Sustainability & Renters' Rights Committee 4/15/22

Today is Friday, April 15th, 2022, and the time is 931 AM.

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

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

Council Member Sawa?

Present.

Council Member Juarez?

Present.

Council Member Lewis?

Present.

Council Member Morales?

Council Member Nelson.

Three present.

Thank you Ted and welcome Council Members to this committee this morning.

Council Member Nelson let my office know that she expects to be about 10 minutes late to today's meeting so she will likely join the meeting soon.

We have three discussions on today's agenda.

related to renters rights.

First, the committee will discuss and vote on an ordinance proposed by Councilmember Strauss that changes the timeline for payment plans repaying the back rent renters may owe during the pandemic and we have Councilmember Strauss here as well.

On May 11, 2020, shortly after the public health emergency started, the council passed a bill allowing renters to pay off rent debt in installments.

However, that bill spreads the installments over six months, which could be a very short period of time if renters are far behind.

Now that the COVID emergency has lasted over two years and we know it is far from an uncommon situation that renters are very far behind and have unfortunately accumulated a lot of debt.

Then in 2021, renter organizers won Senate Bill 5160 in Washington state, which included a similar payment plan for unpaid back rent.

But in that case, the payment plan was for payments up to a third per month's rent each month, which could go longer than six months for renters more than two months behind on rent.

The bill we're voting on today aligns the city of Seattle's payment plan timeline with the state timeline, which will help avoid confusion.

The state timeline is legally the timeline that applies anyway.

So for most renters and landlords, this will not make a substantive change.

The one exception being back rent accrued in the six months following the end of the emergency is only covered by the city law, not the state law.

So the change timeline would have an impact on how rent owed for those months would be paid off.

Because this is an overwhelmingly just a bill to clarify the existing laws that apply I believe we can vote it out of committee today, and we'll have a discussion soon.

Next on today's agenda our appointments the city of Seattle renters Commission the renters Commission has many vacancies because former mayor Durkin.

failed to appoint anyone for several years.

Last year, the commissioners attempted to help fill those vacancies, advertised for applicants, conducted interviews, and made recommendations to the mayor's office for whom to appoint.

This year, Mayor Harrell has approved those recommended appointees, and today the committee will discuss and vote on them.

Finally, today's committee will talk to renters.

at the Matkin Apartments on Capitol Hill.

My office attended a meeting organized by the Tenants Union of Washington with many of the residents of the Matkin on Wednesday, and we wanted to invite them to tell their story today.

The longtime owner of the building passed away, and the new owners have stated that they intend to sell the building.

The tenants of the building have really made it a home.

Several tenants have lived there for over a decade because they like the building, they like the community, and they can afford the rent.

They are extremely worried that the building will be sold to a developer who will demolish the building and displace them.

And we've heard from several low income renters including seniors who are at risk of displacement.

But the good news is that they are getting organized the tenants are getting organized the forming attendance Association, so that they can come together and fight to save their homes.

Last year, the New Hope Community Development Institute, fighting alongside community activists and my council office, won state and city funding to save the homes of the tenants at Squire Park Plaza, which was similarly at risk when it was put up for sale.

My office supports the city and state funding of a similar nonprofit to buy the Matkin apartments, if possible.

So today we have the tenants of the Matkin here to tell their story.

Before we begin the agenda items, we have public comment.

We have Actually, one person signed up for the public comment, but I'm not seeing them.

I mean, I'm seeing them as listed as not present.

So, Ted, can you confirm, like, there's David Haynes, but he's showing up as not present.

Am I right?

That's what I see also.

So that would mean nobody for public comment.

Okay, so seeing that our lone speaker for public comment is not present, I will go ahead and close public comment.

And we will now begin our first agenda item, Council Bill 120305, an ordinance modifying Ordinance 126081 concerning repayment plans for rental arrears accrued during or within six months after the termination of the civil emergency declared on March 3rd, 2020. Jeff Simms from City Council Center staff is here to present also.

But Council Member Strauss, as you're the prime sponsor of the bill, would you like to introduce the legislation before Jeff Simms speaks?

Thank you, Chair Sawant.

I'd be happy to take Jeff's bill report and then make some comments.

It's a modest and technical correction.

Like you just described, the state has already passed this legislation, and so this is bringing our city's laws in line with the state's.

But I'll see what Jeff has to say and then follow up with any more information.

Thank you, Chair Sawant.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Jeff.

Thank you, Council Member for the record, F-SIMS, Council of Central Staff, and I, you know, I'm not actually, but every guy I am able to share, just a moment.

Great, so I really only have one slide that I thought that having something visual for the public, especially would be useful.

I know that the committee is very well versed in most of this topic really on the left hand side.

You can see the current city ordinance.

that was adopted, ordinance 126081, on the right side are the provisions that would be proposed in this council bill.

And I'll just walk through the four ways that there is substantive changes made.

First, as council member Sawant already discussed, there was an envision of a six-month repayment plan initially.

At that point, there was only, we were only a couple months into the pandemic.

there wasn't an anticipation that there would be substantially, you know, multiple years of rent being accrued.

So this would conform with the one-third that's already been discussed as what the state has put into place.

For the second line, you see that the tenant can, in the original legislation that is currently adopted, the tenant can propose an alternative plan.

The Proposed ordinance would use the language a reasonable schedule.

That mirrors what is actually in the state statute so that it would accommodate a variety of factors potentially.

But ultimately would be not a meaningful difference, it's just mostly a technical language difference.

Third, you can see, as we've discussed, this is aligning with, the revisions would align with what the state has passed and the state, the reference to the state code is there.

It's largely the same.

That was intentional, of course.

And then the only, the primary difference is the fourth line, and this is just what I wanted to highlight for committee, is that what the state has enacted, this actually isn't well reflected on the slide, What is currently in place would be the state plan would supersede it.

So you would have a long period of time with rent capped at one third, but the rent that would be covered or is covered by the state ordinance And thus, what effectively is what happens under current law for the city as well, is once the governor ends the declaration of emergency for the public health emergency, no rent after that time must be incorporated into the repayment plan.

The proposal to you today, the Council Bill 120305, instead ties as city legislation, it ties to the mayor's declaration of civil emergency, plus an additional six months.

