Nailing It Down

By Dave Murnen and Pat Beaty

Nicholas Yuva has plenty of experience regarding the needs and concerns of landlords. Recently hired as the Landlord Mitigation Program administrator for the Office of Supportive Housing in the state’s Commerce Department, he has spent more than 20 years as a landlord in Oregon and Utah.

This new program, which Yuva was hired to administer in July, aims to put to rest landlords’ concerns that subsidized tenants might damage their property beyond the amount of a reasonable deposit, or that they might leave them in a lurch with unpaid rent. It does so by offering to reimburse landlords for damages caused by subsidized tenants not covered by their deposit. No more need to require double damage deposits — you’re covered!

“My goal is to build landlord confidence in renting to subsidized tenants,” Yuva explained, adding that he recently finished a monthlong tour of the state in which he talked with landlords and service providers about the new program. We met him in person in an open forum for landlords and property managers at CCAP in Aberdeen.

Yuva shared this story about a recent conference he attended: “I asked the landlords how many had ever had a debt because of a subsidized tenant. And some hands went up. Then I asked how many had ever had a debt from a non-subsidized tenant, and just as many hands went up.

“My experience as a landlord — having rented to people from subsidized tenants to people renting very high-end property — is that you have the same risk with both groups,” he said. “There are bad apples in every bunch, but only about 5 percent in each group.”

However, landlord confidence in renting to people with subsidized rent was becoming yet another issue that was contributing to the growing homelessness epidemic. So legislators recently passed RCW 43.31.605, offering landlords compensation for up to $5,000 in qualifying damages caused by a tenant in the program during tenancy. In addition, it offers up to 14 days of rent loss coverage and $1,000 to the landlord to pay for move-in upgrades needed to pass inspection.

Landlords must sign up to receive money from a subsidy provider for a subsidized tenant. In some cases, the property must pass a habitability inspection before being included in the program. If they fail the inspection, landlords can receive up to $1,000 to get the property up to par, after investing $500 in the property themselves. Additionally, the Landlord Mitigation Program will pay up to 14 days of lost rent caused by delaying a tenant move-in for inspection and repairs.

One of the many contributing causes of homelessness is simply the lack of housing available to subsidized and low-income tenants. This new program, by helping alleviate any potential risk to a landlord, hopes to mitigate a portion of that problem.

“It is just one program in the vast number of programs out there, but it’s one way to relieve the pressure a little. It provides more security for the landlords because the landlord is being made whole,” Yuva said. “Everything we can do along these lines is going to benefit the homeless population.”

So far just five landlords have filed claims through the program, and three of those were approved, Yuva said.

“There’s a lot of interest in the program, but we’re not seeing as many claims as we’d like yet,” he said.

The Landlord Mitigation Program was set up as a replenishing fund that receives money from a document fee that is collected in real estate transactions. That fee is now $27. Of the money collected, 60 percent goes to each county to assist in their local homeless and housing programs and the remaining 40 percent goes to fund the new program.

We’re optimistic this program will make a difference in combating the homeless epidemic from yet another angle. And, having people housed in safe and affordable housing benefits the entire community!

TO LEARN MORE

• Take a look at the excellent information provided on the Washington State Landlord Mitigation Program website: www.commerce.wa.gov/landlordfund.

• Consider attending the Trends Northwest Trade Show at the Seattle Convention Center on Dec. 14. Yuva will speak about the program at 1:30 p.m.

• Attend a webinar in which Yuva explains the program. They are hosted at 11 a.m. on the third Thursday of each month. Email him at nicholas.yuva@commerce.wa.gov to sign up for the webinar, or to ask questions about this new program.

Dave Murnen and Pat Beaty are construction specialists at NeighborWorks of Grays Harbor County, where Murnen is executive director. This is a nonprofit organization committed to creating safe and affordable housing for all residents of Grays Harbor County. For questions about home repair, renting, remodeling or buying, call 360-533-7828 or visit 710 E. Market St. in Aberdeen. Our office is fully ADA-compliant.