just don’t believe this is the right policy’: Sen. Cleveland votes against rent stabilization bill
‘I don’t think it’s good policy’: Sen. Cleveland votes against rent stabilization bill
The law limiting rents to less than 15% was effectively repealed.
Maya Hendin, a member of the Council on the Homeless, looks at the Capitol during a break after a meeting with state lawmakers to mark Housing and Homelessness Day on Tuesday. (Alexis Weissend/Colombia)
“Here. Photo by Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver.
here. Annette Cleveland voted Wednesday in Washington against a rent stabilization bill that would limit rent increases to no more than 15 percent at the discretion of local governments. His actions effectively killed Senate Bill 5961 in committee. Like its companion bill in the House, the Senate bill initially limited annual rent increases to 5 percent. On Friday, MPs voted to change the language by 15%. “I don’t think that’s the right policy,” said Cleveland, D-Vancouver. “Sometimes even the simplest solutions may not actually be solutions when you dig a little deeper.”
In a rare move, Cleveland abstained when the bill was debated in the Senate Housing Committee on Jan. 1. 26. Since then, the lawyers have been pressing him to make a decision. In the report, Cleveland said the biggest problem with the Senate bill is that it caps annual rent increases at 15 percent.
“This is clearly and unambiguously stated and does not result in a one-time increase. Landlords can raise rents by up to 15% per year, well above the typical economic growth in wages and household resources. Math is brutal. “What tenant can afford to raise their rent by 15 percent every year?” he said in a press release. Since the Senate Housing Committee debated the bill on Jan. 26, Cleveland has been on the phone with economists and housing experts to understand whether stabilizing rents while providing short-term relief to renters would have negative long-term effects long. “We looked at studies that concluded that these policies actually promote inequality and gentrification and reduce affordability,” he said. “And that’s what worries me the most. There are more.”
His press release includes links to several studies showing that rent stabilization hurts people.
“None of this surprises me. He said, “I remember very well that in the 1970s, when inflation was rising, the Nixon administration implemented price controls to suppress inflation, and my parents’ family and my neighbors in the Vancouver area suffered as a result.” “As well-intentioned as this policy was, it was a tragic failure that set back our economy and caused long-term economic harm to
everyone we know.”
