in State Legislature

By Rebekah Schilperoort

The passage of a bill that would boost aid for renters being displaced by condominium conversions is looking promising as it makes its way through the State Legislature this session, but an amendment that would have given Seattle the power to limit conversions failed to garner enough support.

During the last several years, West Seattle has lost hundreds of its lower-income rentals to conversions. As the city's vacancy rate has plummeted to less than 3 percent, the call for stronger regulation seems to have been heard in Olympia.

House Bill 2014, which passed the House earlier this month and is now being reviewed by a Senate committee, would extend the notification requirement from 90 to 120 days to tenants affected by conversion. It would also eliminate the $500 cap on relocation assistance and allow some cities and counties to set their own limits for low-income renters.

A Senate companion bill (6411) sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle), would require notification 180 days before a tenant is required to vacate days and would ban construction while tenants are still in their units. The first public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5.

However neither includes a conversion cap that tenant advocates were pushing for.

Several failed amendments, sponsored by Rep. Maralyn Chase (D-Shoreline), never made it onto the House bill because there just wasn't enough support within the Democratic Caucus, said Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (D-Ballard).

Chase's amendments, among other things, would give cities the right to limit the number of conversions if there is a net loss of rental construction and/or vacancy rates fall below 5 percent. It would also extend the notice requirement to 180 days.

If any changes are made to the bill in the Senate, it will go back to the House for approval and there's a chance the amendments could be tacked on, but Dickerson said that would require a significant push from advocacy groups.

John Fox, director of the Seattle Displacement Coalition, called the current bill only a "modest improvement."

"The reality is that the bill without the Chase amendments is nothing more than a relocation assistance bill," he said. "Conversions would still be allowed to ravage are area's rental housing stock without restriction."

Supporters of strengthened regulation argue the state, which governs laws concerning conversions, should grant cities authority to control conversions if it starts to impact the area's rental housing stock.

Critics of the bill say the loss of rental housing is a temporary trend, and the market will catch up because there's a need for new rental units. Some developers maintain that some restrictions within the bill that could delay construction would be a financial hardship.

Rep. Mark Miloscia (D-Federal Way) isn't optimistic the amendments will make it through. Currently, there isn't enough political will on both the Democratic and Republican sides of the table to regulate the market.

Part of the problem: Not only do developers have a powerful advocacy base, but Seattle would probably be the only city to try and limit conversions now. Not exactly very convincing for the need of a statewide bill, said Miloscia, chair of the House Housing Committee and a sponsor of the bill.

Several City Council members have already come out in support of looking at the possibility of issuing a moratorium on conversions. According to Fox, who has testified to the council several times about housing issues, conversions have reached record levels here.

Based on data from Dupre and Scott Apartment Advisors, Seattle has lost more than 3,000 units since 2005 to demolition and change of use. There have been 412 apartment-to-condo conversions in West Seattle alone from January 2005 to May 2007.

The House bill, which was initially introduced last year but ultimately failed, is expected to leave the Senate by the end of February.

Though it does help ease the stress of displacement, it doesn't get at the underlying problem that exists, Miloscia said, which is the gentrification of neighborhoods and cities.

As more and more lower-income units are transformed into residences affordable to higher income brackets, it forces the middle-class out and changes the face of communities, he said.

"The problem of gentrification will kill us in the long run," Miloscia said. "There's no place for people to live anymore."

Miloscia has introduced a bill this session that would double minimum wage over the next 23 years. He said that's what's really needed to stop the growing housing crisis here and keep wageworkers living in Seattle.

The escalation of rental prices isn't slowing down. The city office of housing reports rents are up 14 percent since 2005 and that trend is expected to continue.

On Jan. 1 minimum wage increased by 14 cents to $8.07 an hour. House Bill 1119 would raise the minimum wage by 3 percent over inflation each year. The state also needs to tack on another $1 billion a year for housing, said Miloscia.

"That's the answer, then people can afford to live here," he said. "We've raised (minimum wage) but not enough to keep up with housing costs."

Go to http://www.leg.wa.gov/legislature and check the status of these and other bills.

Rebekah Schilperoort can be reached at 783-1244 or rebekahs@robinsonnews.com.