which is organizing for a future where everyone has access to safe and affordable housing.

Our union is comprised of 8,000 workers that make the world-class research, teaching, and more at the University of Washington work.

Being able to afford living in Seattle is an issue that impacts many of our members, and we're proud to be standing in support of these measures around rent control.

We strongly urge all City Council members to vote yes on Councilmember Sawant's rent control legislation with no loopholes or watering down.

This would ensure that living in Seattle and working at the University of Washington is sustainable for everyone, not just the independently wealthy.

Rents in Seattle have risen astronomically, and many of our members have already reported moving further from work in order to afford living, working in the city.

That's why in 2019 we passed a resolution in support of rent control.

Our members are paying attention to the decisions the Democratic City Council members are making and they need rent control now.

We're proud to be pushing for proactive rent control measures with Council Member Sawant's office.

Solidarity.

My name is Logan Swan.

I'm a District 2 renter.

Yeah, I'm a District 2 renter.

I'm a journeyman ironworker and a casual longshoreman.

I've got two union jobs and I've got roommates and I rent.

And yeah, I want to push back on some of the points made by another commenter who is also a renter on how treating housing as an investment benefits anyone other than the developers themselves.

You know, we have my small mom and pop landlord drives a Maserati.

And we can see that profit and investment driven education and health care like housing has been an absolute disaster for working people everywhere.

And, yeah, I work construction, you know, an actual housing provider.

And while building luxury housing investments, I step over people sleeping on the streets.

And, you know, when finished, these units stay empty while growing numbers are unhoused precisely because they're owned by wealthy investors who gamble speculatively on the appreciating value of their investments while us construction workers commute for hours to build a city that we ourselves can't afford to live in.

This is demonstrated in the 25% vacancy rates downtown, the 10% vacancy rates across the city.

So Democrats have a choice.

Are they going to support Councilmember Sawant's legislation now and stand with us construction workers and the nurses and all the regular working people?

Or are they going to choose to side with Mr. Maserati and all these billionaire developers, right?

That's a clear choice and one that we're going to be following closely.

Next is Mark Taylor Canfield, Patricia Lynch, Matt, I can't read your last name.

Matt Gligot or something like that.

So Mark, Patricia, Matt.

Oh, Patrick, sorry.

Yeah, exactly.

My name is Mark Taylor Canfield.

I'm a musician and a journalist born in Seattle.

I serve as executive director for Democracy Watch News, and rent control is way past overdue.

Well, I woke up this morning, couldn't pay the rent.

I don't know where my money went.

Went to bed, couldn't keep at all, because I'm going down.

I'm going to take that ball.

You've got to give us some rent control.

You gotta give us some rent control You gotta give us some rent control The rents are too damn high Well, I woke up this morning, didn't know what to do I'm so damn poor, I got holes in my shoes You gotta give me some rent control You gotta give me some rent control You gotta give me some rent control The rents are too damn high That's right

Thank you, Mark.

And Joe, as a music teacher, wants to say something.

I'm going to teach that one to my students.

Go ahead, Patrick.

It's hard to follow that up.

Yeah, so I heard early something about a 9% increase in the landlord's costs or something.

And I'm like, I mean, that's roughly the amount that my rent has been raised the last two places.

I have about $100.

And I heard something about a diminishment in quality.

And I haven't noticed any difference, like, in the low, I mean, it's been low quality both places.

And so I'm actually wondering what exactly if, like, basically all the landlord does is own property and delegate.

That's their, they don't.

That's the amount of work that they put into those places.

They delegate, you know, the places are delegated, you know, people are delegated to build it, people are delegated to clean it, to manage it, and the landlord just basically takes a check.

I think it's amazing that we have a designation in our society that we're, it's actually, they're actually called lords.

And I was like, so am I a renter or am I a serf?

I mean, I'm a serf.

I mean, let's call it what it is.

It's supposed to be a representative democracy, a democratic republic, not even a direct democracy, an actual democracy.

