Title
AN ORDINANCE establishing the King County renters' commission; amending Ordinance 11955, Section 6, as amended, and K.C.C. 2.16.130 and adding a new chapter to K.C.C. Title 2.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. More than forty-two percent of households in King County are renter households, according to the 2013-2017 American Community Survey.
2. The median household income of renters is less than 50 percent of the median income of homeowners in King County, according to the 2013-2017 American Community Survey.
3. Sixty-two percent of white households in King County own their homes, compared to twenty-eight percent of African-American and thirty-four percent of Latino residents, according to the 2013-2017 American Community Survey.
4. The median net worth of renter households in the United States is two percent of the median net worth of homeowner households, according to the 2016 Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances.
5. A recent study published in the journal Urban Affairs Review found that low-income renters are nearly twice as likely as homeowners to be displaced by gentrification.
6. The renter population is representative of many protected classes, including people of color, people living with disabilities and LGBTQ people, as well as young adults, seniors, low-income people, those paying rent with assistance, those with felony records and renters who have experienced homelessness.
7. Renters in King County are directly impacted by a wide variety of issues facing the county, such as housing affordability, transportation access, access to green and other public spaces, land use, renter protections, public health and safety, education and economic growth.
8. King County has sought to include diverse perspectives on housing, such as with the Regional Affordable Housing Task Force, and a renters' commission will formalize participation of a group that comprises over forty percent of the county's households.
9. In 2010, Ordinance 16948, als...
Click here for full text