Hello! We are having a special TTOC meeting this Monday June 24 at 530 pm at First United Methodist Church, 621 Tacoma Ave. The agenda is to discuss the transition plans, because Molly is moving July 31st. Last day July 23.
Here is a document that lays out the current work of TTOC and breaks down all the tasks I do so that we can track how those things can be covered when I’m gone. Thanks to Amanda for this suggestion! I’m continuing to work on the document but will send a final version before the meeting Monday so folks can review. Let me know if you have questions or suggestions!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1250ud6WZ5aRw2j3uegEahZxD36pGvCh08g4SVMvPtQM/edit?usp=sharing

Amazing tenant protections have passed at the state level and will take effect July 28th! This victory is due to the tireless advocacy from tenants and organizations across the state including, TTOC, the WA Low Income Housing Alliance, the Tenants Union of WA, and WA Community Action Network. Shout out to everyone who fought for these bills. And deep thanks to the elected officials who sponsored and supported these bills, especially the lead sponsors Rep. Macri, Rep. Kuderer, and Rep. Robinson and the Tacoma area representatives whose leadership was vital: Rep. Jinkins, Rep. Morgan, and Sen. Darneille.

• Senate Bill 5600/HB 1453 provides 14 days for tenants to catch up on rent before being evicted, instead of just 3. Providing this additional time prevents tenants from getting evicted and becoming homeless. It begins to address the severe injustice of our current housing system.
• House Bill 1440 requires landlords to provide 60-day notice for all rent increases. We won this protection in Tacoma, and now it will apply to tenants across the state!
• House Bill 1406 allows local municipalities to dedicate sales tax revenue to fund low income housing, without an increase in the tax.
• The Housing Trust fund was allocated 175 million to fund low income housing across the state.

We are disappointed that some of the other key protections we fought for did not become law. The Just Cause bill (requiring landlords to provide a legitimate reason to terminate a tenancy) made it out of Committee in the House (which shows the strength of tenant organizing across the state). We must continue to organize and build our movement to win this necessary protection! Landlords are already suggesting ways around the new laws by issuing no-cause notices instead of 14-day pay or vacate, which just demonstrates how vital the Just Cause protection is. We are also continuing to push for rent control to help keep tenants stable in our homes.

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TTOC is gearing up for a tenant outreach and education project this summer and fall. We will be working with local neighborhood based organizations to hold tenant rights workshops to make sure tenants are aware of their new rights in Tacoma and across the state. We’ll be canvassing in neighborhoods to spread the word about the meetings and the new protections. Stay tuned for the dates, and please let us know if you’d like to volunteer to participate in the outreach for the meetings.

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Are you a renter in Tacoma? Have you received this information packet from your landlord? If not, please let them know that you are supposed to receive it. If there is still no response, you can contact the City of Tacoma’s landlord tenant coordinator by dialing 311.

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Finally, I want to let you all know that the Nichols family is moving to Columbus, Ohio at the end of July. We are very sad to lose Molly but also excited for her new adventure. Being part of the Tacoma Tenants Organizing Committee has been such an incredible experience, and we are grateful to Molly who has been our leader in this movement for housing justice in Tacoma and beyond!

Hope to see folks at the meeting on June 10th! On June 24th we will discuss our leadership transition and plans for the future. The July meeting is on July 1, so please mark your calendars for that one as well!

Below is the job description for the tenant coordinator position for the outreach and education project. This is an opportunity to help tenants across the city.

Job Title: Tenant Outreach and Education Coordinator

Supervisor(s): Tenant Outreach and Education Manager

Hours: 10 hrs/week

Wage: $15/hour

Benefits: Reimbursement of medical plan costs

Duration: 6 months (starting in May of 2019)

About TTOC & Tenants Union of WA

The Tacoma Tenants Organizing Committee formed in April of 2018 in response to the mass displacement of residents at the Tiki apartments. We organized tenants across the City to win new tenant protections, and we received a grant to conduct tenant outreach and education in 2019 so that Tacoma residents are aware of their strengthened rights as tenants. Our partner and fiscal sponsor for this project is the Tenants Union of Washington, a statewide grassroots membership organization dedicated to safe, healthy, and affordable housing for everyone.

