Tacoma’s political leaders must respect voters’ will on tenant rights | Opinion

To the mayor and members of the Tacoma City Council,

We, the undersigned leaders representing a multi-racial coalition of labor unions, faith groups, community organizations and elected officials are calling on you to preserve the Tenant Bill of Rights approved by Tacoma voters two years ago. We urge you to reject the rush by some council members to repeal tenant protections before the end of this year — a timeline and process that would lock out tenant voices.

We call on the City Council to reject this sprint to lock in the agenda of the landlord lobby before the newly elected mayor and Council are seated in January. Instead, the current Council should allow the next administration to tackle these issues with a fresh mandate from the people. Before overturning or amending voter-approved protections, the city must organize a genuine democratic debate, bringing stakeholders together to negotiate any changes.

After all, these policies have life-and-death consequences for our most vulnerable neighbors: economic evictions of families in the cold of winter, excessive move-in fees that are a barrier to housing, relocation assistance when excessive rent hikes displace families, or six-month notices for rent hikes to allow households time to plan and budget.

Half of Tacoma’s 100,000 tenants are officially cost burdened, and one in four renters — nearly 25,000 Tacomans — pay over 50% of their income on housing. Rising rents are driving the huge spike in eviction rates and homelessness statewide. While tenant rights alone won’t solve the affordability crisis, they are essential to mitigating its worst impacts. Tacoma’s protections against economic evictions of kids during the school year have helped stabilize our classrooms. Families facing economic hardship now have a little more time to land on their feet rather than the street. Tacoma landlords now rarely raise rents more than 4.9% to avoid paying relocation assistance.

If city leaders believe we should now repeal these voter-approved protections, Tacoma at least deserves a democratic debate. The City Council must facilitate a genuine negotiation between stakeholders — tenants, landlords and affordable housing providers, alongside faith, labor and community organizations.

Unfortunately, rather than facilitating a democratic process of negotiation, the chair of the Community Vitality and Safety Committee, Council Member Sarah Rumbaugh, announced a rushed schedule to amend the Tenant Bill of Rights (formally known as the Landlord Fairness Code). A landlord herself, Rumbaugh announced her intention to introduce her rollback proposal on Nov. 4 and to schedule a vote by the end of the year.

We must ask: Is this rush to repeal motivated by fear that the August primary results indicate the next mayor and City Council may be less friendly to the powerful landlord lobby? The city charter forbids the City Council from amending voter-approved initiatives for two years, meaning they cannot amend the Tenant Bill of Rights until after Dec. 8 anyway. Would it not be more democratic — more reflective of the will of voters — to wait a couple more weeks until the new mayor and Council are seated in early January?

A rushed process only benefits the powerful landlord and real estate interests who are accustomed to influence and access in city hall. Don’t forget that during the 2023 campaign, these powerful interests dumped over $365,000 in their failed attempt to defeat Initiative 1 — the most expensive election in Tacoma history! Over 90% of this money came from outside of Tacoma, according to PDC filings. More than half — $200,000 — came from the scandal-ridden National Association of REALTORS.

Worse still, as the WA State Public Disclosure Commission ruled on Feb. 13, this opposition PAC illegally failed to report these mega-donations for months – an obvious attempt to hide these outside groups’ attempt to buy our local election.

Prepared months in advance, this real estate and landlord opposition PAC only revealed itself after their allies on the City Council tried and failed to prevent Initiative 1, the Tenant Bill of Rights, from getting a fair up-or-down vote in November 2023. Ruling on the lawsuit brought by Tacoma for All and United Food & Commercial Workers Local 367, Judge Timothy Ashcraft called the city’s competing initiative “misleading and confusing” and blocked it from appearing on the ballot.

This recent history is critical to keep in mind today. Against this background, how can we see this rush to repeal as anything other than a continuation of the City Council’s record of undemocratic, dishonest maneuvers for the benefit of their business backers? We urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to step back from this effort to undermine critical tenant protections. Instead, open up a deliberate, transparent, and democratic process of negotiations where Tacoma’s 100,000 tenants are fully and fairly represented.

Signed,

Yasmin Trudeau, state senator

Michael Hines, president, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367

Michele Thomas, director of policy, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance

Lauren Romero, managing attorney, Tacomaprobono Community Lawyers

Rev. Shalom Agtarap, First United Methodist Church / Common Good Tacoma

Katie Wilson, general secretary, Transit Riders Union

Rev. Malando Redeemer, president, NAACP Tacoma Branch

Ellin Floyd, co-chair, Indivisible Tacoma

Julie Andrzejewski, co-chair, Indivisible Tacoma

Chaplain Sherrilla Bivens-Mburu, president, APRI-Tacoma

Rev. Mike Roberts, social justice chair, Tacoma Ministerial Alliance, NAACP

Tiffani McCoy, co-executive director, House Our Neighbors

Gretchen Duggan, communications and community, Duggan Homes

Ann Dorn, chair, Tacoma for All

Tyron Moore, co-director, Tacoma for All

Devin Rydel Kelly, co-director, Tacoma for All

Jennifer Barfield, secretary, Tacoma for All

Beverly Allen, founding attorney, Nexus Legal Counsel

Robin Engle, CEO, Abundance Catalyst

Silong Chhun, Tacoma City Council candidate, position 4

Zephyra Burt, co-chair, Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America

Catherine Lee, co-chair, Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America

Richard Burton, organizer, Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action

Alex Scheel, spokesperson, South Sound About Face: Veterans Against the War

Jake Nau, co-director, Common Good Tacoma

Cathy Pick, ED, Tacoma Tenants Union

Shannee Tracey, CAO, Institute For Black Justice

Yanzhu Yang, attorney, Tacomaprobono Community Lawyers

Amanda Appling-Hargis, legal secretary, Tacomaprobono Community Lawyers

Syed Ashraf Meer, attorney, Tacomaprobono Community Lawyers

Julie Dugan, project manager, Tacomaprobono Community Lawyers

Emily Dean, resource navigator, Tacomaprobono Community Lawyers

Timothy Vega, membership coordinator, Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America

Ryan Taylor, secretary-treasurer, Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America

Rikki Wood, communications chair, Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America

Eric Herde, electoral coordinator, Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America

This story was originally published October 8, 2025 at 5:00 AM.