SDCI outlines rental complaints triage, inspection and tenant assistance programs

Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections officials told the committee that the department's landlord-tenant and rental-inspection teams handle a wide range of tenant protections and code compliance work and that 2025 demand has stabilized to a level the department can manage.

Jeff Tallent, SDCI code compliance director, said the department saw "over 5,000 rental complaints made and about the same number of rental complaints addressed" in 2025, and described a triage system that prioritizes emergency conditions, evictions/lockouts and significant rent increases. For high-priority calls the median response time was one day; other calls averaged about 28 days. Tallent said SDCI recorded 289 enforcement cases in 2025 but resolved many issues through lower-level enforcement and outreach.

Maureen Roat, SDCI's rental programs manager, described the department's teams: a property owner and tenant assistance team (11 full-time positions), housing building and maintenance code inspectors, and the Rental Registration & Inspection Ordinance (RIO) program that registers properties and performs randomly selected inspections every five to ten years. She said Rio covers about 28,000 licensed rental properties containing roughly 195,000 units and that the program conducted about 3,600 inspections last year.

The presenters described tenant protections enforced or supported by SDCI: regulations affecting move-in through move-out, limits on allowed fees, eviction defenses (including a winter eviction defense and protections tied to the school year) and the city's right-to-counsel partnership for low-income tenants. They emphasized that some statewide rent stabilization rules are enforced at the state level (the Attorney General) and that SDCI focuses on education and code enforcement where it has authority.

On relocation assistance, officials said the Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance (TREO) handled 86 households in 2025 with an average payment of about $2,600; Economic Displacement Relocation Assistance (EDRA) covered 75 households in 2025 with an average payout of about $4,700. SDCI staff said EDRA demand has continued despite state rent-stabilization legislation because exceptions in the state law allow some buildings (often newer than 12 years) to experience rent increases above 10%.

Presenters also outlined outreach and grant work: SDCI administers a $2,500,000 tenant services grant program that funds community-based organizations providing eviction defense, casework and dispute resolution; grantees reported 9,244 direct tenant contacts and roughly 147,000 digital outreach contacts last year. SDCI said it is working to improve its Rio IT system and an EDRA intake system in partnership with Seattle IT to speed processing and enhance customer experience.

During questions, Vice Chair Lynn asked whether EDRA applicants were concentrated in newer buildings; SDCI responded that applications still come from buildings exempted by aspects of the state cap on rent increases, and referred tenants to the Attorney General's office for enforcement of state rent-stabilization provisions where appropriate. On security deposits, SDCI said capacity constraints led the department to emphasize education and self-help materials and refer some matters to state remedies under the RCW, while exploring dispute-resolution partnerships for certain cases.

The committee did not take formal action on SDCI's presentation; members thanked staff and indicated interest in follow-up on IT priorities and program outcomes.