Tenant rights advocates in Tacoma submitted more than 8,700 signatures to put a ballot initiative before voters that aims to hold landlords accountable for how they treat renters.
Members of Tacoma For All gathered at city hall on Tuesday to turn in the petition for its SAFE Homes For All initiative. Volunteers spent over a thousand hours collecting signatures, according to the group. If passed, the proposal would require city staff to investigate reports of landlords breaking the law and fine property owners if violations are found.
According to Tyron Moore, executive director of Tacoma For All, they need stricter requirements for landlords who force tenants to live in unhealthy conditions.
“Illegal rent hikes, illegal fees, and particularly bad illegal living conditions,” he said, listing grievances. “Unabated mold that is making kids sick. Unabated mold that’s making elderly and disabled folks sick.”
In order to get its initiative before voters in the fall, Tacoma For All needed to collect approximately 5,000 signatures, which will need to be verified. The group cleared a big hurdle by turning the petition into the city clerk.
Under the SAFE Homes For All, landlords would have to pay at least $500 and up to five times the affected tenant’s monthly rent. The penalties would be given to impacted tenants as restitution. Tacoma For All sees this effort as a continuation of the Landlord Fairness Code, which they established through a ballot initiative in 2023.
“What we have today is over 8,700 Tacoma residents who are making a simple demand: that the rights of tenants be respected, that landlords be held accountable and the city does their job to enforce the law,” Moore said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The next step is for the Pierce County Auditor's office to verify the petition. The city council will then have the option to approve the measure. But if city leaders do not move forward, the ballot initiative will be decided by voters in the next municipal or general election held at least 90 days after the signatures are validated. Moore expects this process to be completed in time for the initiative to qualify for the November ballot.
SAFE Homes for All would also create protections for renters who create tenant unions. The proposal would have the city recognize tenants' right to unionize, allow members to meet in their building’s common areas and it would require property owners to negotiate in good faith with majority tenant unions. This comes as Tacoma has seen a swell of tenant unions in recent months.
“Tenants aren’t going to take it any more,” Kenny Loth, a leader of the Newcastle Tenant Union, told reporters on Tuesday. “We need initiatives like SAFE Homes for All to codify our right to organize and to protect us when landlords want to retaliate and to bring them to the table.”
If passed, the initiative would also create a public database of landlord violations and require the city to provide education materials for small landlords to help them stay in compliance.
