Mashup: House Republicans speak out against Democrats' rent control bill

when we talk about housing we have to remember there are landlords and tenants housing providers and the housed they must go hand in hand there is no housing without housing providers there are no housed without housing providers there is no business for a housing provider without a tenant but Madam speaker I wonder what is going to happen to the tenants that we have heard about on this floor this evening when housing provider after housing provider does what we know they will do we have seen this in other places and we have heard testimony directly when policies like this go into place they will divest themselves of their portfolio and turn housing stock into home purchased housing when that housing Supply that rental housing Supply diminishes I wonder what is going to happen to those renters who depend on hous housing Supply what will happen to the prices of the remaining rental properties look at some of the examples of what has happened across our our country where rental uh caps and stabilization control if you will have been in Place Portland for example saw 6,400 units leave the rental housing market uh after their rent control was enacted thus driving up rents and driving down availability uh Echo Northwest has shown in their studies that as much as a $4 billion reduction in potential investments in new housing over the course of 10 years in our state with policies like this what does that mean for our renters less access less units more expensive rents what does that mean for our state less economic revenue and growth and prosperity for all if we want to stabilize rents Madam speaker we need to build more housing unfortunately this bill will have the exact opposite impact of that I'm voting no because I don't want to give people false hope I want to fix Washington's housing crisis and I want bills that will do that and unfortunately this bill will not address that I fear that this policy is not going to fix the rental prices I fear it's going to drive up the cost of housing and I fear that it's going to hurt our most marginalized people sometimes in our in our Zeal to do something great and to help people who need it the most sometimes government can actually hurt fixing prices only makes the problem worse the problem here is we're not fixing the property tax at a certain percentage we're not fixing the maintenance cost at a certain percentage we're not fixing the utility cost that a property owner has to pay we're only fixing ing the amount of money they can raise their only option kind of left is to sell the property and quit being a property owner well that Madam speaker means less homes on the market to rent Madam speaker I heard tonight two words fairness and predictability Madam speaker I can't help but think are those only applicable to one side of the equation rent has increased and there are rents that are high gas is high food is high uh Rising rental rates is not in a bubble or Silo the cost of living due to economic policies have impacted not just tenants but also landlords but government controlled housing and government controlled rent is not the answer that does not create housing inventory actually it does the opposite control on the price of rent does not fix the housing crisis Supply fixes the housing crisis Madam speaker we heard testimony from housing providers who said the effect of this policy would be to ensure that rent increases are locked in year overy year we need need immediate immediate relief this bill will not pro provide immediate re relief and it'll create long-term pain down the road the policy in front of us tonight is the wrong policy for Washington State I believe we have other Solutions Madam speaker we had an offramp and an amendment didn't take it there were a lot of other amendments that were proposed they went away collaboration is the key that hasn't happened we have a policy that is going to affect the marketplace we can debate data we can read studies it's all over the place Madam speaker I know a little bit about it I've been doing it for 30 years I have housed thousands and thousands of people I have seen markets when rents were high markets when they were low we've heard where we're at today Madam speaker I'm I'm afraid for what this policy is going to do to the marketplace in Washington state we have other opportunities Madam speaker unfortunately as you and I both know we have not addressed those we have not brought those forward if it was a priority we would Madam speaker remember Madam speaker you cannot have a tenant without a housing provider please vote no on this because if we don't and it moves forward you won't have either