Protesters call for state rent control law to be scrapped, citing low wages, rising rents

SEATTLE -- Protesters gathered Saturday in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood to call attention to the need for rent control in the city as demonstrators said that low wages and skyrocketing rent costs are threatening to leave many people homeless.

Dozens of people gathered in the area to demand that the law that makes rent control illegal in Washington state to be overturned.

Currently, landlords can increase the monthly rent as high as they'd like provided they give their tenants a 60-day notice period.

“I live in a tiny one-bedroom apartment with my boyfriend," said Danielle Zarachowicz, one of the participants in the Saturday rally. "We pay $1600 in Fremont.”

“I have been pushed out of my apartment before for rising rent,” said Jessica Scalzo. “I live in a studio apartment in the Central District and I pay $1568 (a month) and I would not be able to afford that if I wasn’t splitting it with my partner who I live with.”

And that’s why dozens of people braved the rain Saturday to rally for changes.

“Rent control is frankly what we should have had 40 years ago,” said Alvin Muragori, a community organizer who works with Seattle City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant’s office. "The ban should never been put in place"

Sawant is pushing for changes, and her office has collected 15,000 signatures in an effort to overturn the ban on rent control in Washington state.

State lawmakers need to change the law before the issue of rent control can move forward.

“It’s ridiculous when I drive around the city and I see more and more people that can’t have shelter,” Zarachowicz said.

Many people worry that when Gov. Jay Inslee’s eviction moratorium ends on Sept. 30. conditions for many renters will turn dire.

“It’s important that working people are protected from a coming of wave of evictions,” Muragori said.

KOMO News reached out to the Rental Housing Association of Washington, which represents 5,000 members, for comment. The group does not support rent control but declined to comment on the issue.