And it fails at that.

So that's all I have.

Thank you, Patrick.

And next we have Matt Kligot, sorry if I'm butchering your name, then Elena Rumianseva, Kate McCracken, John Watson.

So if you heard your name, Matt, Elena, Kate, and John, please come forward.

And before Matt speaks, Helen, you wanted to say something?

Just really quickly, yeah.

One of the earlier speakers mentioned, you know, that a problem with rent control is that, you know, it would slow down the pace of increase in the housing stock, and then that in turn would, you know, drive down the quality and actually increase rents, which is just not possible.

If you pass comprehensive rent control, it can't increase rents.

But also, I think we need to consider the alternative, right?

For the past 10 years, for much of the past 10 years, Seattle has had the most rapid pace of development of any city in the country.

We've had more cranes, more new housing going in than anywhere else in the country.

So literally, the most rapid growth in housing stock.

And over that same period of time, rents have almost doubled.

So...

I just don't think there's any water to this argument that more rapid increase in housing stock will drive down rents.

We've tried that and it hasn't borne out.

And I think the point that Logan just made, that there's 10% vacancy across the city, much higher, I can't remember what statistic it was for downtown, proves that it's not supply that's the issue, right?

It's the way that they're using these cartel-like measures to control the rents.

And just, sorry, very briefly, but another one of the early speakers said that People in other parts of the country would love to have our problems here in Seattle.

I have friends in other parts of the country, and my rent is considerably below market rate, but it is still considerably higher than my friends anywhere else in the country.

And when I tell them what I pay in rent and what the average rent is in Seattle, none of my friends in other parts of the country say, man, I wish I had your problems.

I wish my rent was higher.

All right.

I'm Matthew Gliboff.

I'm a professor in physics at UW and I teach about climate change.

I urge all city council Democrats to vote yes on this rent control legislation.

The introduction, some other speakers are really right to say that housing is a women's rights issue.

It's a racial justice issue.

It's a queer rights issue and a disability rights issue.

It's also a climate change issue.

Seattle workers who can't afford to live in the city are being forced to live further away every year, especially black workers and other oppressed people.

Transportation is a huge chunk of carbon emissions and commuting is a big part of that.

Affordable housing options available near where people work or go to school is the most effective way to reduce carbon emissions from commuting and to reduce traffic.

We need rent control so people can afford to live where their lives are.

Seattle passing this trigger law can build momentum to pressure the state to remove its shameful ban.

The whole state needs and wants rent control, not just Seattle.

Redmond and Eastside rents rose even faster than Seattle since 2020, over 17% in one year.

So to everybody here, please come out to the committee vote on 21st and help working people in Seattle lead the statewide fight.

Good evening.

My name is Kate and I am a landlord homeowner.

I'm also a former very long-term renter and I'm an attorney.

I'm a public defender here.

And I strongly support rent control.

I strongly support the passage of this legislation without loopholes.

I support this legislation as a homeowner, as a landlord, as a former renter because I want Seattle to be affordable for everybody.

I support this legislation as a public defender because almost every single person that I represent, with very limited exceptions, is either a renter who is struggling to make ends meet, a person who is at risk of losing their housing, or is a person who is already without housing because of a system that fails to provide for the basic needs of its citizens.

And that is not the fault of my clients.

It is the fault of politicians who have repeatedly failed to pass common sense legislation like what is before us today.

We need rent control.

We need it now.

Thank you.

Hello, everybody.

My name is Elena, and I'm a resident of District 6, North Seattle, Alex Peterson's district.

I own a house there, which I rent out currently, so I'm a landlord, and I'm in favor of rent control.

I want people to be able to afford living close to their workplaces.

The lady before me actually said my thoughts, too.

I want people to be able to walk like 15-minute cities or take a bus to their workplace so they don't have to commute, use a car.

exacerbate the problem of global warming.

So the only question right now is what side are Democrats on the City Council on?

So name-checking.

