Housing News

Changes to the WA Res­i­den­tial Land­lord-Ten­ant Act are in effect as of July 28, 2019

Check out this help­ful resource by the North­west Jus­tice Project that sum­ma­rizes the major changes of this year’s statewide evic­tion reform.

Why Taco­ma Needs to End ​“No Cause” Evictions

Edna Thorn­ton bat­tles SHA

SHA ten­ant Edna Thorn­ton, moth­er and vic­tim of domes­tic vio­lence, faces evic­tion after her prop­er­ty man­ag­er refus­es to accept her rent.

Press Release: Seat­tle Takes Action on Crim­i­nal Records in Housing

The Seat­tle City Coun­cil unan­i­mous­ly passed a res­o­lu­tion that affirms the use of new HUD guid­ance regard­ing the use of crim­i­nal records in deter­min­ing hous­ing approvals.

Changes to Ten­ant Screenings

See with­in to see the changes to the appli­ca­tion process and secu­ri­ty deposit return.

The Evic­tion Economy

Read with­in for arti­cles relat­ing to what Matthew Desmond has dubbed ​‘The Evic­tion Economy’.

An Open Let­ter to Carl Haglund

Ten­ants from 6511 Rainier have spo­ken. See with­in to hear their thoughts and con­cerns about mis­in­for­ma­tion and bla­tant decep­tion from the land­lord claim­ing to care for the property.

Ten­ant Move­ment Puts Brakes on Seat­tle Hous­ing Author­i­ty ​“Step­ping For­ward” Rent Hike

Seat­tle Hous­ing Author­i­ty (SHA) Direc­tor Andrew Lofton sent a let­ter to the May­or and City Coun­cil announc­ing that Step­ping For­ward, a pol­i­cy that would increase ten­ants’ rents by over 400% has been put on hold. Ten­ants are con­tin­u­ing to orga­nize to ensure that this vic­to­ry be made permanent!

High Court Rules Against Inno­cent Ten­ants Who Attempt to Clear their Names

The Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court ruled in a crit­i­cal case involv­ing ten­ants who were wrong­ful­ly sued for evic­tion, and the court denied their attempt to redact their names from the court record in order to pre­serve their abil­i­ty to seek hous­ing. This deci­sion will have enor­mous con­se­quences for inno­cent ten­ants who win in court against a land­lord’s ille­gal eviction.

Theodo­ra Res­cue Com­mit­tee Files a Ground­break­ing Lawsuit

August 2013 Ten­ant Sol­i­dar­i­ty Newslet­ter Hot off the Press!

Did you get your copy of the August 2013 Ten­ant Sol­i­dar­i­ty Newslet­ter yet?

Join the TU at our Sum­mer BBQ!

Meet and eat with mem­bers of the Ten­ants Union and Got Green and be the first to get a free copy of the Healthy Hous­ing in Rainier Val­ley edu­ca­tion handbook!

Which Seat­tle May­oral Can­di­dates are Pro-Tenant?

We col­lect­ed ques­tions from ten­ants, TU mem­bers, and our Board of Direc­tors and sent sur­veys to all of the Seat­tle May­oral Can­di­dates to learn their posi­tions on the ten­ants’ issues. If you haven’t decid­ed who to vote for, learn each can­di­dates posi­tion on ten­ants’ rights! Click here for the full details.

Gov­er­nor Inslee Signs Fair Ten­ant Screen­ing Act Pt. II into Law!

After years of advo­ca­cy Part II of the Fair Ten­ant Screen­ing Act was signed into law by Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee, a crit­i­cal bill to pro­tect domes­tic vio­lence sur­vivors escape abuse and access safe hous­ing free from discrimination.

Gov­er­nor Inslee Signs Fair Ten­ant Screen­ing Act Pt. II into Law!

After years of advo­ca­cy Part II of the Fair Ten­ant Screen­ing Act was signed into law by Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee, a crit­i­cal bill to pro­tect domes­tic vio­lence sur­vivors escape abuse and access safe hous­ing free from discrimination.

Seat­tle’s Rental Hous­ing Inspec­tion Pro­gram: What does it mean for you?

The City of Seat­tle has passed a Rental Reg­is­tra­tion & Inspec­tion Ordi­nance, and it will be impor­tant for you to know what are your rights! There is a lot of mis­in­for­ma­tion out there on this impor­tant piece of local leg­is­la­tion, and we want­ed to dis­pel a lot of the myth’s about the new law.

New Fair Ten­ant Screen­ing Act Now In Effect

As of June 7^th Wash­ing­ton State ten­ants are pro­vid­ed greater trans­paren­cy now that land­lords are required to dis­close in writ­ing both the rea­son why a ten­ant is denied hous­ing and what cri­te­ria they will use in their rental deci­sion. These new laws are a hard fought vic­to­ry for the TU, its mem­bers, ten­ant lead­ers, and allies like the Wash­ing­ton Low Income Hous­ing Alliance, and others.

Vic­to­ry! City of Red­mond Out­laws Source of Income Discrimination

Moved by pow­er­ful tes­ti­mo­ny from ten­ants and hous­ing advo­cates, the Red­mond City Coun­cil vot­ed to out­law dis­crim­i­na­tion against renters who use Sec­tion 8 vouch­ers or oth­er gov­ern­ment income to pay their rent.

New Report Shows Hous­ing Even Less Afford­able in 2011

“The fair mar­ket rent for a two-bed­room apart­ment in the Seat­tle-Belle­vue area now requires 52 hours of work a week at the typ­i­cal renter wage, up from 45 in 2010.”

Free Speech Vic­to­ry for Wash­ing­ton State Tenants!

The Wash­ing­ton Supreme Court today struck down a Seat­tle Hous­ing Author­i­ty rule that pro­hib­it­ed pub­lic hous­ing ten­ants from plac­ing any type of sign on their apart­ment doors.