So if the mayor and the governor did not rescind their orders at the same time, There would be potentially, for example, if Mayor Harreld took two months longer to rescind the state of emergency, tenants would already have two months longer because of the way that the new bill ties to the city's action, and would have six additional months as well, because the proposed legislation is not only the end of the civil emergency, but also six months afterwards.

If the mayor and the governor were in lockstep and rescinded their orders at the same time, under this proposal, rent covered for six months after the termination of those orders would still be captured under the repayment plan if Council Bill 120305 were adopted.

With that, I'll turn it over to questions from the council members.

Thank you, Jeff, for that presentation.

Council Member Strauss, other council members, if you'd like to speak.

Thank you, Chair.

That was a great technical presentation.

Thank you, Jeff, for your work.

As Jeff mentioned, this is essentially a technical correction to the legislation that we passed in 2020. And we passed it two months after the pandemic began.

So in May of 2020, The council adopted ordinance 126081, which required that tenants with unpaid rent from the pandemic be offered a repayment plan that lasted three to six months, depending on the amount of rental debt owed.

Today is April 15th, 2022. If this were 2020, if we were in April of 2020, the pandemic would have started last month and we would have passed that bill next month.

At that time, we believed the pandemic would only last two weeks.

Then we believed it would last two months, and we did not foresee it lasting two years or more.

We knew then with, at that time, everyone, everything was shut down, and many people's line of work suddenly froze.

People needed time, and we knew that people needed time to address the debt incurred during that closure, during the initial part of the pandemic.

A year later, the following legislative session in April of 2021, the state passed similar repayment legislation.

That's what we have before us.

They had the benefit of having a year longer to understand the pandemic.

It was going to last more than two weeks.

And so the reason I offer this modest bill as a technical correction is the legislation before you today is a mirror of our state's legislation.

requiring a reasonable repayment plan for debt incurred during the COVID-19 state of emergency.

And I'm happy to answer any other questions.

I really appreciate Jeff's overview.

I think it nailed it on the head.

Thank you, Chair Swan.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Do other committee members, council members want to say anything?

Comments, questions?

I don't see anything, and I believe we've had a good explanation of the bill.

Thank you, Jeff.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

If there are no further questions or comments for council members, we will move for the vote.

So I will move Council Bill 120305. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

The bill has been moved and seconded.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Schallach?

Yes.

Council Member Juarez?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Three in favor.

Great.

So the bill is passed by the committee and will go as a recommendation to the City Council on Tuesday next week, am I right?

The following week, April 26th.

Okay.

Okay, great.

So we will, yeah, we will have the bill on the council on April 26. Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Jeff Sims.

And we will go to the next items on today's agenda, which are four appointments and one reappointment to the Seattle Renters Commission.

I will read the appointments into the record and then we will begin.

Appointment 02180, appointment of Tim Guy as member Seattle Renters Commission for a term to February 28, 2023. Appointment 02181, reappointment of Ariana Laureano as member Seattle Renters Commission for a term to February 28, 2024. appointment 02182 appointment of sarah mcdaniel as member seattle renters commission for a term to february 28 2024 appointment 02183 appointment of kim mcgill bray as member seattle renters commission for a term to february 2020 february 28 2024 and appointment 02184 appointment of char smith as members Seattle Renters Commission returned to February 28, 2024. We are joined today by the four new appointees and Alexis Izor from the Department of Neighborhoods, who will be staffing the commission this year.

Please introduce yourselves and for people being appointed, please say a few words about why you want to serve on the Renters Commission and Ariana.

Sorry, I'm not sure if Ariana is present, but yeah, let's have the discussion.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Alexis Iser.

I use they, them pronouns.

I am the People's Academy for Community Engagement Coordinator at Department of Neighborhoods and am still in the process of onboarding as the staff liaison for the Renters Commission and taking over for Shaquan.

Do you want me to read the bios next and then have?

That sounds good.

Okay, great.

So for the reappointment, Ariana is a disability and housing rights activist who has been fighting since 2020 here in Seattle to progress tenants' rights in the hopes of making Seattle a safer city for people with disabilities.

Sarah McDaniel is currently a graduate student at UW Seattle, pursuing a concurrent master's in public administration and urban planning.

Sarah is also currently working with Seattle Public Utilities as a community engagement intern.

She did her undergraduate at UW Tacoma, where she majored in the School of Urban Studies and School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.

During undergrad, Sarah held student leadership positions, such as being the committee chair of the Student Services and Activities Fee Committee and vice chair of the Campus Sustainability Committee.

Before attending UW, she went to Pierce College Puyallup to get her AA and served in AmeriCorps there for two years afterwards, starting and managing a higher education outreach program for local youth.

Sarah grew up in Bonney Lake, Washington, and afterwards lived in a transitional home in unincorporated Pierce County that was run by a Tacoma nonprofit.

This experience directly influenced her current education path and passion into the decision-making processes and policies that influence where people live and what they have access to.

During her last academic year, Sarah was part of a nonprofit board fellowship with a nonprofit home site and got to complete a project for them on their upcoming housing cooperative in Southeast Seattle.

Tim Guy, or Tim Kili Guy, is a current employee of UW Medicine and has been a renter in the Chinatown International District since the early 2010s.

Prior to that, Tim grew up in the part of Washington State, best referred to as South of South of Tacoma, after moving here with family from Oahu, Hawaii at the beginning of the 90s.

Combining a diverse perspective as a gay Hapa living on the mainland, who dove headfirst into international e-commerce and then into the unrelated field of healthcare in the US.

With a voracious appetite for the written word that led to degrees in the humanities, Tim strives to be the change they wish to see around them without compromising on their personal sense of self as well.

Kim McGillivray was a Seattleite from her first breath, which was drawn at Swedish Hospital on First Hill.

She went to local public schools and state universities before beginning her career in television news at King 5. She moved to Washington, D.C.

to work for the NBC-owned station WRC.

Wanting a more active role than journalism allows, Kim went to law school, interning for one federal judge and later clerking for another.

She combined law and news to analyze court opinions from across the country as a reporter for the Bureau of National Affairs, now Bloomberg BNA.

Returning to Seattle in 2000 Kim worked for the federal government as a writer and editor and went back to school to learn about nonprofits and grant writing.

She currently works as a data analyst on a domestic violence program study backed by the Gates Foundation and volunteers with agencies supporting the elderly the LGBTQ plus community and fighting racism and poverty and their myriad effects.