Mosqueda, Morales, Herbert, and Lewis, will you support Councilmembers' legislation for citywide rain control?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kate and Elena, for speaking in support of strong rent control as renters.

Thank you so much.

So wonderful to see you and your mom.

It's wonderful to see you here.

So next is John Watson.

After John is Dale Esquivel, Patrick Gibson, and Queen Bee.

Go ahead.

Hi.

My name is John Watson.

I am a WFSE local 1495 worker and I am employed at the University of Washington.

The majority of my co-workers in the custodial department cannot afford to live in the city of Seattle.

although they are an essential and necessary part of maintaining one of the city's most important and valuable institutions.

We are not able to participate fully in this city because we are not given that right.

I want to push back against the idea that Corporate landlords bring investment to the city and they help us grow.

I don't believe that.

I believe that corporate landlords take money from the workers of Seattle and they take it wherever they want.

They may invest it in here.

They may build a condo.

They may take it to New York.

They may take it into the desert and bury it in the sand.

Workers will invest in this city and workers will build the institutions that make this city great.

So there you go.

My name is Daryl Esquivel.

I moved to Seattle in 2010. I have worked in treatment centers, homeless shelters, eviction prevention.

During the pandemic, I worked in a motel housing shelter.

I also ran a program for eviction prevention for Chief Seattle Club.

In the three months, we spent $4.5 million keeping people housed.

All that money went to landlords.

All of it went to landlords, small landlords, large leasing companies.

The mayor just announced a new downtown action plan to, and I urge everyone to check it out online, read it.

Pay close attention to the urban industrial zones about industry supported housing, which really is code for Amazon building company towns in downtown Soto.

They want to build mixed-use buildings for industrial use and housing above, which basically is going to be...

What's the word?

Yeah, basically barracks is indentured servitude if you want to call it that.

But yeah, take a look at that.

The mayor has carved out all these plans for corporate interests and maritime industry downtown.

They have not addressed anything for the cost of commercial leasing for small business owners like myself.

or for housing, for rent control.

So I urge everyone, please support this bill.

And I'm talking specifically to council, the council members mentioned, and Council Member Juarez, who is our Native American council person, who does not support this rent control bill.

And the Native Americans face the highest rates of homelessness here in King County in Seattle.

So, thank you.

Hi, my name is Patrick Gibson.

I'm a renter in the Central District, and I wanted to talk about the role of the Democrats at the state level who have been in power for decades and refused to repeal the statewide ban on rent control.

We especially need to talk about folks who represent this area right here.

Pollitt, Peterson, Macri, all of them have been asked by Shama to publicly endorse our rent control legislation, and all of them have refused to do so.

And I think we need to understand why it's important to have them on the record.

We know it's going to take a movement to overturn the statewide ban.

We know that that movement starts here in Seattle.

And we cannot allow the Democrats on the city council to continue to hide behind the statewide ban and use it as an excuse not to pass rent control legislation here.

Pollitt, Peterson, Macri, are you going to go on the record supporting this legislation?

Are you going to go on the record against the statewide ban on rent control?

And then, are you going to actually do it?

That's what we need to see.

And after Queen B, there is Howard Gale and Chaz, I think, and then Aiden Carroll.

Go ahead, Queen B.

Thank you, Councilmember Sawant.

I am a resident of District 3. I am holding these two things in my hands because as a woman with disabilities, a woman of color, I live in supposedly affordable housing.

Every year, my rent goes up $100.

Now, I haven't worked since 2012. I can't imagine what it's going to go up to.

I live off a good amount of disability but couldn't even afford the rent here.

Homelessness and housing goes together.

I'm a homeless and housing advocate, and as long as we have rents that are uncapped, homelessness just gonna grow.

And people that's renting gonna be out here, working people, we gonna all be out here together, because nobody's gonna be able to afford to live here.

We got to use our minds, council members, besides Council Member Sawant, to bring more awareness so other people in other cities, states, wherever it is, will know that we got to have rent caps.

