State Eviction Moratorium to Expire - Sunday, October 31, 2021

After 19 months and countless meetings with the Governor’s Office, Governor Jay Inslee confirmed Thursday that the state’s pandemic-related eviction moratorium will end on Sunday, October 31 and there will be no more extensions to his Eviction Bridge Proclamation. The Eviction Bridge Proclamation had been set to expire September 30, 2021, after being activated when the Legislature ended the Governor’s Eviction Moratorium (Gov’s Proclamation 20-19.1-6) which had been in place for a year and half since March 14, 2020. 

“We’ve done about all we can do,” Inslee said during a news conference. “We’ve given [counties and cities] millions and millions of dollars of cash, and it’s up to them to get it distributed…We can’t have an economy, ultimately, where nobody pays rent. You have to have some transition and we are moving to that transition.” 

That means that landlords across the state can begin the transition back to requiring tenants to pay their rent and follow the rental rules. Unfortunately, that transition has yet to come for the renters in Seattle, where the moratorium has been extended through January 15, 2022.  Seattle housing providers will have to wait for the end of the City extension on January 15, 2022, but must also navigate the Seattle Winter Eviction Ban and the Seattle School Year Eviction Ban. 

Outside of Seattle, landlords can begin the process of connecting tenants with rent balances to resources and information so they can get the assistance they need.  Mediation and dispute resolution centers, which are part of the state's Eviction Resolution Pilot Program, connect tenants to the resources that can help them to navigate the assistance system. 

The legislature put processes in place to transition back to a workable housing market and with the Governor’s Bridge Proclamation ending, these processes will finally have a chance to work.

For a copy of this update, click here.