Housing

Seattle overregulation-8

Affordable Housing Owner Sues City of Seattle: Unpacking the Lawsuit

Last week, GRE Downtowner, LLC (GRE) filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle, arguing that the city’s policies have destroyed the livability and economic viability of GRE’s Addison on Fourth apartment building. The Addison on Fourth is an affordable housing building nestled between Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square and Chinatown-International District. The lawsuit alleges that the city has forced the Addison to either continue operations in service of a public good at a massive private loss, or to shut down operations entirely. Both options GRE describes as “disastrous.” To understand why a privately-owned housing building is in default, facing over $40 million in liabilities, and “hemorrhaging money,” in an affluent west-coast city, we must look at a series of Seattle Read More ›

Seattle overregulation-7

Washington Law Unfairly Keeps Prior Evictions Off Tenant Screenings

When it comes to tenant’s rights laws, good intentions don’t always lead to good or fair outcomes. One example is a Washington State law that allows tenants to keep their eviction from being disclosed to future housing providers. The state allows an order of limited dissemination (OLD) to be filed for eviction cases to prevent housing providers from denying tenants due to a previous eviction. Read More ›
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Stacks of paper
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King County Superior Court Making Changes to Address Backlog of Eviction Cases

King County Superior Court is making serious changes to address the backlog of eviction cases. The court is adding more judicial officers and hearing dates to the calendar. Last check, there's a backlog of more than 2000 deadbeat tenant cases that must be resolved. The new process goes into play next month. Read More ›