Seattle Metropolis Council President Sara Nelson appears poised to wield the brand new conservative majority to claw again tenant protections, however she won’t have as robust of a military because it appears. Council Members Maritza Rivera, Tanya Woo, and Pleasure Hollingsworth doubtlessly carry conflicts of pursuits in relation to voting on insurance policies that shrink or enhance landlord earnings.
Ought to these council members should recuse themselves from voting on future laws, tenant advocates must persuade fewer council members to interrupt with Nelson so as to shield the rights of renters, who make up nearly all of households in Seattle.
Right here’s What We Know
In response to a 2010 opinion from the Seattle Ethics and Elections Fee (SEEC), landlords don’t represent a “substantial section of the Metropolis’s inhabitants.” Due to this fact, council members “who personal Seattle rental property could not take part in issues affecting individuals with an curiosity in rental property.” SEEC Govt Director Wayne Barnett informed The Stranger that the opinion nonetheless holds.
There’s just one precise landlord on town council proper now, in keeping with monetary affairs disclosures. Council Member Rivera stories $0 to $29,999 in annual rental earnings from a two-bedroom townhome in Ravenna that she and her husband bought in 2021 for $754,000, in keeping with Redfin. Rivera’s workplace didn’t reply to The Stranger’s request for remark.
Woo doesn’t report rental earnings in her monetary affairs disclosure, however she stories the Louisa Lodge, a historic hotel-turned-apartment constructing that her household owns, among the many listing of enterprise entities for which she “owns 10 % or extra, or serves as an officer, director or common accomplice.” In her report, Woo calls herself a “governor” of Louisa Lodge LLC, which, in keeping with the Secretary of State’s workplace, means she has the “authority to make choices on behalf of the enterprise.”
Council Member Hollingsworth’s household owns and rents out a house within the Central District that her grandmother, Dorothy Hollingsworth, bought at a time when redlining insurance policies stored Black folks from shopping for properties, her workplace stated in an e-mail. Hollingsworth’s household transformed the place right into a triplex, and she or he rents one of many items along with her spouse. Hollingsworth doesn’t report any rental earnings and doesn’t embody something associated to the property within the listing of enterprise entities in her monetary disclosure.
Whereas Woo and Hollingsworth don’t gather rental earnings themselves, instant member of the family’s monetary curiosity in rental property will also be disqualifying, Barnett affirmed in an e-mail to The Stranger. Woo and Hollingsworth didn’t reply when requested about their ideas on their potential battle of curiosity.
Council Members Rob Saka, Tammy Morales, Dan Strauss, Bob Kettle, and Nelson don’t listing any rental earnings of their monetary disclosures. Council Member Cathy Moore reported rental earnings from a home in Burien, WA, in her disclosures for a number of years, together with in her most up-to-date report, however Moore’s workplace informed The Stranger she stopped renting out the home in June of 2023. Plus, a house in Burien wouldn’t be topic to Seattle’s tenant legal guidelines.
Right here’s What Might Occur
If a possible battle of curiosity got here up, Barnett stated he must first affirm if the council members or their instant relations nonetheless personal rental properties after which decide if the coverage at hand would financially impression the council member or their household. Clearly, that course of will occur on a case by case foundation. For instance, landlord and former Council Member Mike O’Brien recused himself from a invoice that required registration and inspection of all rental property in 2012, however he didn’t recuse himself in 2016 when the council authorised limits on move-in prices.
Since Nelson didn’t make clear which insurance policies she desires to “look at” to handle the woes of landlords, Barnett can’t weigh in on something particular simply but.
Landlords at public remark final week named the latest $10 cap on rental late charges, the First-in-Time ordinance, the 2019 roommate regulation, and the eviction moratoriums in place throughout the winter and the school-year as insurance policies that make their job harder and fewer worthwhile.
If Nelson reignites her battle towards the $10 late payment cap, one may fairly clearly make the case {that a} rollback or repeal would have an effect on a landlord’s earnings. Landlords have argued that altering the winter and school-year eviction moratoriums, although not often used as defenses in court docket, may assist them financially.
Because of the variety of potential conflicts of curiosity, these insurance policies may even see an identical destiny to Nelson’s gig supply minimal wage repeal. Just lately, Barnett suggested Woo to recuse herself from a vote on gig supply driver wages as a result of her father-in-law’s restaurant makes use of app-based supply providers. With out her vote, it doesn’t appear Nelson can safe a majority and even much less probably, a veto-proof majority with rumors that the Mayor could not approve of the rollbacks. The council has delayed the ultimate vote, seemingly doomed to fail, for a couple of month.
If Rivera, Woo, and Hollingsworth should recuse themselves from a vote on tenant points, then that leaves an fascinating stability of energy on the dais.
The council has not voted on many points, so it’s laborious to precisely predict the factions that will emerge in relation to tenant protections. Thus far, Saka, Rivera, Kettle, Woo, and Nelson appear to make up the conservative majority. Morales would be the solely staunch progressive, with Strauss, Moore, and Hollingsworth sometimes siding with the left.
Dropping Rivera and Woo jeopardizes the conservative majority, so if somebody proposes rollbacks to renter protections, then they must pull over two swingers. However Hollingsworth would be the worst of the three swing votes for the left to lose. As the one renter on council (her spouse owns a house in Federal Approach, however Hollingsworth’s mother-in-law lives in it), she would be the council member with probably the most sympathy for the plight of tenants.
For now, with no actual invoice up for debate and no vote on the calendar, landlord lobbyists shouldn’t sweat about potential conflicts of curiosity, however when it comes up for actual, this lil weblog publish can be proper right here ready.