And Charles Charles Smith he him is an educator musician and a nerd for local history.

After moving to Seattle while homeless, he was fortunate enough to find housing, attend college, and is now living his best life as a teacher to some wonderful early childhood students at Giddens School in Beacon Hill.

He currently lives in Crown Hill, having previously lived in the First Hill, Capitol Hill, and Georgetown neighborhoods.

Thank you, Alexis, for that introduction, for the biographies of the respective appointees.

Would the appointees yourselves like to speak?

Maybe I'll just call on you just because this is Zoom and it's kind of awkward.

You know, if you're in person, it's much better.

But anyway, I'll call on you by name and then you should go ahead, introduce your name for the record and then say a few words about why you would like to serve on the commission.

So I'll call on Tim, but before that, before you speak, Tim, I just wanted to note for the record that we've been joined by committee member, Council Member Nelson.

Thank you for being here, Council Member Nelson.

So Tim, go ahead, Tim Guy.

Hi, my name is Timothy Hikili Guy, although Tim is just fine.

I guess I applied for this position because I've been living in Seattle for so long as a renter.

And I see myself continuing to be a renter for many years now in Seattle.

So I don't know.

I just guess, you know, living in the District 2 and in Chinatown, the International District, I just I don't always know if we're got much of a voice out there.

And so I kind of wanted to bring that and my experiences living in the city forward.

So mainly the reason I'm here.

Thank you.

Then Sarah, can you go next?

Hello, my name is Sarah McDaniel.

I use she her and I am I mean, one, that bio, I think, did a really good job.

I was not prepared to hear all of that.

So thank you for preparing that.

I think the point that was included from that that I really want to hit on, which is my experience with transitional housing and being a current student at UW, I think those are kind of two maybe unique experiences with transitioning that I think that I think are important and I hope to bring to the commission, as well as just, you know, a student perspective and what it's like to live in, you know, this U district area and kind of any unique challenges that come with that.

So thank you.

Thank you, Sarah.

And then can we have Kim go ahead.

Absolutely and thank you.

As someone who's been a renter more of her life than anything else, I see affordable housing as crucial.

It's essential for any city and especially Seattle where incomes for some are taking off and for others are bottoming out.

So I'm hoping to work on things that will increase the availability of affordable housing, perhaps income-based housing, which seems like a very fair system.

I think my background as an attorney gives me some lens through which to view that.

And I think that also one of the emphases that I would like to work on is making sure that the laws that the council passes have enforcement mechanisms in them, so that renters who are faced with difficult situations don't then have to take on the further burden of finding an attorney or another person who can speak for them and help them, but instead can point to an article in the law that gives them that agency already.

So anyhow, there's a lot of work.

I'm eager to start.

I thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you, Kim.

And now we have Char.

Go ahead.

Hi, my name is Char Smith.

They're he, him pronouns.

And, you know, as somebody who really deeply loves this city, but has also had a lot of firsthand experience with some of the ways that it is very difficult to live here and to move here, particularly for somebody who is living while not having a roof over their head.

I'm just really excited to be able to work with the rest of the commission and hopefully be able to help ensure that the voices of people who have lived outside and who are currently living outside are going to be elevated because they are our neighbors as well.

Thank you.

Thank you to all of you for being willing to serve on a commission actually that has been really active in its advocacy for renters throughout the city and also thank you, Char, for mentioning the connection between rights of renters and also our homeless neighbors because there is a direct connection.

I mean obviously there are there's a complexity of reasons why a given individual might end up facing homelessness but the conduit between unaffordable housing as a renter and facing homelessness is a very strongly statistically proven one.

We know we have studies that show that for every $100 increase in the average rent, we have a 15% rise in homelessness.

And that is a connection that was statistical study that covered many cities across the nation, including suburban areas.

I'm sure if you did a study like that just for Seattle, you would probably find an even stronger link because the rents are skyrocketing.

And that combined with now the new inflation, another recession on the horizon, with already having had the misery of the pandemic, loss of income, working people and who are also renters have just borne the brunt of it.

And so, yeah, you are all coming on the commission once the vote happens at a time when the crisis is acute, but also at a time when renters really, I think, want to fight back.

I had a couple of questions for you, but I see Council Member Nelson's hand up.

So I'll go ahead and call on Council Member Nelson and I'll come in again.

Go ahead, Council Member Nelson.

Well, first, I want to say thank you to all of you for being willing to give your time and perspective and expertise to this commission, because it's all volunteer and it's a big responsibility.

So thank you.

And I wanted to follow up on something that Kim said about preserving affordable housing or making sure that there is affordable housing.

And to me, that means retaining the more affordable housing that is provided by small landlords.

We lost about 14% of the registrants in the in the Rio survey, which basically inspects properties.

That is worrisome to me because it means that people are taking their units off the market for various reasons.

figuring out ways to balance the needs of renters and allowing the small landlords who generally don't rent at market rates from selling, helping them stay in business so they don't sell, so that their properties are redeveloped for market rates, which are unaffordable for most people.

So that is the comment, and I hope that that will be a consideration that you take into your to your work on the commission.

So thank you.

Would any other council members like to make any points or are there any questions for the prospective appointees?

I had a question to all of you.

We have obviously seen the crisis that we were talking about before.

So in terms of your work on the renters commission, are there specific policy agenda that you are thinking about, and I'm asking you not just in general, but also in the context of a renters commission, as I said before, that has been really active and outspoken, and I really strongly appreciate that in their advocacy for renters.

For example, several of the policy victories that we were able to win through my office and through renter organizing were actually very much strongly supported by the renters commission.

And some of them actually originated the recommendation.

Some of them originated from the renters commission, like the winter eviction ban was something that the renters commission really advocated for.

And also the six month notice for renters, you know, before any rent increase can happen, all of that, you know, the renters commission played an integral role in that.

So what further development do you believe that we should be fighting for?

I'll speak up.

Go ahead.

One of the things that we've already been discussing, and we're going to be more specific once we can hone in on particular pieces of legislation, anti-retaliation measures akin to those in civil rights laws that will serve as a basis, you know, sword and shield for renters in the future.

after we heard from Department of Construction and Inspection and realized how few people they have in this city to respond to complaints of the spectrum of problems faced by tenants, it becomes clear that there need to be some more self-enforcement and some more protections for renters who do speak up.

because help may be a while in coming.

