SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane City Council voted to override the mayoral veto of its ordinance related to landlord-tenant regulations during Monday night's legislative meeting.
Council voted 5-2 to override the veto.
According to the city, the ordinance originally passed 5-2 on Feb. 27 and was later vetoed by Mayor Nadine Woodward on March 13, 2023.
The city says the ordinance adopts new sections to the Spokane Municipal Code. They are:
- Portable Background and Credit Checks
- Residential Rental Property Mitigation Program
- Legal Services and Relocation Programs
- Landlord Walkthrough and Inspections
- Disclosures
- Anti-Retaliation Protections
- Private Right of Action
“The Mayor’s veto indicated claims that the ordinance would deplete Spokane’s housing market, harm employment opportunities, and end reasonable tenant pricing,” said Council President Breean Beggs. “The ordinance does the opposite by providing protections to the tenants and landlords to ensure a fair and transparent rental experience in Spokane. The veto also indicated that the ordinance is similar to those passed in Seattle and Portland, when in fact, current Washington law does not provide a civil remedy to violations of residential rental unit regulations in municipal court other than for issues of habitability; therefore, the only reasonable legal remedy for many provisions in the Spokane Municipal Code is a private right of action, a private right of action is created for specified violations of the residential rental code.”
In addition, council members voted to make changes to general facilities charges, or the fees developers pay for new water and sewer hookups. Those fees were raised dramatically two weeks ago for the first time in 20 years, adding tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of building some new homes.
Council members voted to make changes and adopt councilman Jonathan Bingle's proposal to raise fees 66% or by a few thousand dollars in most cases for the next year. During that time, council members will work with developers and other stakeholders. The fees pay for critical infrastructure upgrades.
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.