CITY OF SEATTLE
RESOLUTION _________________
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A RESOLUTION regarding RCW 35.21.830, the prohibition of ordinances or other provisions that regulate the amount of rent.
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WHEREAS, Article 25 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes housing as a human right; and
WHEREAS, unaffordable housing in Seattle has become a crisis with apartment rents in the City of Seattle rising tremendously in recent years, including a nearly 11 percent increase between 2010-13, the highest rent increases of any major U.S. city in 2012 and 2013; and
WHEREAS, Seattle is now among the nation's ten most expensive cities, with three out of every five Seattle apartments renting in 2013 for more than $1,000 per month, and median one-bedroom rents in Seattle neighborhoods ranging from an average of $1,063 - $1,871 per month in 2014, and more than 45 percent of Seattle rental households now considered rent-burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their incomes for rent and utilities; and
WHEREAS, Seattle Housing Authority, which serves over 16,000 low-income households, reported having over 9,400 households on its waiting lists after opening its waiting list in 2013 for 24,000 people to apply for 2,000 vouchers, while the 2015 One Night Count found 3,772 unsheltered people in King County and 2,813 in Seattle, a 22 percent increase since 2014; and
WHEREAS, in 2014 investors spent an unprecedented $3.8 billion buying apartment buildings in the Greater Seattle Area, raising rents, subjecting housing to financial speculation, and depleting the affordable units in the private sector; and
WHEREAS, high rental housing costs make it more difficult for lower-income households to remain in the City, evidenced by the 2015 Washington State Housing Needs Assessment, with just 61 affordable rental housing units in the State and 34 affordable rental housing units in the City available for every 100 renter households at or below 50 percent of the median family i...
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