(This article originally appeared on Capitol Hill Seattle Blog and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
Capitol Hill Seattle Blog (CHS) was there when an upstart challenger squared off with incumbent Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin in a debate on rent control held at Seattle Central that would set the tone for the major political upset that would remove the veteran lawmaker from office a few weeks later.
That win built on causes like the $15 minimum wage, a tax on big business, and controlling rents came at the start of Kshama Sawant’s political career in the city.
“We’ve done $15 an hour and taxing big business. We haven’t done rent control,” Sawant told CHS on Wednesday, May 5.
What is rent control, how does it work, and could it benefit Seattle?
by Natalie Barry
Earlier this spring, Kshama Sawant and the Seattle Renters Commission repeated calls for a citywide rent control ordinance and economic eviction assistance. In letters to the City Council, they specifically called for a repeal of the rent control ban on the city level, and an extension of the 30-day rent increase notice period, requiring landlords to inform tenants 180 days before increasing rents.
I came home from work last Monday night to find my apartment broken into and all my electronics stolen. While the first thoughts flooding into my mind were of the irreplaceable items I had on my laptop, which I will likely never get back, my next thought was that I could not possibly afford to move. In the midst of this moment of violation that notion soon monopolized my thoughts. Continue reading Rent Control and Its Discontents: Dissecting the Rent Control Debate→
Amplifying the Authentic Narratives of South Seattle
![Protesters Convene on Landlord Convention and Rep. Macri Announces Support for Rent Control [photo: Will Sweger]](https://i0.wp.com/southseattleemerald.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cover-image.jpg?resize=1038%2C576&ssl=1)