Thank you for all you do, Council Member Sawant.

God bless you.

Please, please, please vote for rent control.

Is Howard Gale here?

Go ahead.

Hi, Howard Gale, District 7, renter for a very long time.

Apropos the last comment, I want to point out, this is an astounding statistic.

In New York State, it is a state, but it's also true of the city, 5.4% of homeless people are unsheltered.

We often confuse homeless and unsheltered.

5.4% of homeless people are unsheltered.

Washington State and in Seattle, it's 50.2%.

And that's actually a vast improvement.

Three years ago, it was up around 80%.

And I will tell you, as a New Yorker, the reason, it's not some magic or kindness of New Yorkers, the reason that there is shelter in New York is because of SROs and because of the history of rent control.

So the relationship between homelessness and the worst aspect of homelessness, which is living unsheltered, and rent control is absolutely lockstep.

So one last thing I would request, you know, we need rent control, absolutely, but we also need an Office of Renters' Rights, just like we have an Office of Labor Standards.

We need an Office of Renters' Rights.

Without that, we're going to keep on getting screwed.

An Office of Renters' Rights would also be a source, an additional source, of advancing the cause of rent control.

Thanks.

I agree about having an Office of Renters' Rights.

Is Chas here?

And then after Chas, it's Aiden Carroll.

And then after Aiden Carroll, it's Luke Weigrin.

Hi, everyone.

I'm going to face you and actually talk.

I don't really have a whole lot to say besides, yes, obviously about friend control.

But why are we all facing the front?

Why are we not talking to each other?

Why are we not getting in small groups and ideating and sharing knowledge directly?

Why are we all facing the leaders?

Look, I'm a leftist like everyone else here, but like, why?

Guys, why?

Why do we keep doing this?

No, it totally is.

And it's really, like, it's amazing what everyone here has done.

But like, when our current council rotates, it's going to stay the same.

It's going to be the same uphill battle.

It's going to be just as hard as it ever was.

And we're going to be fighting just as hard.

I don't know.

That's my observation from my time in Seattle so far and being politically active.

I look forward to more direct participation in the political process from everyone.

Are there more sheets with public comment names?

Go ahead, Aiden.

Thanks Chaz, I agree with that and I also appreciate what Council Member Sawant and her organization has done.

First things first, I support this.

Duh.

I'm lucky that my parents could afford to buy a house 26 years ago in Wallingford when it was cheaper.

Seeing If you are annoyed about seeing homelessness in public space, you should support this.

If you're annoyed about seeing those of us with mental disabilities in a state where they're more obvious, you should support this.

If you are mad about public drug use and open-air drug dealing, that's a free market, isn't it?

You should support this.

You never know how easily you could be an addict.

That's a disability.

Housing should not be profitable, but work should be compensated for the value of labor.

There's a difference.

Homelessness is entirely a result of lack of housing.

That takes up a huge amount of volunteer time in Seattle, as well as those of us who are affected by it.

A child can understand because rent control doesn't make the line move faster.

Upzoning will do that.

We need upzoning.

But rent control means you can't cut to the front of the line because you have more money.

That's liberty, equality, bodily autonomy.

Homeless people and renderers, we need this.

After Luke, we have Melina McCombs.

And that's the last speaker who signed in person, and then I'll read the online names, which there aren't many.

So just wait to hear the online names, and then we'll leave together.

Go ahead, Luke.

I was going to start off by commending some of the landlords that showed up, or people that are ideologically aligned with the landlords, but they are gone.

They are with the other landlords who are sitting at home, comfortable, waging this battle with their pocketbooks and fighting us, the people.

You know, at the first committee meeting on June 30th, I warned that corporate landlords, along with their henchmen, self-proclaimed mom-and-pop landlords, would soon begin a campaign of fear-mongering, hand-waving, and self-victimization.

But even I didn't anticipate just how quickly, about 10 minutes later, on the call, these so-called housing providers got on and were, you know, using a litany of, you know, issues And I want to go through them one by one, but I don't have the time.

