WBPA Update - Oral Arguments Today in WBPA’s State Suit Challenging Governor’s Eviction Ban

Susan and Daniel Horwath

Today, the Washington Business Properties Association (WBPA) continues the fight for small housing providers who are challenging Governor Inslee’s unfair and unlawful statewide eviction moratorium. 

This case is not about eviction and in fact, evicting residents is a last resort for housing providers when all other options have failed. Instead, the WBPA supports the plaintiffs’ challenge to the statewide eviction moratorium because it has strained housing providers who have been forced to provide their services without compensation. The plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief of the ban, which for months has continued to cost them their livelihoods.

It is unjust to enact blanket orders that force housing providers to bear all of the burden of providing housing without covering their costs. Yet this is what has been asked of small housing providers even though they still have to pay taxes, mortgages and maintenance costs while trying to support their families‎. 

This is one of the many points the WBPA will argue when it represents small housing providers in Thurston Superior Court. After the oral arguments are heard from both sides, it is anticipated that the judge will make a ruling in late May or sometime in June. 

While WBPA and other housing advocates continue to make headway by keeping this issue in front of the public, the means of small rental housing providers continue to be threatened. The statewide eviction moratorium is set to expire on June 30, but the eviction moratorium has already been extended several times and each time it is extended, more damage is being done to small housing providers and the housing industry.

Unfortunately, small housing providers continue to suffer under these bans and restrictions, so WBPA will continue to advocate for their rights in the court of law and in the legislature.