Last year, Mary Moore paid about $1,600 a month to rent an apartment in Vancouver. But when a $250 rent hike pushed beyond her budget, the 69-year-old was forced to move.
That puts her among 490,000 Washingtonians pressured to move by steep rent prices in the past six months. That’s 6 percent of the state’s overall population, according to data from the U.S. Census Pulse Survey.
“Do I just keep working until I drop dead so I can keep a roof over my head?” Moore said. “Because there is no way you can afford rent in Vancouver.”
Never-ending cycle
Moore spent her career working in public health.
When she moved into her most-recent Vancouver apartment in 2020, her rent was about $1,200 a month. But over the years, her rent crept higher until she was paying $1,570 last year. Her Social Security check wasn’t enough to cover rent and other necessities, so Moore worked full time at a local garden center.
But this summer, she learned her rent was going up to $1,820 in October— a nearly 16 percent hike.
Moore knew she couldn’t pay that much and would have to move. But she couldn’t find anything for less when she searched Vancouver.
“I was terrified of becoming homeless,” she said. “I was in that situation with Social Security where I made just a little bit too much to qualify for any kind of help (such as) rental assistance.”
Moore found a room to rent from a friend who lives in Olympia. But others in Moore’s position aren’t as lucky.
Last year, more than 9,000 people in Clark County experienced some type of homelessness, about 600 of whom were living outside. High rent prices and lack of affordable housing are the biggest contributors to homelessness, according to Council for the Homeless, which tracks the county data.
According to the pulse survey, renters from all walks of life had to move due to a rent increase in the past six months.
While 25- to 39-year-olds made up a large percentage of those forced to move in Washington, more than 14,000 renters who were 65 years old and older were, as well.
“It’s a really scary world for renters,” said Michele Thomas, director of policy and advocacy for the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance. “Lower income households, including seniors on fixed incomes, have very little to give and are more vulnerable to evictions and homelessness because of rent.”
Thomas said rental hikes are no longer just impacting lower-income households but accelerating to other socioeconomic groups. The largest household demographic pressured to move (163,347) made between $50,000 and $74,999 a year.
Thomas said that rent increases are forcing families to move, which trickles down to affect educational achievement as students often must change schools. About 69,000 of those who had to move due to rent hikes were households with children.
People of color are also impacted greatly by rent increases, according to the census’s survey. More than 220,000 renters who were people of color were pressured to move in the past six months due to rent hikes.
“And it particularly compounds for seniors of color — Black and Latino and Indigenous people in general are more likely to be renters and seniors and seniors of color are being hit hard by rent increases,” Thomas said.
According to the U.S. Census Pulse Survey, more than 298,000 renters in Washington had to use credit cards or take out loans to meet cost-of-living needs.
Moore opened up her first credit card to cover living and moving costs.
“It took every penny I had and to get a credit card just to make the move,” Moore said. “That is so wrong.”
No place to go
Thomas and Moore both called for rent stabilization. Moore recalls a former co-worker working full time yet still living in a car because of escalating rent.
“It’s just pure greed,” Moore said. “There is no excuse why people should be living like this.”
Rent hikes can be attributed to various factors, including landlords trying to meet fair market value for their unit.
Thomas encouraged community members to advocate for renters — specifically demanding rent stabilization.
She said Washington will never prevent homelessness without rent stabilization. Rent stabilization is different from rent control, which landlords have argued will ultimately impact affordable housing in the long run. Rent stabilization provides predictability for rent increases so a tenant knows what to expect rather than enforcing a ceiling, as in rent control.
“There’s no place to go. There are very few places that are affordable when available, and there’s nothing that prevents the landlord in the new place from also forcing you to move again with an excessive rent increase,” Thomas said. “It’s a cycle that never ends for renters.”