But basically, they say that we're the ones that are divisive.

But every time we speak up for ourselves, they call our ideas half-baked.

They claim that the chains of oppression that all of us feel, that we're imagining them, And that they're nothing but a fever dream, but this is whatever they want to call it an echo chamber This is people speaking about the problems that they're facing in their lives And I mean I am glad that some of them stayed because I could see on their faces that they you know maybe we're starting to realize that the the things that they're doing to other people are awful and But we need to get through that.

And right now, I mean, you know, I also do think that we need to speak on the mic to the citizenry.

So like, yes, we can break into small groups.

We are doing that.

And but this is really important what we're doing right now.

Thank you.

Hello.

Can you hear?

OK.

My name is Melinda McCombs.

I'm a native of Seattle, 70 years old.

And since 1972, I've been a renter.

My first apartment was only $98.

It was a beautiful studio over in Union Arms.

But now I'm living like everyone else who has said tonight that I'm paying more than half my income on rent.

So what I wanted to do is tail in on the last speaker, We oftentimes do come across as, who are we to complain?

Who are we with our ideas of what can happen?

But I want to say that what we have right now is broken.

Why are we trying to continue on with something that is broken?

When something breaks, you want to fix it.

Why don't we just try this?

Vote it in.

Try it for five, ten years, see what happens.

Voting in a democracy means we can turn things around if even this doesn't work.

But why can't we try this?

And someone said, one of the landlords said, they would be hurting if this happened.

We have been hurting and grinding and under the stone for a long time.

How about they carry the stone for a while and give us a rest?

No, really.

Let's try this.

You don't have to be Democrat or Republican.

In America, we try new things.

If it doesn't work, we toss it out and try another thing.

This may not work.

The next thing might work.

We've got to have hope instead of fighting.

And my time is up.

But we need to do this.

Give it five years.

Give it five years.

Thanks.

Thank you, Melina.

And I should mention Melina is such a wonderful activist.

We met her during the struggle that she and her fellow tenants had at their place at Rainier Court.

And after that, she kept showing up for every renter's fight that we had.

She really embodies the kind of working class solidarity we need, where you show up even if it's not your direct fight, but you show up because if other working class people win a victory, then it's a victory for all of us because it really puts the landlords, the bosses, and the ruling class on notice any time we win.

I want to call on the online speakers.

And as I said, there's not very many.

There's just a few handful of them.

So please bear with us and those who are here in person.

But I wanted to quickly, I said I was going to do it and I'm going to do it, share a little bit of insight into to refute one of the points that was made, I think it was the very first public comment by a landlord, who quoted a so-called Stanford study, which supposedly just demolishes rent control and proves it doesn't work.

And just because you say Stanford, we're supposed to think, well, gosh, those economists must know what they're talking about.

Well, here's one economist who strongly believes in rent control.

But you don't have to take my word for it.

Housing is a Human Right is a nationwide organization.

They had their economists meticulously analyze this supposed rent control study by these Stanford professors, and they laid out at least five key flaws of the study, which they say should make any journalist or policymaker think twice about holding up the paper as proof that rent control doesn't work.

Flaw number one, the claim that rent control increased gentrification in San Francisco is extremely misleading because they completely failed to mention, just incidentally they forgot to mention, that it is because of the loopholes in the law that these problems happen.

Flaw number two, is the study's conclusions about rent control increasing the cost to other tenants, again, are based on a seriously skewed data set that does not really apply to the total housing stock in San Francisco.

Flaw number three, the study vastly underestimates the benefits of rent control by excluding a big section of the tenants in their data set by artificially using a cut-off year.

I mean, would you call that scientific?

I wouldn't.

Basically, it's a select sample.

Flaw number four is the first two versions of the study were deceptively packaged to bury positive conclusions found about rent control that don't fit with the author's pre-decided agenda.

That is not how scientists do studies.

