OLYMPIA — The Washington State House of Representatives passed a rent increase cap bill by a vote of 54 to 43 on  Tuesday. A companion bill, SB 5961, failed to pass out of committee in January.

House Bill 2114, sponsored by Rep. Emily Alvarado, D-Seattle, prohibits landlords from raising rent more than once in a 12-month period, and limits increases to 7% within a 12-month period. It also caps move-in fees and security deposits to the cost of one month’s rent, requires 180 days’ notice before raising rent more than 3% and caps late fees at 1.5% of a tenant’s total monthly rent.

“I hear from families who keep paying more and more rent and they can't save money to buy a home,” Alvarado said in a public hearing on the bill in January. “Hard-working people, people who work in child care and health care and grocery stores who pay their rent on time each month and then see their rent go up faster than their wages and they can't keep up and they have to move farther and farther from their jobs.”

Several speakers testified to the need to rein in out-of-control rent hikes.

“My dad owned a modular home until the landlord raised the rent on his plot of dirt more than what his fixed income could afford,” said Kerri Burnside, an organizer with the Bellingham Tenants Union. “As a 73-year-old man, he now lives like a college student, because he's lost everything. My rent has doubled since 2016. And this year, my landlord raised my rent an additional $500 a month despite refusing to fix multiple leaks in my roof.”

Zack Brandon, a senior fellow at the Jack Kemp Foundation in Washington, D.C., cited a study indicating the rent cap would do more harm than good to an already strained housing market.

“A 5% cap on rent increases in the state would reduce new housing construction in the state by about 5%, reduce maintenance spending on existing housing by 3% reduce the total value of housing in the state by between $1.4 billion and $1.7 billion and reduce the total property tax revenue in the state by about $20 million.”

The average fair-market rent for a two-bedroom home in Grant County is $1,108 according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a 13.87% increase from a year ago. In Adams County, the average fair market rent is $1,112 for a two-bedroom home, up 5.6% from a year ago. In King County, the average fair market rent for the same home is $2,645, a 20.28% year-over-year increase.

"We'll be working hard to ensure that the property rights of our members and the stability of our housing market are protected from this failed policy," William Shadbolt, Managing Director of the Washington Business Properties Association, wrote in a statement following the vote. "Rent control doesn't pencil out for providers or those struggling with our state's housing affordability crisis."

“This is a balanced policy that lets landlords raise the rent and make a reasonable return.” Alvarado wrote in a statement. “It prevents excessive rent increases and helps renters to better plan their budgets.”

Joel Martin may be reached at [email protected]. A 25-year veteran at the Columbia Basin Herald, he lives in Moses Lake with his wife and children.