Page 12 - Pierce County Lawyer - January February 2025

JANUARY/FEBRUARY EDITORIAL
Homeless in Tacoma
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich
as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in
the streets, and to steal bread. - Anatole France
I
first encountered homelessness when I was four years
old. Two hobos from the railroad tracks that ran near my
grandparents’ house came into the yard. My grandmother
made sandwiches for them and gave them glasses of milk. The
following morning, the glasses were left on the back steps. She
explained to me, “Times are hard; we have to help those we
can.”
When I was a student at the University of Iowa in the late
1960s and early 1970s, I started a Tenant Advocacy Group.
Because of the student population, there was a constant
housing shortage. A friend and I named the organization the
Protective Association of Tenants (PAT). We recruited law
students who gave assistance to tenants facing eviction and
had a readerboard for notices of places for rent as well as for
praise or complaints about landlords. Fifty-five years later,
after working in an alcoholism unit, a psychiatric hospital, and
having practiced Family Law and Criminal Law, I am amazed
and humbled by my naivety and the complexities of the
problems of homelessness.
Some mornings when I arrive to my office, I am greeted by a
man who has spent the night on the back porch of my office
building. We are now on a first-name basis; his name is Dave.
Unlike other homeless people – who leave garbage and urine-
filled bottles – Dave cleans up after himself. I think of the
hobos from my youth, who came looking for work and asking
for food. As he walks away, I think of the kindness shown by
my grandmother.
I understand why merchants have signs that allow only patrons
to use their restrooms, however, these signs do not resolve or
supersede the basic human need to expel bodily waste. I have
found more evidence of the need to expel this waste than I care
to remember.
Tacoma has a little over 1,000 shelter beds. The official
estimated number of homeless people in Tacoma is
approximately 2,000 people; others have estimated the number
to be over 4,300. Tacoma’s 'War on Homelessness' essentially
has two fronts: (1) to place limitations on the eviction of
tenants; and (2) to encourage the construction of affordable
housing.
Tacoma’s Anti-Displacement Strategy is available on-line. It
describes various efforts to create new housing and efforts to
keep people in houses. Resolution 40871 passed in November
of 2021 and directed the City Manager to “evaluate option
to assist in preventing displacement of residents using data-
1 2 P I E R C E C O U N T Y L A W Y E R | J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y 2 0 2 5
informed tools and focusing
on households from ‘low’
and ‘very low’ opportunity
areas of the city as defined
by the Tacoma Equity Index,
as well as Black, Indigenous,
and People of Color (BIPOC)
households.” The city has a
vision of correcting three
hundred years of racism, but
the actual plan seems unclear.
What I do know is that the rain, wind, and cold torment
equally those without shelter regardless of what differences
they have and that plans currently in the making do not keep a
person warm.
State legislation now overrides local zoning laws and, with
exceptions, bans single-family zoning and allows duplexes,
triplexes, and fourplexes in most neighborhoods as part of
a package of laws aimed at clearing barriers to residential
construction. The law has many exceptions, such as existing
covenants and homeowner associations (HOA) that, in effect,
significantly limit its effectiveness. The law dovetails with
the city’s aim of eliminating single-family zoning or “up-
zoning,” through its Home in Tacoma Initiative, in order to
accommodate anticipated population growth. Understandably,
Tacoma’s aim troubles many single-family homeowners: they
worry about the loss of value of their homes as multi-family
units are built near them. Developers are given incentive to
build affordable housing; some opt to pay a fee to build upscale
units.
In July 2023, Tacoma updated its Rental Housing Code (RHC),
strengthening requirements around notices to increase rent,
shared housing standards, standards for fees and deposits,
business licenses, health and safety requirements, rental
regulations, and establishes standardized tenant screening
criteria. In November, the 2023 Landlord Fairness Code
Initiative, also known as Measure 1, passed in the general
election by a narrow margin and went into effect December
2023. This Initiative did not replace the Rental Housing
Code. The shared aim of both is to eliminate homelessness in
Tacoma.
Measure 1 was opposed by many realtors and landlords.
Tacoma provides greater protections for tenants than anywhere
else in Washington state. A Declaratory Judgment Action
filed in Pierce County Superior Court under cause number
24-2-10402-5, challenges the Tacoma Landlord/Tenant Code
(hereinafter Code) as an unlawful taking of private property. At
the request of the City, this case was moved to Federal Court.
One of the many issues which needs to be decided is “how is
it in the public’s interest to keep non-paying tenants in rentals
when others are able and willing to move in?” Some have
argued that an overly protective code discourages the creation
of rentals and may take rentals off the market as landlords
become frustrated with over-regulation.