Livetweeting the Bellevue City Council meeting this evening. Topics of discussion include a State of Our Neighborhoods report, which should include some good demographic information, and a briefing on what Council could use HB 1590 funds for (the 0.1% affordable housing tax).
Conversation
A resolution is on the consent calendar to spend nearly $125k on audio/video updates for BPD's command center. According to the agenda memo, police staff have been needing to borrow equipment from other departments. Money would help fund 65" 4k LCDs, projectors, & cameras.
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Word on the street is that Councilmember Zahn will present an amendment to the agenda to discuss a potential eviction moratorium for the City of Bellevue, to be implemented if the Governor does not extend the moratorium beyond June 30th.
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Councilmember Robertson votes "no" to amending the agenda to discuss rental evictions. All other Councilmembers vote "yes".
I'm not surprised, but disappointed.
Eviction defense attorney & Bellevue resident speaking in support of stronger just-cause eviction protections, in line with other KC jurisdictions. Notes that there's missing middle housing in Bellevue and income stratification. 1,620 households at risk for eviction in Bellevue.
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A resident concerned about gentrification speaking against McMansions and teardowns of single family houses to build even larger ones. Would want to see adjustments to land use code to prevent certain types of projects like this.
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Communtiy engagement manager of the Housing Justice project speaking in support of an eviction moratorium, echoing comments made by the other speaker. "It is inhumane to set up thousands to lose their homes while the rich get richer & thousands lose their homes."
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After a report on Bellevue's All America City award (the first time it's received it since 1955), we're now moving on to CM Zahn's initiative, which she says was brought on by reading that 50% of Bellevue's households are renters and hearing about the need expressed by community.
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Tonight's discussion would be on whether there's Council consensus to direct staff to investigate "the pros & cons" of an eviction moratorium. An ordinance would need to be drafted & approved at a later date, & it would all depend upon whether Inslee extends the state moratorium.
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Motion has been created, now we're going around the Council for discussion, and I'm taking a break to mentally prepare myself for some likely out of touch comments by people with 6-figure incomes and 7-figure houses about how this would be too much of a burden.
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DM Nieuwenhuis, liaison to the Human Services commission, goes first. Says there's not exact numbers on the # of households who could be evicted, the best info he has is that it's 84,000 in the Greater Seattle Area. He *can* talk more about what's already been done.
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Human Services General Fund for 2020 got $600k to 700 households
Q1 2021 got $30k to 130 households.
CARES Act got $200k to 280 households
CDBG funds got $200k to 112 households.
1200 households therefore gotten over $1M - or less than $1k/household.
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$700k will go to 427 households between Q2 and Q4 from the City. At tomorrow's Human Services commission meeting, they'll also be looking at allocating 1590 money and other opportunities for rental assistance.
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He's supportive of staff coming back w/ more information b/c of the paucity of data on how big the problem is in Bellevue. Wants to get into the specific data and needs of the city, but wants to commend staff for being very proactive in allocating funds already.
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CM Stokes sees this as interlinked w/ equity, 1590 funds, and solving affordable housing problems proactively. "If we really do embrace our mottos, this is something that we need to do." Doesn't think the All-American City award means much if "we can't get this right."
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"If we don't help these people this way, we're going to pay for it in other ways. People will be homeless. Let's look at the facts and figures, bring it back, and let's do something that we can look back on and say 'Wow, we really did stand up for our citizens.'"
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CM Robertson is more supportive of continuing to use rental assistance programs, is afraid that an eviction moratorium would open the city up to a lawsuit. Cites the SHB 5160, which "does not allow tenants to be evicted w/o landlords offering payment plans & legal counsel."
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Notes that there's multiple jurisdictions providing assistance."We need to know what those resources are so we know what the need is." Which is why the motion is a good idea, huh. On other cities doing this: "Just because someone jumped off a bridge doesn't mean it's a good idea.
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Seems she would support the motion if it was more expansively looking at downstream effects. *Really* seems to be leaning in on the argument that it opens up the city to potential lawsuits.
Well, at least then we're all in the same boat...? I'm not sure about this argument.
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Wow, okay, guns ablazing. She's upset that the motion was able to be introduced same day from an email conversation. "This is not how we do things." Also says she's not sure that the motion to prevent tenants from getting evicted would actually help them from getting evicted....
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CM Zahn takes particular offense to the "that's not how we do things comment," the Mayor has said they'll circle back on the issue at the end.
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CM Barksdale says that prevention is an important part of homelessness advocacy. Says that not everybody knows of rental assistance. As a "mom & pop" landlord, he's had to take on expenses from his tenants, but the care that this motion brings is what builds community.
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CM Lee "Bellevue is a compassionate city w/ compassionate people." He agrees with CM Robertson on the narrowness of the motion, but is less concerned about legality and more about "solving the problem."
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A lot of how Conrad is able to hide his Republicanism is that he spends more time talking about procedure, finding the "right" solution, and collaboration rather than actual tangible policy. We're *all* for listening to community, dude. *What* community do you listen to is the q.
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Okay, after some rambling, he says he doesn't support the motion because of its narrow focus. In brand with his budget-hawkiness, he wants to implement the solution that makes the most financial sense for Bellevue.
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CM Zahn cites the several panels that she's attended that discuss the gap between the resources that other CMs have mentioned and when they're actually distributed. The "right to counsel" that CM Robertson mentioned "will take several months to get in place."
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Because help has been taking several months, this is intended as a stopgap to "make sure we don't have more of an issue w/ folks being evicted, that we're going to be spending a lot more money getting them into housing than preventing the issue in the first place."
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Mayor Robinson amends the motion to "an assessment for an ordinance that includes a legal opinion for a local rental moratorium and its ramifications, data on our population at risk, housing insecurity, answers how much rental assistance is needed, and recent legislation."
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CM Zahn is concerned that staff may not have time to come back before July 1st. Mayor Robinson says she'll leave it to staff to determine what they're able to deliver by the end of the month. Staff says they'll do their best, but it'll have implications on stuff like 1590 funding
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It seems the Mayor was wondering if staff could take the week to figure out how long it would take to get all this information back to the Council.
That seems like a valuable week that could've been spent, you know, actually figuring out the information.
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I *am* really behind the livestream now and I apologize. That's partly because I keep pausing to take notes, and partially because I have to keep pausing before the conservative CMs speak so I can mentally prepare myself for what they're about to say.
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CM Robertson supports the amendment proposed by the Mayor, supports doing due diligence.
I'm very curious, & she's welcome to comment, on what proof of need she'd accept in order to support this ordinance. If there's any info she could receive that would lead to a "yes" vote.
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City Manager Miyake notes that, although there might be a delay in other tasks, we're only talking a couple of weeks. So long as we're still unsure of what Inslee will do, it's admittedly still up in the air, but the vibe from housing advocates is that he won't extend it.
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The amended motion moves forward w/ unanimous support. I'm upset that Janice didn't respond directly to the "It's not how we do things" comment, but at least it's moving forward, and pending a decision by Inslee, there's a chance of Bellevue actually enacting renter protections.
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