Seattle Press on Line - Councilmember Nicastro Convenes Citywide Renters' Summit

June 10 Renters' Summit

Councilmember Nicastro Convenes Citywide Renters' Summit

May 31, 2000 -- In response to the continuing rental housing crisis in Seattle, City Councilmember Judy Nicastro is hosting a citywide Renters' Summit to discuss rental housing policies. A combination of soaring rents, low vacancy rates, and gentrification has left many of the 52 percent of Seattle's residents who are renters without access to affordable housing.

"It is critical that city government take a more proactive role if Seattle is to remain economically diverse," Nicastro said. "We must keep rents affordable to the same wide range of people who have always lived here or the Seattle we know will be lost forever." While the rental housing crisis affects renters of all incomes, low-income families are especially burdened, since only 18 percent of all units are available below $600 per month. The Renters' Summit is a public forum that will be held on Saturday June 10, 2000 from 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. in the Northwest Rooms of the Seattle Center.

"We need local options for our local rental laws and that means repealing the state law that restricts local authority," Nicastro said. "It's for us to decide whether or not we can protect seniors and people on fixed incomes from drastic rent hikes." The Renters' Summit Strategy Paper, which outlines the policies that will be discussed at the Summit, proposes ideas aimed at making rental housing more affordable, while increasing renters' leverage in the marketplace.

The Renters' Summit is a community forum that will feature panel discussions on the rental housing policy proposals as well as a keynote speech by Dennis Keating, a national expert on rental housing. Some of the proposals include strengthening landlord-tenant laws, giving renters some of the same benefits as homeowners, and providing innovative incentives to increase the affordable rental housing stock.

The Summit's panels include a wide variety of rental housing advocates, landlords, service providers, non-profit and private developers, architects, and City of Seattle staff. Nicastro's office will be taking comments from the public leading up to the Summit, and can be reached at (206) 615-1567 or via e-mail at judy.nicastro@ci.seattle.wa.us.

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