TACOMA, Wash. — The Tacoma City Council is considering emergency legislation to protect tenants facing evictions.
Some people at the Tiki Apartments near State Route 16 in Tacoma have only four days before they have to be out after a developer bought the apartments and started evicting tenants.
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But an ordinance being drafted and voted on Wednesday would require landlords to give their tenants at least 90 days’ notice. Currently, it’s only 20 days for those renting month-to-month.
KIRO 7 first told you about the plight of the 58 tenants at the Tiki Apartments two weeks ago.
The new owner, Seattle-based developer CWD Investments, told the tenants, who are mostly on fixed incomes and some disabled, they had until the end of May to be out and offered them $900 to do so.
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The Tacoma City Council will consider the emergency ordinance because while they can't protect the tenants in this situation, they want to prevent future cases.
"I personally don't have thousands of dollars in my bank to move. You can look at me and tell I don't,” said 14-year tenant Deborah Simmons.
"There's nothing available! This is what the city needs to understand,” said tenant Sara Howe.
CWD Investments told KIRO 7 they didn't have to offer $900 to help tenants move, but tenant's rights unions said $900 is substantially less than it would cost for them to go through eviction proceedings.
In order to get the emergency ordinance passed, six council members have to approve.
If it passes, it would go into effect immediately and expire in September.