So, you know, I just see a need for, I guess, a bigger stick.

So that's what I'll be advocating for.

Thank you, Kim.

I really appreciate that.

And yes, I completely agree that there should be very strong anti-retaliatory language.

I mean, we have that language for workers' rights and obviously that it's only as strong as its enforcement.

So we need to enforce those rights, but also for tenants, the starting point is having those laws on the books.

And then we have to make sure that those laws are enforced because yes, intimidation and threats by landlord against tenants speaking up is unfortunately, Yeah, not an unheard of occurrence.

It happens all the time.

Would any of the other prospective appointees like to add anything?

Charlie, go ahead.

Sure.

I think this was discussed in the early process of looking to join the commission.

I think one thing that has come up for me as a renter in Seattle is kind of what Kim spoke to is both the enforcement, but also You know, I hear a lot of talk about we need to make sure that mom and pop landlords are being helped out and certainly they need to be able to make sure they've got a roof over their head.

But one of the things that I've noticed is that a lot of our laws seem to give a lot of really strong enforcement for larger entities, corporate entities, and tend to get a lot more relaxed and I would say lenient when it comes to smaller operations.

Based on having mostly rented from what you would call mom and pop establishments in the city, I would note that it is those areas where the enforcement is either divergent or different between larger rental companies or mom and pop outfits.

Those are areas where the latter will oftentimes take advantage of renters and really, really not live up to the spirit of the law while adhering to the letter of it.

And that's something I would really love to hopefully see reviewed and looked at.

Anyone else want to add anything?

And Char, I think you brought up a very important point.

Sorry, do you go by Char or Char?

Am I saying it right?

Char?

Yeah, you got it.

Great.

Yeah, I did definitely want to respond to that as a very important point.

But Tim or Sarah, did you want to add anything?

I guess if I had to bring up anything, you know, I think one thing that strikes me is that, like, we often use the term market rate to describe, you know, the cost of apartments.

or the rent in seattle and uh...

and that it keeping up with market rate which is not affordable and uh...

as someone who you live and work in the city i've had to constantly change employment i thought my rent from the early twenty or twenty ten by this time in more than double and so it's just uh...

Everything else isn't keeping up with the market rate.

How can rent also manage to do that?

And so I guess looking at policies regarding that, I think like the moratorium we had on rental increase was a good thing this past pandemic or during the pandemic that we're still in.

And so.

What do you think about rent control?

Um, I, I think it, it's great.

I have, um, a few relatives over on the East coast that have that, um, have the benefit of that and, um, they are much more economically secure in their situations because of it.

So.

Sarah, would you like to add anything?

Hi.

Um, yeah, kind of my thoughts, I guess, we're advocating for more community-owned forms of housing.

And how city officials, agencies, departments, whatever, can support that and help prop that up.

So I guess I'm thinking the weirdness that currently, if a housing cooperative is trying to start, how banks, even local, more community focus banks still are kind of, you know, weirded on the fact of like, um, blanket and shared loans, stuff like that.

Can cities kind of do anything to help, um, make more of a culture that would support that, or if they could just kind of prop that up themselves, um, in any other kind of, like, smaller loan agencies, if people wanted to do that in, like, kind of their own, like, big houses and stuff like that.

So, Um, yeah, I guess I'm kind of thinking how to focusing on advocating for community ownership, more of housing.

Right, all of you, I really appreciate all the points you brought up that they're extremely valuable and and you are, I mean, I could not agree more with what you all have said in terms of your recommendations for what needs to change.

And I think obviously we need to keep working on strengthening the renters' rights law in many different ways.

I hope you all know the kinds of laws we were able to initiate through the work of renter organizing, through my office, through socialists fighting for union members where I've been part of it.

And we won a whole series of victories last year, but we need to win more this year.

And crisis is acute for renters and working people.

And but in addition to all of those other things that we're doing and you know including the six month notice the economic evictions assistance ordinance which actually mandates that landlord should pay.

three months rent, when they end up displacing a tenant due to an exorbitant rent increase.

But in addition to all of that we do need the sort of the overarching policy changes that will actually like make a decisive shift in the misery that renters face and many of you have talked about how you know Sarah talked about the crisis for students.

Tim was talking about how working people are constantly being forced to move, their income is not keeping up, obviously, with the skyrocketing rent.

All of this, I think, absolutely needs citywide rent control.

And I would appeal to you all, you know, if you all could, you know, look at the rent control legislation that my office has drafted, we would love your feedback.

But just, you know, in a nutshell, what that bill does, if it is passed, is if the, it would go into effect as soon as the state lifted its completely unjust, more than 40-year-old ban on rent control for cities to pass rent control.

But, you know, If the ban were lifted, then the rent control that we are recommending is extremely strong.

Basically, it says that every rental home, no matter what it is, if you're renting in a group house or a condo or, as Sarah mentioned, student housing, if you're a student near UW and you're renting in student housing, it doesn't matter what type of rental home it is, you should be covered under rent control and it should have vacancy control, meaning it should not be allowed to go up dramatically again.

And it should remain under rent control regardless of tenants moving in and out.

And it should be citywide and it should cover all buildings regardless of when the buildings were built.

And as you, I'm sure you all know, you know, because you have some expertise on renters rights, you know that in other cities where they have one rent control, the corporate landlord lobby ended up fighting against it, and they they've introduced loopholes of various kinds that makes the rent control function not well and then they use those loopholes to say look rent control doesn't work it doesn't cover all all all renters.

And so it needs to be abolished.

But what we've seen is that even with those weaknesses, having rent control in these crucial cities has proven to be an absolute lifeline for a lot of working people.

And we need that in Seattle because it's just getting unlivable.

The rents are just unaffordable.

And I thought Shahr brought up a very, very important point about how there is this whole idea created like, well, it's mom and pop landlords and then we should be protecting mom and pop landlords as if that's a goal in itself.

The goal is to make life livable for the vast majority of people.

And so by that measure, nobody should be allowed to exploit anyone else.

So whether you're a small business or you're Amazon, you should not be exploiting your employees.

Similarly, whether you're a small landlord or a big landlord, you should not be allowed to exploit renters.

