Lawmakers in Olympia, Washington, passed on April 16 a comprehensive set of tenant protections aimed at keeping renters stably housed amid a growing housing crisis in the city. Enacted through “Ordinance No. 7391,” the city’s new law addresses persistent rising rental costs and habitability issues present throughout the state’s capital while also seeking to ensure that tenants can remain stably housed and free from the threat of displacement over the long term.
Olympia’s new tenant protections package ensures that tenants facing the threat of a forced move due to an excessive rental hike or a habitability concern that makes a residential unit uninhabitable will be able to request relocation assistance from their landlords. Moreover, in cases when tenants are faced with an excessive rental increase, the new law requires landlords to provide tenants with advance notice of their right to terminate a lease early after receiving an unaffordable rent increase, allowing tenants to break their lease within 30 days of receiving a new rental rate.
Tenants seeking relocation assistance must first qualify for support under the law. Under “Ordinance No. 7391,” tenants facing a habitability concern at their residence that requires them to vacate their property may be eligible to apply for relocation support. Tenants must meet eligibility requirements to apply for support – for example, a tenant may be eligible if they live in a property that is being demolished or rehabilitated or if their residential property is changing in use. To qualify for relocation assistance due to habitability concerns, the tenant must also be making at or below 50% of the city’s median income. Under the law, the median income will be adjusted for family size, meaning that, for single-individual households, the individual must be making $39,450 or below to qualify.
To qualify for relocation assistance due to a rent increase, known also as “economic displacement relocation assistance,” a tenant must be facing a rental increase that totals a change of more than 7% within a 12-month period. Under the law, a tenant is eligible to receive two and a half months’ rent as a payout from their landlord. In comparison to the eligibility requirements a tenant is required to satisfy to apply for relocation assistance for a habitability concern, there are no requirements that an individual tenant must meet if faced with a rent increase. Lawmakers noted in the ordinance that in Olympia it is common for tenants who are displaced from their residence due to a change in rental cost to accrue thousands of dollars in fees from simply leaving their homes. These can include moving fees, security deposit fees, cleaning fees, and administrative fees. As such, the passage of relocation assistance seeks to offset some of the costs for renters, making it easier for a tenant to secure new housing opportunities without amassing debt.
Known as the “Renter Protections Ordinance,” the passage of the city’s new law also provides three additional protections to tenants. Not only does the law place limits on the amount that can be charged in rental fees, but the law also denotes the allowable types of fees that can be charged to a tenant during their lease term to ensure that tenants are not charged any “junk” fees. Under the original ordinance, move-in fees were the only fees mentioned in the bill. However, amendments to the bill modified the types of fees that can be charged to a tenant, ensuring tenants are not charged arbitrary or surprise fees during their lease term. With the passage of the law, landlords are permitted only to charge tenants application screening fees, a refundable security deposit fee, a refundable pet damage deposit, utility charges, late fees for rent (not to exceed $10 a month), landlord reimbursement fees, and attorney’s fees (if applicable). Under the law, a tenant is allowed to opt out of any fees that are non-essential.
The final protection included under Olympia’s new tenant protection ordinance protects tenants who install a cooling device within a unit – such as a portable air conditioner – and establishes that tenants who do so may not be cited or evicted on that basis.
The population of Olympia is made up largely of renter households. Of the city’s more than 55,000 individuals, over 53% live in rental housing, the result of a steady increase from 2019, when renter households comprised 35% of the housing market. As the share of renter households has risen, so has the threat of housing instability. In 2023, it was found that 54% of all renters within the city – more than 6,000 households – were cost-burdened, a number that has only risen since the pandemic. As recently as 2021, 46% of renter households in Olympia were cost-burdened. According to HUD, a renter is cost-burdened when they pay more than 30% of their monthly income towards rent.
In Olympia, rising rental costs coupled with stagnant wages have led to increases in cost-burdened renters. Since 2021, the median rental cost in the city has increased more than 13%, making housing unaffordable for many. According to NLIHC’s Out of Reach report, a renter in Olympia would have to work 77 hours a week at the minimum wage to afford a modest one-bedroom rental at a fair market rate of $1,577.
The lowest-income renters experience the greatest share of housing unaffordability. Of the city’s renters, 82% of individuals who make 30% or below of the city’s area median income (AMI) are cost-burdened, while 73% of renters making 30% or below of the city’s AMI are severely cost-burdened, paying more than 50% of their monthly income towards rent. In Olympia, the median income for a household of one at 30% AMI is $23,700, making a person with an income at or below this number extremely low-income. When an individual pays such a large share of their income towards rent, they are left with little money for other necessities, such as food, healthcare, or transportation costs.
The passage of Olympia’s new tenant protection package will likely strengthen and reinforce a growing wave of tenant protections passed in Olympia since the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, city officials released a detailed “Housing Action Plan” made up of proposed steps that can be taken to address the city’s housing needs and rectify gaps in the city’s rental housing market. On the basis of recommendations in the Housing Action Plan, which included increasing housing stability for renters, the city passed in 2023 “Ordinance No. 7376,” creating several new rights for renters. The law requires landlords to register their rental properties and acquire a business license annually, and to arrange for an inspection of their rental properties once every five years. The law also prohibits landlords from charging a tenant any fee levied against a landlord for registering the rental property; prohibits landlords from increasing a tenant’s rent if their property is uninhabitable; and protects tenants against landlord retaliation.
Many tenants and housing advocates showed support for “Ordinance No. 7391.” Speaking about the passage of the new law, Rachael Myers, the executive director of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, an NLIHC state partner, noted the role of tenant organizing in passing the city’s new ordinance, as well as the impact of the bill on tenants. “Congratulations to the organizers who made this happen,” she said. “This is a victory that will help tenants who are facing big rent hikes on top of already out of reach rents. Olympia is the latest in a long list of Washington cities where tenants have organized successfully for better protections, and I expect to see much more of that.” The Washington Low Income Housing Alliance and others in its network plan to continue their advocacy for a statewide rent stabilization law so that all residents across the state are protected from unsustainable rent increases.
Learn more about Olympia’s new renter protection package here.