Job Summary:

The Tacoma Tenants Organizing Committee and Tenants Union of WA seek a tenant who has been affected by the impacts of housing insecurity and displacement to work as the Coordinator for a tenant outreach and education project. The position involves training in state and local tenant law, conducting tenant rights workshops, and connecting with individual tenants and community groups throughout Tacoma.  

Responsibilities, Duties, and Tasks:

• work with the project manager to plan and implement 8 tenant rights workshops
• find and reserve space for the workshops
• design, print, and distribute fliers
• share information via email and social media
• plan and participate in canvassing days to go door-to-door in neighborhoods to encourage turnout to public meetings and share info about the new rental housing code
• plan and participate in phone banking to contact tenants
• form new connections with community based organizations or deepen existing ones to ensure TTOC listens to the needs of all Tacoma renters, actively seeks their participation, and broadly spreads awareness and understanding of the new rental housing code
• develop skills and knowledge about landlord tenant law in order to counsel tenants about their rights under federal, state, and local laws
• help conduct and facilitate the workshops

Qualifications:

• Lived experience with displacement, low-income housing, and/or evictions.
• Some knowledge of housing issues and/or landlord-tenant law.
• Demonstrated ability to work well with diverse groups of people and willingness to challenge oneself and others to undo racism, homophobia, xenophobia, ableism, and other forms of oppression.
• Strong written and verbal communications skills.
• Attention to detail.
• Ability to manage tasks and prioritize.
• Ability to use basic technology and develop skills as needed.
• Desire to work directly with people.

TTOC and the TU will honor the importance of boundaries and self-care for this position—especially given the risk of secondary trauma working with tenants experiencing housing insecurity and displacement.

How to apply:

The position is open until filled, and the anticipated start date is in May 2019. Please submit cover letter and resume to TacomaTenants@gmail.com or mail to:

Tacoma Tenants Organizing Committee

Hiring Team

1522 N Oakes St

Tacoma, WA 98406

Women, people of color, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. The Tenants Union of Washington is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer.

Hello! We’ve got some big news from Olympia!

• Senate Bill 5600 (which provides 14 days for tenants to catch up on rent before being evicted, instead of just 3) passed in the House on Friday! The revised bill needs a final vote in the Senate but should be heading to the Governor’s desk soon! This big win is based on lots of organizing and advocacy from tenants across the state. Providing this additional time prevents tenants from getting evicted and becoming homeless. It begins to address the severe injustice of our current housing system. Please take a moment to thank your legislators who voted for the bill, which you can find by clicking on the “roll call” links at this page. Legislators in the Tacoma area offered a lot of leadership and advocacy for the bill, so be sure to thank them! In the 27th: Rep. Jinkins and Sen. Darneille. In the 29th: Rep. Morgan and Rep. Kirby.
  
• House Bill 1440 (which requires landlords to provide 60-day notice for all rent increases) passed in the Senate last week. The bill is now on its way to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law. We won this protection in Tacoma, and now it will apply to tenants across the state! Check out the roll call of votes on this bill here, and please thank your legislators who supported it!

• The email from the WA Low Income Housing Alliance also references 1923, which we didn’t directly advocate for, but it provides more flexibility on the usage of Real Estate Excise Tax funds for affordable housing. Which is a good thing!

These would take effect 90 days after April 28.

We are disappointed that some of the other key protections we fought for will not become law this session. The Just Cause bill (requiring landlords to provide a legitimate reason to terminate a tenancy) made it out of Committee in the House (which shows the strength of tenant organizing across the state). We must continue to organize and build our movement to win this necessary protection! We are also continuing to push for rent control to help keep tenants stable in our homes.

Do you want to get involved? The Tacoma Tenants Organizing Committee meets the first Monday of every month at First United Methodist Church, 621 Tacoma Ave South. The next meeting is Monday May 6th at 5:30 pm. If you plan to attend, please email Molly@TacomaTenants.org .

After a really long day of coming back and forth on 5600/Kuderer it has finally passed the House. It has to go back to the Senate for concurrence and then it will be done. 

The House spent over two hours on the floor on this bill, plus a lot of time earlier in the day on it. This is a lot of time for one bill and represents how much of a priority tenant protections and eviction prevention are for the House Democratic Caucus. 