And so I really appreciate, Char, the point you brought up that, well, you know, the law should be enforced no matter which landlords are doing it.

And I think It's a very important point that a lot of, you know, there are good landlords, but we cannot have laws that rely on some people doing good things, whereas the norm for renters being that they're being exploited.

I would really recommend if people haven't read the book by Matthew Desmond, which is called Evicted, Poverty and Profit in the American City, which is a brilliant exposition of How there are so many landlords, including small landlords, who, whether or not they may be good or whatever people in their personal lives, end up playing this role in the rental market playing an absolutely just devastating and exploitative role towards renters and that's why The laws have to be written in such a way and enforced in such a way that they protect renters who are being exploited.

Furthermore, there's also the problem that a lot of slumlords and even big corporations like Windermere and so on, you know, they divide themselves into small LLCs where the individual company might be small, but overall it is actually a massive corporation that is exploiting renters.

So I think that all of that needs to be taken into consideration.

And my office has repeatedly, you know, made those points that we need to keep that into account.

And the last point I'll make before we call for a vote, unless there are any other questions, is, you know, in response to what Council Member Nelson said, I mean, there's this repeated assertion that's being made by the landlord lobby that small landlords are leaving the housing market.

And the implication, although it's often not said explicitly, the underlying whatever, you know, the sort of the code of language is that Renters' rights are driving small landlords out of the market, and that's why we need to give consideration to landlords.

I want to be very clear, and I've said this before, but I'll say it again in this committee.

The data has been totally misrepresented to make that claim.

First, the data that they're using is rental inspection registrations, which landlords could skip during the pandemic.

So there might not even be a reduction in small landlords.

You know, it's not clear.

The numbers are not reliable.

But I would not be surprised if small landlords were selling because property values are going through the roof.

Property values are skyrocketing.

So the question is, are landlords selling because they do not want to comply with the first-in-time law?

Are they selling because property values have gone through the roof and they can cash in on their property like never before?

I mean, all of that needs to be examined.

And so if we're going to be data-driven, let's actually be data-driven.

And we also have to have a reality check from the perspective of renters.

It does not make much difference whom you pay your rent check to.

If a landlord is not willing to respect renter's rights and sells the property as a result, then they probably should not have been a landlord anyway.

And the bottom line is, if you're a landlord who is not exploiting renters, your tenants, then the laws don't even affect you.

Even rent control actually won't affect you as a landlord if you're not gouging your tenants with high rents.

So, you know, it should, if you're a good landlord, then you should actually be supporting.

And we do have good landlords who do support renters, right?

Some of them have spoken up in public comment as well.

So I, yeah, I'm happy with the renters, you know, sort of prospective appointees.

I see Councilman Nelson has raised her hand again.

Please go ahead.

Council Member Nelson, you're muted.

I hate it when I do that.

I was just saying that you're absolutely right, Council Member Sawant, data is important.

And the best data we have right now, unfortunately, is the 2018 UW study, which does which includes interviews with landlords and tenants, and both sides talk about their struggles.

And so the reasons that many small landlords are struggling are talked about there, their top reasons.

It's not simply because they can make a lot more money selling their properties.

They do go into specifics about the things that they're concerned about.

Right.

Okay, so we will go ahead and have the vote.

So I will move appointment 02180, 02181, 02182, 02183, and 02184. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

Would the clerk, Ted Verdon, please call the roll?

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Juarez?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Four in favor.

Thank you, council members.

Thank you all appointees.

Your appointments have been recommended by now by the committee and we'll go on to the city council agenda.

I've been told again on Tuesday, April 26th, but if not, if they're going to be next week right away, then we will of course let you know.

For the presenters and appointees, there's not going to be a panel like this at the full city council meeting.

So you're not expected to attend on the 26th, but we look forward to your work on the renters commission.

So please be in touch with my office.

Thank you so much.

Okay, so we have our last item today that will be a hearing from renters at the tenants of the Matkin Apartments.

I really appreciate your time in being available to talk to the committee at such short notice, and I apologize you had to wait.

My office first heard your story, as I said, this past Wednesday, but it is something that is happening to renters all over the city.

Hopefully we can save your homes.

and other renters around the city can be inspired by your example and like you will get organized into renters association.

So please introduce yourselves for the record and tell us a little about your situation.

I personally think Liz should go first because Liz is the person who kind of lit the fire for the group.

Okay, I can do that.

I was just texting with another tenant who hopes to join us, but we'll see.

Hi, my name is Liz Tyson.

I've written a little statement, so excuse me as I read that out.

Thank you so much for having us here today and for taking the time to listen to us.

I feel it's really important and appreciate it more than you know.

So I've been a resident of the Madken for 15 years.

I was born here on Capitol Hill, raised up in Lake City, and then I'm back.

And it's been wonderful.

But having grown up here and been a renter for many, many years, I've seen a lot of changes happening in the city, and including how unaffordable it's become for a lot of us.

And actually, like Tim, I also work for UW Medicine.

I've worked for the UW for over 20 years, and I make, you know, more than I ever thought I'd make, but is, you know, still, I still qualify for low-income housing because it's just, the area has become so expensive, and it is very difficult to find housing.

And that's kind of the situation we'll be finding ourselves in if we don't get help.

So I had the privilege of being related to the previous owner and the current owners.

And I was very proud of the fact that he kept the rents below market rate, because it's just so it's unobtainable for so many people.

And, you know, I hear from my friends who are renting that their rents would go up every year like clockwork and they'd have to move every couple of years to try and find a place that was affordable.

Whereas we would go years between increases.

And so, you know, we have a beautiful community here and I'm a bit of an introvert, so I wasn't as chummy with my neighbors until, you know, kind of the, situation called for it, but I'm finding out, you know, we have just caring people, we have, you know, artists, we have, I heard some, there were some musicians that just recently moved out.

You know, we're a vibrant community and, you know, Council Member Swat, you had mentioned that landlords are, you know, starting to sell the smaller landlords because of, of their land being worth a lot.

And, you know, since this building will be sold, my fear is that it will be sold to a predatory developer because they will be able to offer the most and money talks.

And, you know, I think that this, not only is this community of renters worth saving, but also the building itself.

You know, it was built in 1904. I have a real iron Murphy bed from that time in my closet that works.

I mean, it's just an amazing piece of architecture.

