In the year-plus since its implementation, Bellingham’s rental relocation assistance ordinance has not been used by any tenants — but one advocate says that’s not a bad thing.
The ordinance, which went into effect in late January 2024, requires landlords to provide relocation assistance to their tenants, equal to three months’ rent, if landlords increase the rent by 8% or more in a single year.
Community First Whatcom, the organization that advanced the initiative in 2023, said during the campaign that the high costs of relocating, like first and last month’s rent, security deposits and more, “can trap renters in debt or push them to homelessness.” The initiative passed with strong voter support in the November 2023 election.
According to the ordinance, the city is not responsible for enforcing the relocation assistance requirement, but landlords are required to provide notice to the city of all requests for and payments of relocation assistance.
Ryan Key-Wynne, the communications manager for the city planning department, wrote in an email to the Cascadia Daily News that the initiative didn’t include a framework for data collection about the impact of the program, but the information the city does have indicates there hasn’t been significant, or any, use of the program so far.
While the city hasn’t received any notices about relocation assistance requests or payments, a handful of renters have inquired about the program.
Community First Whatcom member Cleveland Harris II said that since the initiative passed, there have been documented cases where rents were lowered under 8% after landlords became aware of the relocation assistance requirement. Community First Whatcom is coordinating with legal professionals to advise a few tenants who may be entitled to assistance.
“We have also seen large property management companies choose to raise rents just up to that threshold but not above, which suggests that this has been protective against massive hikes,” Harris wrote in an email.
While the Community First Whatcom website and Instagram account haven’t been updated since the 2023 election, Harris said the group is still active and is now advocating for other tenant protections. This includes supporting the passage of Bellingham City Council’s junk fees ordinance, helping renters address shared housing concerns and researching ways to improve tenant rights enforcement.
Harris said the success of the Bellingham campaign has helped drive action at the state level, demonstrating that “basic consumer protections for tenants are broadly popular.”
In the state Legislature, Democrats are once again attempting to bring forward a rent stabilization bill after a similar one failed last year. House Bill 1217, co-sponsored by Rep. Alex Ramel and Rep. Debra Lekanoff of the 40th District, among others, would put a 7% cap on yearly rent increases for existing tenants. The House passed the bill on March 10 and sent it to the Senate, where a public hearing was held on March 19 in the Senate Committee on Housing.
“This is a reasonable bill to address the biggest cost of living for about half of Washingtonians who rent their homes,” Ramel said in a statement on March 13. “The current market isn’t working for the majority of Washingtonians — a market that ultimately has impacts on small businesses, homelessness, and the overall well-being of our communities.”
To learn more about Bellingham tenants’ rights and where to seek assistance, visit the city’s Tenant Resouces page.
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