Flaw number five, the authors have released three different versions of the study, manipulating their mathematical models in each one to make rent control look worse.

If that wasn't enough, the reporters and policy makers were quick to hold up the Stanford study and say, look, rent control doesn't work.

They hardly ever mention the number of pro-rent control studies that have been done by top researchers at the University of Southern California, the University of California at Los Angeles, and UC Berkeley.

This is especially alarming.

If a journalist cites an anti-rent control study, don't you think that balanced coverage demands the inclusion of pro-rent control studies as well?

So don't buy into these lies.

Do our own research.

And we know rent control works.

And in fact, it's better than, you know, I totally agree with Melina.

We know the status quo isn't working, so why not try something new?

That would be a good enough reason to try out rent control, but it is much stronger than that.

We know there is overwhelming amounts of data, whether it's from San Francisco or Berkeley or New York or Vienna, we know rent control without loopholes works.

So it's not even a prayer.

We know it works, so we need it done.

Our online speakers, I'm going to call the online speakers in order.

Ted is going to make sure that your names, I mean, you can be unmuted, but when your name is called, please unmute using star six on your phone.

So the first speaker, I'll just read, okay, I'll just read out the names, that's fine.

Jessica Scalzo, Barbara Finney, Brent McFarlane, Marlon Hathaway, David Easton, David Gooden, Riley Retta, Ella Rapp, and Jude Ewing.

So, Jessica, you're first, ClickStar 6.

Hi, my name is Jessica Scalzo, and I am a renter in District 3, and I strongly urge you to support the rent control legislation that supports renters, not for the, uh, billionaire landlords.

And.

I appreciate Sean that you have continued to bring this forward.

I have continually moved into smaller and smaller apartments right now.

I live in a apartment, which is a small room where I share a kitchen with everyone on my floor.

And continually, I'm still having the fear that the rent continues to go up and I'll have to continue to move in smaller places or share a room or whatnot.

And also that I will have to continue to overwork myself and continue to lead to more injuries and illnesses and fatigue because of keeping up with the pace of capitalism, as well as I just saw a sweep today on Rainier.

So that's never far from my mind either.

Please support this rent control measure for renters.

Barbara Finney.

My name is Barbara Finney, active retiree member of the American Federation of Government Employees, FOCA 3197, that represents the healthcare workers of the Seattle VA Medical Center.

Our union local supports Council Member Sawant's proposed legislation for rent control with no loopholes and no watering down.

Council Members Mosqueda, Herbold, Morales, and Lewis, stand with your constituents, the majority who are renters, and support Council Member Sawant's rent control legislation.

The unaffordable rent forces workers across trades and wages to have to move, as many have spoken tonight.

but having to move ranks among the highest stressors of life and poses a threat to physical, psychological, relational, and spiritual well-being.

AFGE 3197 stands in solidarity with working class and low-income renters and in support of rent control as proposed by the council member.

Please bring this to your union or organization if they haven't yet got on board.

Let's fight together for rent control without loopholes and carve-outs.

and for taxes on the rich to fund major expansions of publicly owned rent controlled social housing.

Thank you.

Brent?

Hello, Brent McFarland.

Um, I live in Seattle district five, more than 50% of the residents and voters in district five are renting.

Rent control helps people remain in stable housing.

In late 2019, the 32nd legislative district Democrats passed a resolution in support of rent control in Seattle.

Just before the pandemic hit, it passed unanimously.

In the discussion before the vote, we heard from many people who had moved to Shoreline and Linwood after getting rent gouged out of their Seattle housing.

They still work in Seattle.

They just had to move further away, adding more commuting time to their day, less time to spend at home, less time really to take care of themselves.

In early 2020, the King County Democrats passed similar resolution in support of rent control for the entire county.

Um, Seattle needs rent control.

We need every member of city council to get behind this rent control without loopholes.

And Seattle needs to be a strong voice in Olympia to end the 42 year old ban on rent control.

The state legislature failed to pass rent control in the last session.

They have to get it done.