You know, my love for this building and for this area is deep.

I belong to the co-op next door.

You know, I can walk most places I need to go, quick commute to work.

It's just, it would be a shame to lose this for many, many reasons.

Thank you.

I can speak a little bit about my experience.

So my name's Joey.

Thanks, first of all, for hearing our story.

I've been a resident also at the Madkin for nearly 15 years.

friend and previous roommate had described the building to me before I had seen it as a charming building with a lot of character in a quirky way, which is evident as soon as you walk in the building.

Like you can, you don't need to know any history about the building to kind of feel that the building has a lot of history with it.

There's these dark wood floors and a banister that are complemented by this deep red carpet that leads up the stairs to my apartment where you'd find things like a There's a non-functioning icebox that speaks back to the pre-refrigerator days, or there's a dumbwaiter shaft in the kitchen that leads down to other apartments.

There's a walk-in closet off the living room where you'd find these painted-over windows that, if you opened, would just face the other painted-over windows in my bathroom over this nice old clawfoot tub.

It's a really unique, nice building.

The rent's better than anything you could find in the neighborhood, both when I moved in and currently.

And especially when I moved in, I had a nice view of the Olympic Mountain Range from the bedroom.

It was just like the perfect home.

Also, I've been struck by the community that is in the building.

People stop to talk to one another in the hallways, help each other out, support one another.

I remember coming home one day to a power outage to find our longtime resident, Jack, walking the hallways with a flashlight, making sure everyone was safe.

My neighbor, Mary Ann, once I saw her across Madison just cleaning up around the bus stop just because she cares about the community.

We have a shared laundry room that served as kind of a free room where you can leave things like small appliances and art and books.

furniture for other residents.

And so, and during the past 14 and a half years, during my 30 minute walks to and from Goodwill, where I've worked all this time, I've watched one how to make way for a tall, hastily built shipping container apartment.

The view of the mountains that I once had is now a view of newer and shinier apartments and office buildings.

In 2017, I took a side job pet-sitting through Rover.

It's currently where I'm at.

Through that endeavor, I've had the opportunity to visit and stay at many different buildings around Capitol Hill and Seattle.

And more and more frequently, they turn out just to feel like a replication of the last soulless building that I was in where you need a key fob to get in.

I like having a good brass key to get into my building, which seems to be going away these days.

I feel very, very lucky to have spent the time I've had at the building.

It's the longest that I've ever lived in one place.

It's felt more like a home to me than any other place that I've lived.

I don't know what the future holds for the building or where I might be in a year or two, but I feel that I owe it to the building that I've called home for the past decade and a half to Do anything that I can to help protect it from becoming the next casualty of hedge fund greed or a rapidly changing demographic.

I think the neighborhood deserves better than that.

And as a quick side note, Robert D. Madkin, the building's namesake, was born, I learned, on April 15, 1918, 104 years ago today.

So happy birthday to Mr. Madkin, and I'll leave it at that.

Thanks for listening.

I'll go next, if that's OK.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant, for hearing us out today.

I wrote a short statement.

So my name is Justin Minnick and I've lived in Seattle for 18 years and I'll have lived in the Matkin 13 years as of this November.

The Matkin's relatively low rent and infrequent rent increases has allowed me to keep living in Seattle live in a building with many of my friends as neighbors and stay in the local arts communities and film industry.

I've been freelancing in video post-production for 10 years so my income tends to vary.

I do the majority of my work at home but being located here also allows me the flexibility to easily use public transit to get on to on-site work when needed.

When the pandemic hit my roommate moved out as a precaution as people were starting to quarantine in lockdown.

Thankfully my rent was low enough that I had enough work coming and I had enough work coming in that I could take on the extra cost.

I know many other Seattleites weren't as lucky.

I want to do what I can to preserve this building, not only as an affordable living option in a city that currently has a dearth of affordable housing and far too many new luxury apartments, but also as a possible civil rights historical landmark, as suggested by the Madison Street Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Cultural Resource Assessment.

Thank you.

Thanks to the committee today for making a little time to hear from some of your voters.

I also am a Madkin resident.

My name is Megan Angus.

My pronouns are she, her.

And this building sits at a really incredible intersection.

It sits at the intersection of Capitol Hill and the Central District, and that connects it to an illustrious history, civil rights issues, labor union work, and Black Seattle.

which is rapidly vanishing.

But it also sits at a really interesting intersection of history in terms of the people who have passed through this building.

We've had writers and artists and amazing people.

We have a Grammy award winning musician that lives in our basement.

And he lives here because he cannot afford to live anywhere else.

If that doesn't say something, I don't know what does.

And my story quickly, I was raised in poverty.

I experienced a lot of housing instability through all of my childhood.

And I also have lived here at the Madkin the longest of any place I've ever lived in my life.

I've been here for 12 years.

I moved here also because friends were in the building.

And through the pandemic, that has been an incredible psychological and emotional resource, knowing that I had friends who felt like family just down the hall.

And we could pod together and kind of keep each other sane through this incredibly wild time that our civilization is living through.

The building itself is just such an old grand dame, as I like to refer to her.

She has a lot of character.

She has a lot of sass.

And somebody that was with our group at the meeting on Wednesday said, if it was possible, it feels like this building loves you back.

It feels like this building holds you.

I think that this building was built with a mission, and I think that it still fulfills this mission.

And that mission is offering real homes in the middle of the city, not shoebox shipping containers that people can survive in, but spaces that people can actually live and thrive in.

We can work from home.

We can pursue hobbies.

We can host guests in our home.

We can ostensibly live.

in our home and have full lives in these homes and experience the benefits of stability and long term tenancy.

As one of the other folks that was here earlier mentioned, as the rents increase having to move every year, every two years, you don't have the opportunity to build something in your life if you're constantly destabilized.

So the spaces in this building allow people to raise families, pursue hobbies, host guests.

And again, right here in the middle of the city.

And this to me speaks kind of to the deepest point of all of this.

People shouldn't have to be rich or famous to survive in Seattle.

People shouldn't have to be connected to some illustrious history or some magical pot of gold.

to be able to pursue a full life in the middle of this city that supposedly supports artists and creatives and progressives, and yet we're all being chased out hand over foot.

A long time ago, there was a billboard that said, you know, the last people to leave Seattle, please turn out the lights.

