More than three months after Seattle Council Members Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata introduced a resolution asking the state to lift its ban on rent control, the resolution finally got its first discussion at the city council.
As time dragged on over the summer, Sawant and Licata claimed that their colleague, John Okamoto, who chairs the council’s housing affordability committee and opposes rent control, was intentionally trying to delay or block the resolution. But after Licata threatened to try to reroute the resolution to his own committee, Okamoto finally scheduled it for today at 9:30 a.m.
As a reminder, this resolution would simply ask the state legislature to lift the current ban on rent control. It would not actually create rent control in Seattle. Even though the concept hasn’t yet gotten any serious council consideration, it has been getting plenty of talk. Here’s a recap to get you ready for today’s meeting.
• After Okamoto wrote an anti-rent-control op-ed in the Seattle Times, Licata wrote a pro-rent-control op-ed in the Seattle Times.
• There was also that very sweaty debate on rent control with Sawant and Licata on one side and developer lobbyist Roger Valdez and state Rep. Matt Manweller on the other. Ansel wrote here about why the debate itself was disappointing and what we can learn from a lengthy study about rent stabilization in Los Angeles.
• The mayor’s housing affordability committee released its long list of recommendations and rent control was not one of them. One of the co-chairs of the committee said the group discussed it, but decided it doesn’t work. HALA member (and city council candidate) Jon Grant claimed the idea didn’t get a healthy discussion because it was shot down by developers in the room.
• When surveyed by Zillow, a majority of economists and other experts said rent control doesn’t work, but about a third said rent control legislation could be useful as a last resort.
Still, a desire for local control seems to be spreading, even if politicians are still nervous about rent control as a policy.
• Tuesday night, the 43rd District Democrats passed a resolution opposing the state ban on rent control.
• And a majority of the city council members have said they support asking the state to lift the ban. We’ll see if that holds.
Sawant is rallying her troops to attend today’s meeting and e-mail council members.
You can watch today’s meeting online here. The next discussion, and a possible vote, will happen September 24 at 9:30 a.m. If the resolution passes out of committee that day, it will then go on to a full council vote.