CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
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AN ORDINANCE related to termination of residential tenancies; extending just cause protections to rental agreement renewals or extensions; providing a defense to eviction when a landlord violates the duty to renew or extend a tenancy except for a just cause; and amending Section 22.206.160 of the Seattle Municipal Code.
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WHEREAS, on November 2, 2015, the Mayor issued a Civil Emergency to address the homelessness crisis in the City of Seattle and on November 3, 2015, the City Council adopted Resolution 31630, ratifying and confirming the Mayoral Proclamation of Civil Emergency; and
WHEREAS, in September 2018, the Seattle Women's Commission and the King County Bar Association jointly published Losing Home: The Human Cost of Eviction in Seattle, finding that households who are evicted face material hardships that make it more difficult to secure safe and affordable housing and that the most disadvantaged groups face the highest likelihood of eviction; and
WHEREAS, Losing Home found that most evicted respondents became homeless, with 37.5 percent completely unsheltered, 25.0 percent living in a shelter or transitional housing, and 25.0 percent staying with family or friends. Only 12.5 percent of evicted respondents found another apartment or home to move into; and
WHEREAS, in 2018, the King County Medical Examiner's Office (KCMEO) investigated the deaths of 194 individuals presumed to be homeless. This represents 25 more deaths than investigated in 2017; and
WHEREAS, on January 5, 2020, the Seattle Times reported that 2018 Census data shows that out of residents in Seattle "renters pulled just about even with homeowners," and "assuming the trend continues, renters will soon be in the majority"; and
WHEREAS, on July 21, 1980, the Seattle City Council passed Ordinance 109219, commonly known as the Just Cause Eviction Ordinance, prohibiting the tenant evictions without good cause; an...
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