Seattle council poised to ban some school-year and post-pandemic evictions, guarantee lease renewals – By Daniel Beekman (Seattle Times) / May 25 2021
Seattle may soon ban certain school-year evictions, prohibit some post-pandemic evictions and require landlords to offer lease renewals in many cases.
A City Council committee advanced three bills Tuesday that would provide tenants with those additional protections, and the full council could vote on the bills as early as June 7.
The first bill would establish a new defense against most evictions during each school year for children and students, for their guardians and for educators. Tenants could cite the bill in asking judges to halt their evictions in court; Seattle and Washington state have recently passed laws guaranteeing legal representation for low-income tenants facing evictions.
The bill’s sponsor, Councilmember Kshama Sawant, said evictions interrupt learning and negatively impact the mental health of students.