I would like to keep them on.

I'd like to keep the lights on, and I'd like to stay in Seattle.

I think that people like us and experiences like this really speak to the heart of the previous owner, Fally, not raising the rent, and the builder himself, again, creating homes here in the heart of the city of Seattle where people can truly pursue full lives.

Thanks again, guys.

I guess I can go next when Liz was speaking she mentioned that our neighbor was trying to connect and she couldn't I pretty much knew who she was talking about so I ran down the hall to see Marianne.

So, yeah.

I think that is kind of just a testament to the type of neighbors we have here at the Matkin.

I have some points I would like to bring up.

Some of my neighbors did a great job, but like my neighbors, I'm really concerned with the prospect of this building being sold to developers who will disrupt our longstanding home.

I've personally lived here for just over a decade.

And while our building hasn't had a lot of turnover, like a lot of us have been here, you know, when I moved in, people had been here a lot longer than I had.

During the time I've been here, I've seen a number of longstanding institutions, both homes and businesses, destroyed and replaced.

And what has replaced them has really erased some of the culture of the neighborhood that I initially loved.

It's what drew me here.

So I have concerns about being sold.

I'm sorry, I'm consulting my notes.

Recently on a Lark, when we got the notice that the building was possibly going to be put on the market, I looked around at what other apartments in this neighborhood were going for.

And then I looked outside of this neighborhood around the city and rents were no less than triple what I currently pay.

If I were to be displaced or if my neighbors were to be displaced, like I'm afraid of what would happen to them, what would happen to me.

And I think that anything that would be put in this building's place would not be constructed with people like us in mind.

Do you have anything to say before we relinquish?

Yes.

I'm Mary Ann.

This is me.

And I'm one of the seniors in the building.

I've been here, I think, about 18 years.

And one of the things that I noticed as I age here is it's still very vibrant.

I'm not kicked off to the side.

As you can see, my neighbors help me at every phase.

that I've gone through.

Across the street, it was Alzheimer's mansion across the street on Madison.

And today, it's like a preschool.

And the difference of hearing children's voices is just amazing.

And it's like that for me, that feeling of hearing people play, that's, small people, that's what I feel when I'm in here.

It's pretty amazing what happens.

The love, I mean, Megan, the love all across.

People are so kind to me.

They're so helpful.

I mean, I'm on my third back surgery, and I'm on the top floor.

And it doesn't matter.

I will always make it up to the third floor.

Everyone helps me.

My cats go where they go, and they're in love with other neighbors, and I can't say who.

But I was raised, first of all, I was raised with a single mom, Mexican descent, and we started out in housing projects, High Point, Holly Park, and what I learned is that you could wake up and your neighbors would be evicted and you'd never see them again.

What I learned is if you love somebody, say it now and let it come out now.

And that's kind of how I lived my life.

And I know when I love somebody.

And this place, having it be Mr. Madkin's birthday, My first grandchild was born today here in the Matkin on the first floor.

In June, along with poverty and all the things that go with not being good enough, being violated in every way, I turned to alcohol and drugs.

And June 7th, I'll have 40 years clean and sober.

And what I do, a lot of people see odd people coming into my house, and I sponsor a lot of wonderful odd people, incredible angels.

And that's my service back to the city.

I was born on Cherry at Providence Hospital.

And I know this town very well.

I walk everywhere.

I say hello to strangers.

Everybody knows that during the winter, I'm going to ask people for blankets.

I'm going to ask people for coats.

Even though it's probably illegal for people to camp out at the bus stop, it's also wrong for me to not bring them something to eat or another blanket or a coat or a pair of socks.

And so a lot of people bring me that.

It doesn't come out of my pocket.

I'm retired.

I live on a very low income.

And I'm doing okay, I love this place.

To have both my grandchildren born in this building.

And aside from that, during alcoholism and divorces and all of that, I didn't have money to protect myself or stick up for myself.

I lost my children, my daughter for eight years, my son never knew me for 14 years.

building stabilized me in such a way.

Everything's returned to me.

My children have been here and felt their mother and hug their mother here.

And I learned their part of it couldn't have been done with the Internet now, but losing their mother, um, and understanding humanity.

Can you imagine these people lined up?

These people lined up have held me together in so many situations.

I don't ever want to drink or drug again in my life, but I have certainly been sent some sturdy people that make me feel loved, valued, and this is what the MADCON comes up with.

It's just an incredible It's so hard to explain.

But I feel like this solid place has equipped me to do all the humanitarian work I do with the city of Seattle.

And it's quiet.

It's quiet.

Because I couldn't tell anybody to demean someone else's existence.

And so anyway.

I hope you hear us.

I hope you hear what a magical carpet ride we're on.

We're all braided into this wonderful magic carpet ride.

And it does matter because, okay, part of my getting sober is going to 23rd and Cherry for my meetings, which is predominantly black sober people.

which they're born in the hood up here, around here.

They knew when the line started and they knew about these fake mortgages.

They knew about all that and trying to stay sober through this.

So I'm really diverse in my support system.

And I think we'd be grateful for, we're grateful for you hearing us and for any assistance that is available to help save our homes.

That's what I said.

Yep.

Thank you.

Thank you all so much.

It was, it's just incredible to hear real stories, you know, just real people.

And I think, I mean, I just two things I want to say, I also want to call on Ted, who was at your meeting on Wednesday, representing my office.

But you know, one, first of all, Marianne, You know, congratulations for 40 years, you know, that is a real accomplishment and I know that the more that this, this, you know, this sort of this capitalist society imposes crisis after crisis on ordinary working people.

People are struggling to cope.

And that combined with the opioid epidemic I know you know people are really struggling and so your story that this can be done, and you can be sober for four decades.

That is really a strong message and I'm sure I'm.

I'm grateful to you for sharing that because you could just as easily not have mentioned that.

But I'm glad you said that because I think that will really reach the hearts of a lot of people who are also struggling.

Maybe some of them are not able to talk about it openly yet and that gives them the courage.

And I think that sharing it actually in a community really helps you also heal because it allows people into your life to help you.

do that and I think you your point was well taken about how during all that crisis and and I cannot even imagine the pain of losing your children even for a short while I mean it's it's so I you know just I hope you know how you know that we we I really truly feel compassion for how how you've gone through all of this but the point that your fellow tenants were the you know the the help that you needed at that in those really really You know, crucial moment.

