SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle’s eviction moratorium implemented nearly two years ago due to the coronavirus pandemic will be extended through the end of February and then not renewed.
Mayor Bruce Harrell made the announcement Friday about the moratorium, which has prevented evictions of residential renters, small businesses and nonprofits.
The Seattle Times reports it is at least the seventh time the moratorium, first enacted in March 2020, has been extended.
“With COVID cases steadily declining, the time has come for the city to move on from the broad approach of the eviction moratoria and instead drive more deliberate and focused efforts to support those most in need,” Harrell said in a statement.
Harrell directed the city’s Office of Housing to distribute $25 million to renters and small landlords, as a complement to the larger rental assistance being distributed by King County.
About 124,000 households — more than 12 percent of all renters — in the Seattle metro area, which includes King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, are behind on rent, according to a Census survey from the first weeks of January.
Last year, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved a bill to give tenants a defense against rent-related evictions for six months after the moratorium ends. And both the city and the state have passed legislation mandating free attorneys for people facing eviction.
But those measures do not prevent the eviction process from starting, and they depend on tenants showing up in court to defend themselves.
“That’s something that can be a big barrier,” said Katie Wilson, general secretary of the Seattle Transit Riders Union.
Landlord representatives say the moratorium’s expiration is long overdue, and that the moratorium had prevented them from dealing with problem tenants.
“The number one thing is about behavior, it’s not even about rent,” said Sean Flynn, executive director of the Rental Housing Association of Washington. Flynn says he hears from landlords who are unable to address or evict tenants who they suspect of selling drugs or harassing their neighbors.
