SEATTLE, Wash. – Governor Ferguson signed a slate of bills around housing Wednesday afternoon, including the contentious cap on rent increases that passed on the last day of this year’s legislative session.
Visiting the Blake House affordable housing development, Ferguson signed ten bills to boost housing supply and accessibility, including ones to expand property tax relief for disabled veterans and relax parking space requirements for new construction.
Though the biggest item he signed into law was the rent stabilization bill that was a hot topic for lawmakers this year.
Under House Bill 1217, annual rent increases are limited to the lesser of 10%, or 7% plus inflation. For manufactured homes, the cap is at 5%. Some exceptions to the limitations exist – and caps for apartments and homes expire in 15 years.
Prime sponsor Sen. Emily Alvarado, D-West Seattle, said the legislation is intended to prevent excessive rent increases with “common sense guardrails” as people struggle to keep up with increasing housing costs, including “unchecked” rent increases.
“Rent goes up faster than wages, seniors see rent go up faster than Social Security,” she said. “A record number of families in this state are paying more than half of their income on rent. That’s not okay.”
Though supporters acknowledged the bill as only a solid first step, as more needs to be done to support new housing and keep people in homes.
“10% and 7% plus CPI is still too high for so many folks who are navigating this crisis here in this state,” said Seattle renter Rebekah Gardea. “But today it’s an important moment to celebrate this first start, right? To keep us going because we have work ahead of us.”
The bill initially had a 7% cap with no inflation adjustment, but a change to the limit in the Senate prompted negotiations with the House and a compromise in the final days of the legislative session. It also faced strong opposition throughout the process, with a handful of Democrats joining all Republicans in voting against the effort.
Opponents representing landlords and builders argue the law ultimately hurts renters, as landlords would not be able to keep up with maintenance costs and may leave the rental business altogether.
“The overwhelming response that I’m getting from my membership is once the current tenants that they have move, they’re going to sell the unit,” said Sean Flynn, Executive Director of the Rental Housing Association of Washington. “What that’s going to do is reduce the total supply.”
Opponents also argue that creating more housing is the best way to lower costs, but development is hindered by strict regulations on land usage and housing density. And with the government controlling rents, developers are going to be even more deterred from building.
“That’s what has happened in every market that has tried rent control. It’s not worth it then for somebody that doesn’t pencil out if they can’t charge enough rent to cover the cost of building that housing,” said Greg Lane, Executive Vice President of the Building Industry Association of Washington.
“We’re going to put a big neon sign at the gates of the state of Washington saying, ‘we don’t want your housing dollars, take those housing dollars and build new units in Austin, or build new units in Tennessee, or build units in Florida or Idaho,’” Flynn said.
Governor Ferguson told reporters he was confident the legislation would work for “everybody in our state,” acknowledging it would need to be part of a “balanced approach.”
“We need more housing, we need folks to construct that housing, we need folks to rent that housing,” he said. “You heard this pretty compelling—not just today, but throughout a lengthy process of conversation about this legislation—that too many folks are getting priced out, and we can’t have that. That’s not an option.”
The bill contains an emergency clause, so it takes effect immediately. However, it requires funding from the budget, which the governor has until May 20 to sign.
Opponents said there has been some talk about launching a ballot measure to repeal the law, though the idea is still very much up in the air.
Albert James is a television reporter covering state government as part of the Murrow News Fellowship program – a collaborative effort between news outlets statewide and Washington State University.
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