Absent direct action from the state to provide rent assistance and foreclosure prevention resources, our overburdened homelessness response system will be catastrophically overwhelmed with newly homeless Washingtonians due to housing instability caused by the pandemic. AWC’s housing priority requests that the state provide rent assistance payments to support landlords, eviction mediation and legal aid services to keep tenants in their homes, and foreclosure prevention assistance for homeowners. Three bills scheduled for public hearings address all three of these issues.

Resources for homeowners facing foreclosure

HB 1108 does not provide funding for homeowners facing foreclosure proceedings; instead it removes a barrier created by the unique circumstances surrounding the pandemic. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Tina Orwall (D–Des Moines), applies only during 2021. It removes a threshold requirement established by the state’s Foreclosure Fairness Act that then triggers foreclosure mediation, reporting, and fee revenue that funds the state’s housing foreclosure counselor network. These thresholds cannot feasibly be met due to the 2020 federal foreclosure moratorium. Absent HB 1108, few homeowners, if any, could access the protection intended by the act.

Limiting rent increases after the eviction moratorium

SB 5139, sponsored by Sen. Mona Das (D–Kent), would prohibit rent increases for the first six months post-eviction moratorium. For the following six months, rent increases would be capped at three percent of the previous years’ consumer price index.

Extending tenant protections and providing landlord rental assistance payments

SB 5160 intends to preserve and expand upon the protections provided by the eviction moratorium, provide legal representation in eviction cases for indigent tenants, and authorize landlord access to state rental assistance programs. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Patty Kuderer (D–Bellevue), proposes that, unless a landlord and tenant are housemates or a landlord intends to sell the house, evictions are prohibited until two years after the COVID pandemic or future statewide public health emergency. Like the eviction moratorium proclamation, SB 5160 excludes from the definition of “tenant” a person entering onto land without permission of the landowner or lessor. However, some city provisions of sanitary services during the public health emergency have been construed as granting permission of unlawful encampments. AWC is suggesting amendments to exclude such circumstances.

Dates to remember

HB 1108 is scheduled for public hearing in the House Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, January 19 at 10 am and scheduled for a vote in the same committee on Friday at 8 am.

SB 5139 is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Housing & Local Government Committee on Thursday, January 21 at 8 am.

SB 5160 is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Housing & Local Government Committee at 10:30 am on Wednesday, January 20.