BELLINGHAM — Noah Braley received the text that would upend his plans for the next year a little over a week ago, on July 1 — your rent will be going up by a lot, his property manager wrote, but don’t freak out.
“I’m like, ‘Excuse me, don’t freak out?’” said Braley, who has lived in the building since 2013, when he was still an urban planning student at Western Washington University. “How much is it?”
The answer is $405, which Braley discovered when he returned home from his job as a line cook at Italian restaurant Storia Cucina. The letter taped to his door was sent by Son-Rise Property Management, and it infuriated Braley — it said that, starting in September, rent for his two-bedroom apartment would increase from $1,195 monthly to $1,600.
“I can’t afford to pay this. I have $300 student loans I’m trying to pay off. I’ve got car insurance, I’ve got $250 health insurance bills,” said Braley, who has not missed a rent payment throughout the pandemic. “Rent on top of that? Where am I going to find an extra four grand a year?”
Braley’s situation is not an anomaly. Rent prices throughout the area are skyrocketing as the state begins a phased lifting of its pandemic-spurred eviction moratorium. In Bellingham, many tenants are getting the unwelcome notification that their rent will increase in the coming months, prompting anger as they grapple with the question of whether they can continue living in their homes.
In the final days of June, Gov. Jay Inslee announced a “bridge” to transition out of the eviction moratorium established last March to keep people housed and prevent further spread of COVID-19. Although evictions for unpaid rent are still limited, the governor’s proclamation allows landlords to increase rent, which was prohibited under the eviction moratorium.
Landlords are not allowed to raise rent during a lease term, but may do so for month-to-month tenancies, like Braley’s, as long as they give notice 60 days in advance. If a tenant is given less than 60 days notice, they can contest an improper rent increase, according to the Tenants Union of Washington State.
Bellingham tenant support groups are starting to hear community members, particularly seniors and those with disabilities, voice fears about increasing rent. If landlords are following the law, however, there’s not much a tenant can do, said Debbie Paton, community services director with the nonprofit Opportunity Council. She advises renters to try to communicate and work with landlords. The council is still figuring out how to best advise tenants seeing rent increases.
“It’s just becoming much more expensive and difficult to afford to live here,” Paton said. “We have seen rent increases fairly steady over years, but not big spikes we are starting to barely hear about and are anticipating.”
Current rental vacancy rates hover around 2% in Bellingham. That means for every 100 rental units, there are about 2 vacant. A healthy rental vacancy rate is 5% to 7%, according to the city. At the same time, Bellingham has become less affordable — the fair market rate for two-bedroom apartment in 2020 was $1,175, up from $1,028 in 2018.
“There’s a huge shortage of affordable rentals,” said Sage Jones, a volunteer campaign manager with People First Bellingham, a coalition pushing for tenant-friendly ballot initiatives. “The housing market is incredibly tight and unhealthy.”
‘This is not funny’
When Braley found out his rent was increasing, he immediately called Son-Rise Property Management for an explanation but didn’t get a response. Determined to talk to someone, Braley went to the company’s office himself, eventually speaking with two property managers outside the building.
They told him that they didn’t support the building owner’s decision to raise rents and were trying to advocate for tenants, but there is nothing they can do to stop the owner, Braley told The Bellingham Herald. He said they recommended he write a professional letter to the owner, which Son-Rise could pass along, but Braley was suspicious the document would be altered or never get to its intended recipient.
Son-Rise Property Management declined to comment for this story and would not reveal the name of the building owner.
“They’re telling me like ‘Oh, maybe you could try finding a third roommate, ha ha ha,’” Braley said. “They’re laughing it off, and I’m like ‘This is not funny. What about this is funny to you?’”
Overcome with frustration, Braley turned to the internet, posting about his rent increase on the digital community forum Nextdoor. The post blew up, garnering over 200 comments within a week. Some responses came from tenants facing a similar fate, like Bonnie Andrews, who has lived in Bellingham for 12 years.
Andrews’ rent will be increasing by $94 a month, from $1,154 to $1,248. She lives in a three-bedroom apartment at The Meadows by Vintage with her 17- and 20-year-old sons and her boyfriend, who works as a cashier at a local supermarket. She thought about downsizing to a two-bedroom when she heard about the rent increase, but her elder son needs a room of his own, since he has autism and often screams through the night.
“I can’t afford to move either,” Andrews said. “When you’re in low-income housing, you’re here because you can’t afford first month, last month.”
She assumes the rent increases are occurring because landlords want to recoup pandemic-fueled financial losses.
Up a flight of stairs, Andrews’ 57-year-old neighbor Monica Yong is also fretting about the rent increase. Yong has lived in Bellingham since the mid-90s and works 46 hours a week as an in-home caregiver and a caretaker for those with special needs. She loves Bellingham but isn’t sure if she’ll be able to stay here if rent prices climb any higher — she already can’t afford dental insurance.
“I’m trying to save, but with the squeeze, it’s harder and harder,” Yong said. “I don’t think I’ll be able to retire. I’ll have to work until the day I can’t.”
Rent increases change Bellingham
Many renters are concerned not just about what rent hikes will mean for them and their families, but how they will alter the fabric of Bellingham. If workers and lower-income individuals are priced out of their homes, the community could become a sanctuary only for the well-to-do, said Paton, who works with the Opportunity Council. And many of the people who have spent their whole lives working in Bellingham will be forced to spend the end of their lives elsewhere.
“We hear from seniors that just feel they have done everything right. They’ve paid their bills, but they are concerned their housing, their most basic need, will become unaffordable,” Paton said. “Then we are living in a community that is only for those with wealth.”
Andrews, the Meadows by Vintage tenant, sees Bellingham becoming the sort of place that’s unwelcoming to lower-income families.
Even before these recent rent increases, there were community efforts to keep Bellingham affordable — that’s part of the mission of People First Bellingham, a coalition of political and social organizations gathering signatures to put four ballot initiatives on the Nov. 2 ballot. The most popular initiative, which garnered 9,594 signatures, advocates for expanded renter protections, said Jones, the volunteer campaign manager.
If passed, this measure would require landlords to provide a 90-day written notice for a no-cause eviction or if rent will increase more than 5%. A no-cause eviction occurs when a landlord asks a tenant to leave but gives no reason. It also requires landlords to provide relocation assistance to tenants for a no-cause eviction or if the rent will increase more than 8%. For comparison, Braley’s rent increased more than 33 percent.
The goal of the initiative is to ensure Bellingham continues to be a welcoming place to live for the workers who make the city what it is, Jones said.
“We see how much workers are struggling,” she said. “We believe workers have a right to the city.”
Back in his apartment near downtown, Braley sits at the small dining table in his common space, sipping a weak cup of coffee. Although he’s spent the last eight years building his nest in this apartment, he decided to move out after he was notified of the rent increase — he’s moving to a four-bedroom house with a friend in the York neighborhood, where his share of the rent will be $650 per month as opposed to $800. But he can’t stop thinking about the other tenants in his building who might not be so lucky.
“Why is it so sudden? It seems rather heartless,” Braley said. “Because this might ruin some people’s lives who live here who can’t afford to live anywhere else.”
