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What Initiative 1 Means for Affordable Housing
AHC believes that Tacoma needs tenant protections and more affordable housing, and that housing policy should account for both. As Tacomans consider Initiative 1, it's important to understand its potential impacts on our members' ability to build, operate, and preserve affordable housing.
About the Measure
What's on the ballot and what it would require.
Implications for building, operating and preserving affordable housing.
Impact on Affordable Housing
Watch videos
Provider Perspectives
Hear from affordable housing providers about their concerns and on-the-ground experience.
Clear answers to common questions about Initiative 1 and affordable housing.
Frequently Asked Questions
AHC's Statement on Initiative 1
AHC believes that Tacoma needs tenant protections and more affordable housing, and that housing policy should account for both. As Tacomans consider Initiative 1, it's important to understand its potential impacts on our members' ability to build, operate, and preserve affordable housing.
What Would Initiative 1 Do?
Initiative 1 proposes a comprehensive expansion of Tacoma's tenant safety and protection laws. In addition to creating new tenant rights, the measure establishes a new regulatory and enforcement framework governing rental housing within the City of Tacoma. Major provisions are below.
01 Tenant Education, Organizing, & Transparency
The initiative directs the City to establish a tenant safety and protection program that includes landlord education and training, tenant education, and a publicly searchable landlord database. The database would include information about landlords and affiliated companies, including the number of units owned inside and outside Tacoma, eviction history, and rent increases. The initiative also establishes rights for tenant organizing, including using common areas for meetings and organizing activities, distributing organizing materials, and allowing access for tenant advocates invited by tenants. Landlords would also be required to post notices informing tenants of their right to form a tenant union.
02 Tenant Unions & Good-Faith Bargaining
The initiative formally recognizes tenants' right to organize and establishes tenant unions when a majority of occupied units within a building or residential complex supports them. Once recognized, landlords must bargain in good faith with the tenant union on housing conditions, lease agreements, fees, deposits, utilities, building policies, and compliance with tenant protection laws. Landlords must also attend at least one tenant union meeting per quarter upon request. Small landlords (four or fewer units) are exempt from these bargaining requirements.
03 Rental Licensing & Annual Fees
The initiative establishes a mandatory City rental licensing program. Landlords would be required to obtain and maintain a rental license and pay an annual per-unit license fee to fund implementation, administration, and enforcement of the City's tenant safety and protection laws. The ordinance authorizes the City to establish tiered fees based on factors such as compliance history, size of operations, and enforcement burden, with higher fees for large landlords and repeat offenders. During implementation discussions, City staff estimated average licensing costs at about $230 per unit per year, although the final fee schedule would be adopted administratively. Large landlords and repeat offenders would be required to obtain a license and begin paying the fee within 18 months. Other landlords would be required to do so within three years, subject to the separate phase-in required for nonprofit low-income housing providers.
04 Expanded Enforcement
The initiative allows tenants, tenant unions, and tenant advocates to pursue enforcement either through the City's administrative process or by filing actions in Superior Court. The City would investigate complaints, conduct inspections for credible habitability or tenant-safety allegations, issue notices of violation, and impose penalties when violations are found. Landlords could appeal decisions made through the City's administrative enforcement process to the City Hearing Examiner.
05 Financial Penalties
The initiative significantly increases potential penalties for violations. For each violation, landlords may be assessed no less than $500 and up to five times the monthly rent of the affected dwelling unit, based on factors such as the seriousness of the violation, harm to the tenant, and whether the violation was willful. The City transfers penalties collected to impacted tenants. Large for-profit repeat offenders may also be required to reimburse the City for its enforcement costs and lose existing exemptions under Tacoma's tenant protection laws.
06 Affordable Housing & Small Landlords
The initiative directs the City to establish a separate rental license fee structure and longer implementation timeline for nonprofit low-income housing providers. Nonprofit housing providers and public housing authorities are only exempt from the additional City cost-recovery penalty imposed on repeat offenders. Small landlords (4 or fewer units) are exempt from the tenant union bargaining and notice requirements.
07 Business License Revocation
The initiative authorizes the City to revoke a landlord's business license if violations create a serious threat of death or serious bodily injury, while requiring the City to adopt rules intended to minimize tenant displacement if a license is revoked.
08 Anti-Retaliation Protections
The initiative prohibits retaliation against tenants for exercising rights established under the ordinance, including eviction threats, rent increases, service reductions, or selective enforcement of building rules.
09 Implementation Timeline
The initiative requires the City to adopt implementation rules within six months. Several provisions, including tenant-union requirements, the new enforcement process, increased penalties, and affordable housing flexibility provisions, would also take effect six months after the initiative's effective date. Rental licensing would then be phased in over a longer period.
Impacts on Affordable Housing
Although Initiative 1 includes provisions intended to reduce impacts on affordable housing providers, many AHC members believe it would still increase the cost and complexity of developing and operating affordable housing in Tacoma.
Added Costs & Requirements
01
Affordable housing providers would be subject to rental licensing, annual licensing fees, expanded compliance obligations, investigations, and many of the initiative's enforcement provisions. Providers have expressed concern that these requirements, along with increased legal exposure and potential financial penalties, could increase the administrative and legal costs of operating affordable housing.
Limited Ability to Absorb Costs
02
Affordable housing operates differently from market-rate housing. Providers operate under federal, state, and local affordability requirements that restrict the rents they can charge. That limits their ability to respond to new operating costs by simply increasing rents. As a result, members have expressed concern that additional regulatory costs would reduce resources available for property operations, resident services, capital improvements, and future affordable housing development.
Potential Impact on Affordable Housing
03
Many AHC members are concerned that additional regulatory and operating costs could reduce resources for property operations, resident services, capital improvements, and future affordable housing development. Initiative 1 includes a distinct fee structure, a longer phase-in period, and an exemption from a cost-recovery fee for City enforcement for nonprofit affordable housing providers, but providers would remain subject to all other requirements under the measure.
Frequently Asked Questions
About AHC
The Tacoma-Pierce County Affordable Housing Consortium is a nonprofit membership organization representing the people and organizations that develop, finance, build, operate, manage, and support affordable housing throughout Pierce County. Our members also include organizations that provide resident services, advocate for affordable housing, and work to strengthen housing stability in our community.
Resources and Sources
Access AHC statements, fact sheets, video footage, source documents, and other resources related to Initiative 1 and its potential impacts on affordable housing.
Initiative Measure No. 1 — Full Text
Read the complete SAFE Homes for All Initiative as it will appear before Tacoma voters.
City of Tacoma Resolution Approving Initiative 1
Official City information about Initiative Measure No. 1 and its implementation.
Records AHC obtained regarding the City's preliminary implementation cost estimates.