Activists and city leaders disagree on the cost of implementing a ballot initiative that would strengthen tenants rights in Tacoma.
Tacoma’s city manager says a tenants rights initiative set to appear on this year’s November ballot will cost the city $8 to $10 million a year. But the activists who wrote the measure say they designed it to pay for itself, and that the total cost should come closer to the $1 million mark.
The measure, known as Measure 1 or Safe Homes For All, would create an enforcement mechanism for the city’s existing tenant protections, which currently can only be enforced through individual legal action. The measure also proposes to pay for enforcement of those rights through a per-unit rental license fee for landlords…