Seattle Grassroots Landlords

Seattle Grassroots Landlords is a network of local, independent, small-scale housing providers working to support each other and to prevent the ongoing depletion of diverse rental housing options throughout our city. Polarized politics have limited both the viability and opportunity to provide rental housing due to steeply increased business risks, costs, complexity and unpredictability. We work together with other housing providers, renters and everyone in the community who understands that housing is a major issue and a shared responsibility — and that small-scale rental housing plays a valuable role.

Data visualization of the decline of City of Seattle small rental property registrations, 2018-2023. See our June 2024 Issue Spotlight for full-size image.

Our Objectives

To provide a voice and advocacy for the thousands of small-scale Seattle rental property owners who provide a large portion of Seattle's affordable, independent rental housing
To encourage a rental housing environment where more people are able to become small landlords and remain small landlords — Seattleites offering residential housing to other Seattleites
To prevent ongoing depletion of independent rental housing options in Seattle (as evidenced by dwindling RRIO registrations)
To inform legislative activity, local research and media coverage with authentic Seattle “mom-n-pop” (indie housing provider) perspectives
To advocate for small-scale Seattle rental housing that isn’t disproportionately owned by corporations, government and non-profits — individual property ownership brings the benefits of community wealth-building, equity opportunities, and anti-displacement/gentrification
To provide a forum for peer support and information sharing among Seattle small housing providers

A Brief History

Seattle Grassroots Landlords organically formed at the beginning of 2020, when an assortment of small landlords from throughout the city began chatting outside city council chambers after giving independent public comments opposing the winter eviction moratorium. Several of us collaborated on a Seattle Times Op-Ed in February 2020, which resonated with many others. After years of council passing myriad new city regulations (and dismissing strong feedback from more than 4,000 of us who participated in the long-awaited 2018 Seattle Rental Housing Study), more and more independent small housing providers realized Seattle legislative action and rental housing strategies have consistently excluded our input as stakeholders, with serious negative consequences. This style of politics continued through the pandemic eviction moratorium and post-pandemic period.

In December 2023, we prepared a Seattle Rental Housing Policy 10-Year Timeline (2014-2023) to recap the whirlwind. It is a helpful 3-page read for small housing providers, legislators, city staff, courts and attorneys, media, tenants, housing advocates, and the general public.

In June 2024, we published two Issue Spotlights:

- 1. Seattle’s Scarcity of Small Rental Housing is Self-Inflicted: Good governance is needed to shift from atrophy to abundance
  2. Auditor Survey Data Confirms Seattle Regulations are Primary Cause of Rental Housing Losses: Key Takeaways from 2023 Seattle Landlord Survey

Please see our Information page for a wealth of other resources (including Seattle City Auditor's 2023 RRIO Program Audit).

Connect with Us

Facebook — Our group began and is still active as a private Facebook group for local, independent Seattle small housing providers. If you fit that description, you can request to join our Facebook group. As of June 2024, we have more than 720 members sharing constructive information and peer support.

Email — For general inquiries, you can reach us at: SeattleGrassrootsLandlords@gmail.com. Please note we are a small group of volunteers helping to connect a broad, organic network of housing providers. Response times may be slow.

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