I think all of this is just remarkable.

I mean, the fact that you all many of you have lived there for over a decade.

I mean, you all have already said it, I'm just echoing what you're saying, that it's just almost unheard of.

I mean, the thing that I was reminded of immediately was we had a press conference last September to unveil our rent control legislation, which I really urge you all to look at as well.

We had a speaker who was a doctoral student at the University of Washington, and he spoke as part of the press conference, and he said, Ever since I moved to Seattle, I have moved every year.

Like clockwork, I have moved every year.

So this also, the fact that renters are forced to move so frequently, it actually allows exploitative landlords and the system to put us even further in the race to the bottom.

Because when we are all isolated and atomized, We can't fight back.

You know, it's only when you come together as you all have as tenants, you know, as organized tenants or organized workers like Starbucks and Amazon workers who are now fighting for a union.

It's only when we come together and we push back against the isolation that we are able to achieve something because otherwise the system just grinds you down.

I think that is itself a testament to why we should be, you know, we should absolutely be saving your tenancy in this building.

And I wanted to assure you from my office, you know, as you know, from our track record of winning renters rights victories, we will absolutely be on your side.

We have to really fight to make sure that a nonprofit organization can buy the building, you know, and it's you all setting up your tenants union or tenants organization is, I think, the first step for that.

So, you know, thank you again.

And we have Council Member Nelson with a question or comment, and then Ted, you should also share what you learned at the meeting.

Go ahead, Council Member Nelson.

So thank you all for talking about your experience.

It's heartwarming to hear, and it reminds me of that show.

I'm going to date myself now, but Tales of the City by Amistad Maupin.

All the oddballs in that house, I still remember those stories.

So yeah.

a building and a community worth saving.

And to Marianne, congratulations also.

I've only got 18 months sober, but I know how important community is.

So my question is kind of basic, which is, and maybe you touched on it, but I didn't hear it, but has anybody talked to the owner or the manager or someone to find out why they're selling it?

Um, I, I don't know how much I, I don't know very much and I wouldn't feel comfortable saying what I do know, but, um, it's, um, now owned by my three aunts.

Um, and I do respect their, um, their decisions, you know, and I, I want to try to be respectful of that.

Um, I, all I know is yeah, that they have decided Yeah, sorry, no deeper insights.

Because asking why is maybe the first step of saving it and reversing that decision, but all but out.

Okay, thanks.

Ted, go ahead.

I think one detail that might be related to that is I believe the the previous owner who was acting as the landlord passed away.

So we now have heirs who are selling, who do not intend to play that role.

So that, I mean, that's kind of the thing that happened that has caused the situation right now.

And just, I think that the points that came up here were the points that were also discussed at the excellent meeting organized by the tenants union on Wednesday, which I was able to attend.

I was glad to be able to do that because It is really impressive how this group of renters are organizing into attendance association already, which is the first step.

There's no way to fight to save the building if you don't first get organized, and that's happening really fast.

I don't think that I've seen it happen this fast before, and it's a real testament to how people have lived in this building for so long and have a community that And which also, as Council Member Sawant mentioned, shows what can happen if rents are not raised through the roof.

When people are not economically evicted by rent increases, they can form a community.

And it's good for, controlling rents is good for all of society.

And that is in danger now.

So one of the things that was mentioned and discussed at the meeting was finding some sort of non-profit like There's a representative from Lehigh at the meeting, so it could be that, it could be community groups housing, or it could be, you know, it could be, there's different nonprofit housing providers like that.

But if, but If there's an organized effort to put pressure on the city and state to fund something like that, it is possible to save this sort of housing for the renters that live there.

And if that happens, then the rents, again, are not going to be raised through the roof, which is going to be absolutely crucial.

And as long as the renters here today forming into an association to advocate for that, is definitely the first step.

Thank you, Ted.

And yeah, so just in terms of, you know, concluding this agenda item and laying out next steps, we'll of course be in touch with you all tenants, my office will be in touch with you all and with the tenants union.

to figure out where we should go.

Obviously, the best thing would be is if the building is bought, you know, there's an ability for a nonprofit organization to buy the building so the rents can remain affordable.

I mean, in terms of the question of, you know, why are the current owners selling?

I mean, I don't know either.

As Liz said, you know, we don't know, but I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that right now is a really good time for them to get a huge value on the land.

but we cannot allow you know, the lives of the tenants of the building to be upended because some person needs to make their personal decision, which is why my office is also a very strong advocate for an expansion of social housing, which is, you know, taxing big business and the wealthy to create the funds so that we can build publicly owned housing that is affordable because it is publicly owned.

And also we need rent control as well.

But, you know, we need both.

We need both rent control to make sure that rental homes that are owned by private corporations or by, you know, private landlords can be not, you know, don't exploit renters, but we also need an expansion of publicly owned housing that are not in the, you know, not at the whims of some private owner either.

I think that's what we need.

And the fact that you guys are developing a rental, I mean, sorry, a tenants association is actually important because even when We have, you know, we've seen, I don't know how many of you have paid attention but you know we my office has been also really engaged in the fight of tenants at Rainier code in Mount Baker, it's, that is, that's a big complex with, you know, over 500 tenancies.

that's owned by a non-profit corporation that gets City of Seattle funding, among other funding, and the conditions are absolutely deplorable.

So, in other words, tenant organizing is going to be crucial, no matter who your owner is, because you need to be organized for different kinds of rights.

Obviously, right now, you're fighting to just maintain your tenancy there, but then how much rents go up, what the conditions are, and all of that needs to be in tenants' hands.

You all getting organized together is indispensable regardless is my point.

And so yeah, so we'll be in touch with you all.

And we'll also, you know, I'm sure the tenants union is watching.

I mean, I'm sorry, the Seattle Renters Association is also watching.

the Renters Commission, I'm sorry, is watching.

So we'll come back to you all on this.

But for now, I wanted to thank you all again for speaking so eloquently to this committee.

We'll be sharing what you have said, the stories you have shared on my council office social media as well.

And so we'll go from there, okay?

And thank you all again.

And unless there are any points from the council members, which I don't see, I will wish everyone a good day and a good weekend and adjourn the meeting.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you, council member.

Thank you.

Thank you.