Tenants and owners strive for a legal advantage before the evictions are resumed

The Washington State eviction moratorium is set to end in weeks

Legislators and landlords are preparing for the state eviction moratorium, which ends in about three weeks. A housing association says the state should prepare for an influx of homeless people.

SEATTLE – –
A U.S. District Court judge in Ohio ruled the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday, stating that the agency had exceeded its authority by earlier issuing a statewide eviction moratorium during the ongoing pandemic.

The verdict comes just weeks after another Texas federal judge ruled the moratorium was unconstitutional. The US Department of Justice has appealed the ruling.

Washington State’s eviction moratorium is set to end in less than three weeks as Olympia lawmakers debate multiple bills designed to protect both tenants and property owners alike.

Legislators are trying to balance what landlords need to stay in business while making sure thousands of families are not forced onto the streets.

“Two weeks ago my family had to move out of the house we had lived in for years,” said Dominique Horn when speaking to lawmakers on her home computer.

The mother was just one of many testifying during the Senate Housing and Local Government Committee hearing after HB 1236 advanced earlier this week.

The bill intends to change the law that will allow landlords to terminate a monthly lease with just 20 days’ notice, regardless of the reason, the legislature said. Horn believes her ex-landlord used the law to force her family to evacuate their Vancouver, Washington, apartment. Her children live with her in a free space that is offered by an extended family far away from Clark County.

“It is just so easy to fall out of a stable house,” she said.

Opponents of the bill feared that removing difficult tenants could become even more difficult.

“We have to have a way for the lease to expire,” said Jennifer Lekisch, who told lawmakers that multiple tenants currently live in multiple properties she owns.

Property manager Chelsy Parrish urged lawmakers to look into what could happen to property owners who may decide to no longer have multiple residences as a result of the proposed changes.

“It would lead to more and more small operators leaving the market,” said Parrish, who warned disruptive tenants that could create a hostile living environment.

“As soon as the eviction moratorium ends, we will be massively homeless,” said Michele Thomas of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance.

Thomas said more than 130,000 renters across the state are falling behind in bills, and more than half of those households include children.

Legislators are also debating SB 5160, which could help landlords if their tenants had low incomes in 2020. The bill could also ensure that tenants at risk of eviction have access to legal representation during the judicial process.

In Seattle, the city council offered several laws to protect tenants, but unions and other supporters urged Mayor Jenny Durkan to extend the moratorium until 2021.

Billions from the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package could help, but families struggling to make up for late rent payments fear eviction may be inevitable.

Thomas worries whether the current proposals provide adequate protection for vulnerable families.

“I don’t think lawmakers understand the urgency,” she said. “You think things are going as usual.”

The legislature has not yet promoted ESHB 1236 from the committee to hearings in the Senate.

Horn says she was to blame for the experience and applying for new housing options is expensive. She and her two children now live in an area that is less populated and farther from the house they once made in Clark County.

Vancouver City Councilor Ty Stober testified during Thursday’s Senate hearing. He told Q13 News that housing affordability has become a crisis that requires attention across city, county and regional boundaries.

“We need to rethink how we approach housing across the country,” he said.

Extended interview with Vancouver City Councilor Ty Stober

Councilor Ty Stober spoke to Q13’s Steve Kiggins about affordable housing in southwest Washington and why he was calling on lawmakers to strengthen protections for tenants facing an eviction moratorium.