'It is stunning hypocrisy'; Sawant blasts Mayor Harrell's move to end eviction moratorium

SEATTLE, WA - MARCH 08: Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant speaks at rally at Westlake Center on March 8, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. Sawant hosted the rally with Socialist Students USA in honor of International Women's Day, to stand up for re

Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant said she aims to extend the city's eviction moratorium, in a scathing response to Mayor Harrell's decision to end it this month.

Sawant said she will introduce legislation to extend the moratorium through the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, whenever that day comes.

Harrell announced Friday he would allow the moratorium to expire at the end of the month, citing declining COVID cases across the city. He issued an executive order to extend the moratorium through Feb. 28, after which it would not be renewed.

All tenants who demonstrate they are going through financial hardship will receive continued eviction protections for at least six months, the city says.

Sawant lambasted the decision in the following statement, released Monday:

"Mayor Harrell’s decision to end the pandemic moratorium is a plan to allow the eviction of thousands of working-class renters in Seattle is unacceptable and inhumane. Those facing eviction are disproportionately Black working-class renters and other communities of color. My office will introduce legislation to support our city's renters and extend the moratorium through the end of the COVID public health emergency, as renters’ rights organizations, progressive labor unions, and socialists have called for.

"Mayor Harrell claims that ‘COVID cases steadily declining’ justifies the end of the eviction moratorium. Yet the fatality rate from COVID is still frighteningly high, both in the United States and globally. In fact, the daily fatality rate is still nearly as high as during the peaks of earlier waves of the pandemic. Ending the eviction moratorium now would lead to a deadly wave of evictions, and increased homelessness, in the midst of this ongoing crisis.

"The City of Seattle is still in a state of civil emergency. But it appears that emergency measures are only for the political establishment and the wealthy, not for ordinary renters and working people. It is stunning hypocrisy that as they prepare to unleash a wave of evictions, City Councilmembers and the Mayor are themselves still able to work remotely, from the safety and comfort of their homes, while making six-figure salaries. Democratic politicians like Mayor Harrell believe it is time for emergency measures ensuring working people’s safety to end, but emergency measures protecting the political establishment and the profits of real estate corporations should remain in place for the foreseeable future."

Violet Lavatai, executive director of Washington's Tenants Union, said that 9 out of 10 people become homeless if evicted, claiming Harrell ending the moratorium seeks only to benefit corporate landlords.

Response to Harrell's moratorium announcement were generally mixed. FOX 13 spoke with landlord-tenant attorneys and property managers, who see a light at the end of the tunnel, but still believe they are still months and months away from a resolution. One landlord said she is owed $45,000 in back rent and utilities.

"Mayor Harrell’s attempts to justify this callous act by referencing past legislation is just another way of saying that he will not lift a finger to defend renters’ rights," said Sawant. "In fact, the two-week extension to the eviction moratorium effectively means that he does not plan to extend it one day beyond Seattle’s winter eviction ban. The winter eviction ban was won by the renters’ rights movement and my office in 2020."

Sawant further claims that, when the Mayor's Office says it will provide $25 million in financial support for renters and landlords, that it is just coming out of the $59 million won by that renter's movement. Sawant says it is "totally insufficient" to protect thousands of renters from being sent to eviction court come March.

Sawant invites renters and organizers to the Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee meeting on Feb. 18 at 9:30 a.m. to discuss her legislation.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Eviction moratorium in Seattle to expire at the end of February

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