Sorry, we had to cut you, Brent, but please send your testimony in full in writing.

Sorry?

Yes, absolutely.

Brent, I hope you heard.

Everybody says they support you.

So next we have Marlon Hathaway, HTAR 6.

Hello, everybody.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Hello, everybody.

My name is Marlon Hathaway.

I'm a homeowner in District 5 in Seattle, and I'm here to speak about rent control.

First, I want to say I urge strongly that the Seattle City Council pass this resolution for rent control without any loopholes or watering down.

It is imperative.

I've been a Seattleite for 44 years, having spent more than three-quarters of that time as a renter.

I also owned a restaurant here in Seattle from 1997 through 2008. And in that time, I employed hundreds of people.

I served food to tens of thousands of my fellow residents and others.

Currently, I'm a beer and wine spirit specialist for a local grocery co-op and a USCW 3000 member.

And I work with PCCWU, which is the Workers United Group.

That's an ad hoc group that's been fighting for $25 an hour base wage for all of my coworkers and $35 for people that are journeying and people like myself.

who have more tenure.

I'm fortunate enough to own a home and two other rental properties that my wife and I have recently purchased as a strategy for retirement.

Our goal is not to profit from the rentals through higher rents, but through long-term appreciation, selling them later at a higher price.

Our philosophy is to charge as little as we can for rent to ensure

Again, I apologize, Marlon, we had to cut you off, but really appreciate you supporting rent control and also the PCC workers as a homeowner yourself.

David Easton, please hit star six.

Hello?

Hello?

We can hear you.

We can hear you.

Go ahead.

Sorry.

David, renter in District 3. I've made six moves in the last eight years.

Not at the meeting because I'm at my second job right now.

I'm asking the council to vote yes on this legislation.

Seattle has already made strides toward greater investment in public housing, which is the first answer as far as what to do about any supply problems that may result from developers making good on the usual threats to divest from communities that limit the profit margins to be made from rent.

Additionally, as it is now, most new development in Seattle is built with wealthier transplants in mind rather than residents whose income is mostly stagnant year after year because that's what is most profitable.

This is not the solution, but the primary driver of the housing crisis, as all prices, including rent, are driven up, leaving us with appallingly high rates of homelessness and luxury high rises with large percentages of vacant units at the same time.

This isn't something we can just develop or deregulate our way out of.

Most people can't forego housing to wait for better market conditions like with other commodities, so the price of housing doesn't reflect a real market price so much as it reflects what can be charged and gotten away with.

We need to act now to ameliorate this obviously insane situation we're dealing with.

Please vote yes, no watering down the loopholes.

Thanks.

David Gooden.

Hi.

Hi, my name is David Gooden.

I want to thank Seattle City Council and all the participants and speakers tonight.

I've been living in Seattle for 25 years.

I'm retired now.

I currently live in Seattle housing.

My housing is subsidized.

I can't afford to live in any other housing in Seattle as a professional.

But I want to thank Councilwoman Sawant for her courage to stand up for working people in Seattle and for taking a stand against corporations.

Thank you, Shama.

And I want to urge the Democrats on the City Council to vote yes for Councilwoman Sawant's legislation.

Hey, take a stand for workers.

And for the unhoused living in the shadows of luxury apartments, please take a stand, City Council, make history, vote yes on rent control.

It's the first step.

Thank you all and have a good night.

Next person who's showing us present is Riley Retta.

Hello.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Perfect.

My name is Riley Retta.

I am a social worker and a second year master's of social work student at the University of Washington, as well as a renter in North Seattle.

With regards to rent costs, what is happening not just here, but across the nation is unsustainable and inhumane.

We have the data.

We know that the number one cause of homelessness is cost of living.

We know that once rent passes 30% of house household income, tenants' risk of homelessness skyrockets.

Average rent is way outpacing minimum wage, and now hardworking people and families are at risk for no other reason except that landlords are allowed to put them at risk for a profit.

We cannot keep going down this path.