Many thank you’s are due and I hope that you will all join us in thanking Representative Macri and Senator Kuderer for their incredible leadership throughout this session on this very significant bill. But if you saw the floor debate, you’ll see that there are many other awesome lawmakers to thank as well. Each of the following lawmakers spoke against bad amendments or for the final passage of the bill. They all deserve thanks, in addition to the prime sponsors:

Nicole.Macri@leg.wa.gov (Awesome and powerful floor speech on why this bill is so important, and prime sponsor of 1453)

Patty.Kuderer@leg.wa.gov (Prime sponsor of 5600)

Melanie.Morgan@leg.wa.gov (Shared a personal story of eviction and against amendment to reduce the 14 days to 7 days because of the time it takes to get assistance from the VA, and further elaborated on this during final passage. Please do make sure to share a special thank you for Rep Morgan)

Laurie.Jinkins@leg.wa.gov (Spoke many times against bad amendments) 

Christine.Kilduff@leg.wa.gov (Spoke against a bad amendment) 

Marcus.Riccelli@leg.wa.gov (Spoke against a bad amendment several times) 

Noel.Frame@leg.wa.gov (Spoke against a bad amendment)

Author: 
Michele Thomas She/her/hers Director of Policy and Advocacy Washington Low Income Housing Alliance and Housing Alliance Action Fund

Hello! We are pleased to share the excellent news that HB 1453 (eviction reform giving 14 days to pay past due rent, rather than just 3) and HB 1440 (60-day notice of rent increase) passed in the House last week! SB 5600 (companion to HB 1453) passed in the Senate on Saturday! This is a direct result of all of our work with advocates across the state pushing for these tenant protections.

The cut off date for more bills to pass in their chamber of origin is this Wed March 13th. There are some crucial bills that have made it out of committee and are listed on the calendar but have not yet been called for a vote. Please reach out to your House representatives and House leadership to ask them to vote on and support:

HB 1694 (installment payments): requires landlords to agree to receive upfront move-in costs over an extended period of time. This high cost is one of the main barriers many households face when they have to move to a new home, and having this option will ease the process of moving and help prevent homelessness. Rep. Melanie Morgan (29th District) is the primary sponsor of this bill. We achieved this protection in Tacoma, and we need it to apply to tenants across the state.

HB 1656 (Just Cause): requires a legitimate reason for a landlord to terminate a tenancy. As you all know this is the big one we’ve been pushing. We’ve made it this far, but there continues to be opposition, so let’s keep making the case for how fundamental this right is for tenants in Washington!

In addition to your District representatives, please also reach out to:

Speaker of the House Rep. Frank Chopp
frank.chopp@leg.wa.gov, (360) 786 – 7920

House Democratic Caucus Majority Leader Rep. Pat Sullivan
pat.sullivan@leg.wa.gov, (360) 786 – 7858

Chair of Civil Rights and Judiciary Committee Rep. Laurie Jinkins
laurie.jinkins@leg.wa.gov, (360) 786 – 7930

Let’s do this.

Senator Darneille (27th District) and Senator Conway (29th District) have signed on to support Senate Bill 5600 which enacts meaningful and necessary tenant protections by reforming the eviction process in Washington state. This is excellent news, and we want to thank them for their support! They are getting a lot of opposition from landlords and need to hear from us!

Senator Darneille’s number is (360) 786-7652.

Senator Conway’s number is (360) 786 – 7656.

The bill extends the current 3-day notice to pay past due rent. This extension helps to make sure tenants have some time to prevent their eviction. The bill also allows judges to use discretion to provide alternatives to eviction. For example, a tenant who has been hospitalized and fallen behind on rent could get a payment plan rather than getting evicted. The bill also makes the language on eviction notices more understandable.

Eviction is one of the primary causes of homelessness in Pierce County, and it disproportionately impacts marginalized populations, including women (especially single mothers), people of color, and people with disabilities. Between 2012 and 2017, almost 20% of all black adults in Pierce County experienced eviction. These reforms are absolutely necessary. Please call and voice your support.

By passing this legislation, Washington will join 25 other states in protecting tenants from the hardships of eviction–securing housing stability for the 40% of Washingtonians who rent their homes.