Please, I urge all of you, let Seattle be an example to the rest of the nation.

When you vote on this, think of the millions of hardworking people across the nation, including The vast majority of people in this room and calling in constantly at risk of losing their most basic human right, a roof over their heads, through no fault of their own.

I promise you that landlords have enough money.

The rest of us don't, and we are barely surviving.

I urge you to vote yes on Councilmember Solange's rent control legislation.

Thank you.

There are only two more speakers who are showing us present.

If Alice Lockhart or Jordan Sullivan or Jackson Tyson, if you are listening, you're not showing us present just to let you know.

So we have Ella Rapp next.

Hi, I'm Ella.

I'm a renter in New York City here to speak in support Of council member salons proposed rent control legislation, some form of rent regulation has been on the books in New York City since the 1940s, making New York 1 of the best examples we have in the US of both the protections that rent regulations offering to tenants and working families, but also the disastrous results that follow from carve outs for the real estate lobby.

The major corporate loopholes that exist in our legislation, like the fact that less than 1% of the city's rental units are actually rent controlled, and anything built after 1973 is under no regulation whatsoever.

Vacancy decontrol, which is still in place as to our most strictly rent controlled apartments, and the practice of warehousing, which allows big landlords to intentionally leave empty their stabilized units, resulting in 20,000 vacant rent stabilized units in New York.

These can all be pointed to to explain why New York remains the most expensive city in the country for renters, despite the protections that we do have in place.

And a victory on real loophole-free rent control in Seattle would give momentum to the kind of tenant movements we urgently need in New York City and would pave the way to winning real protections for renters and working families across the country.

Thanks.

Ella spoke at our committee on June 30th as well, but we have to especially thank her because it's nearly midnight in New York City and she stayed up.

Thank you so much, Ella.

And we have, you know, again, that's what solidarity looks like.

So our last speaker is Jude Ewing.

Go ahead.

Hi.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Can you hear?

Okay.

My name is Jude Ewing.

I'm the president of Lake city house for resident council for the last six years in Seattle housing authority, public housing, and an advocate for all human beings in the district of district five.

Hello, Deborah.

And area, the area medium income for King County is $137,000.

And our former mayor put into that low into law that the low income apartments be put at 65% of that income, which is $89,200, which means you currently have to make $46 and 50 cents an hour to live in low income, private housing.

Which the former mayor allowed developers to either set aside a few low income apartments at the so-called low income level of 65%, which there are very few of, making $46.50 an hour.

So developers could put that money into a so-called community pot if they preferred, which is not necessarily being used where it's needed.

Homelessness in Lake city alone has increased 20% in the last month as a true low income resident living in public housing.

I get 15% of the area, medium income, increasing rents trickles down and affects all citizens.

Thank you, Jude, and sorry we had to cut you off, but hope you can join us on July 21st.

So please, everybody who spoke up in favor of rent control, we need you to join us on Friday, July 21st at 9.30 a.m.

at Seattle City Hall, so make sure you take this.

Make sure you tell all your friends and families, everybody who's struggling with the skyrocketing rents, it's in their interest that they come and fight for rent control, so make sure we have a really good turnout there.

And make sure you take one of these and just scan this small print list to see if your building is there.

It'll take you a few minutes, but it's worth it.

Because then you can also tell your fellow tenants, hey, did you know that there's a lawsuit that alleges that our building is part of a price fixing, alleged price fixing scheme?

That's going to be important.

And also just another reminder to all the committee members and other council members that the amendments are due tomorrow to the City Council Central staff.

I thank all the council members for staying or those who stayed till the end.

And especially thank you everyone who spoke, both online and in person.

And you saw today how powerful it is when people come in person.

So if you're able to, if you don't have health or other reasons why you can't show up, or if you can take time off from work, I know it's difficult on Friday morning, but if you can, please come.

We need you there.

And let's keep fighting.

Want to win rent control?

Are we going to win?

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!

Awesome.

Thank you.