(The Center Square) - Spokane landlords could soon face millions of dollars in costs under a proposed mandate that could require them to retrofit tens of thousands of units to provide “adequate cooling.”
The Spokane City Council proposed the mandate in April to take effect in 2031 and defined "adequate cooling” as 80 degrees Fahrenheit or below. If approved, it would apply to every room in 23,000 to 40,000 units, with landlords responsible for covering the cost and installation of air conditioning units.
The council cited 19 deaths from the 2021 Northwest Heat Dome as the justification for the ordinance.
A July 15 draft agenda amended the temperature threshold by tying it to associated health issues and requires compliance starting that day or upon the proposal’s effective date, whichever is later.
Housing providers have warned that it could result in sweeping costs affecting the city’s rental housing supply.
Kevin Schilling, government affairs director for the Rental Housing Association of Washington, said the most recent draft still leaves landlords unsure what compliance would entail and who would pay for it.
“There's a balance that needs to be struck in understanding what private property owners are capable of doing right away versus what sort of partnership there needs to be with the city,” Schilling told The Center Square, arguing that everyday landlords shouldn’t be left footing the bill for dozens of cooling devices.
In a recent op-ed, RHAWA Regent Steve Corker, a former council member and longtime landlord, said the proposal could unintentionally reduce the housing supply and shift compliance costs onto tenants.
“More than 60% of our rentals predate 1980, with electrical panels never sized for that kind of cooling load. Bringing one of those buildings into compliance can cost $9,000 to $15,000 a unit,” Corker wrote.
The city’s rental registry included about 4,700 rental properties in 2024, with more than 23,000 units; however, U.S. Census data from 2020 to 2024 suggest the city has about 40,000 renter households.
Under Corker’s estimate, 60% of 23,000 units would be 13,800, and 60% of 40,000 would be 24,000.
Assuming that 13,800 units need $9,000 to $15,000 in compliance upgrades each, the total cost could hit $124 million to $207 million; at 24,000 units, that figure could rise to $216 million to $360 million.
Councilmember Michael Cathcart, the lone conservative, told The Center Square that he opposes the cooling ordinance and argued that removing the temperature threshold makes it more subjective.
“It's essentially written to go to court, and so the challenge is landlords who want to work and act in good faith with the city to comply with the laws, whether they like them or agree with them or not, are essentially being put in a position where they have absolutely no clue as to whether or not they are meeting the law, because the law is potentially up to how a tenant feels,” Cathcart said Tuesday.
The ordinance allows tenants to pull out of their lease agreements, sue or deduct the cost of installing an AC in their unit from their monthly rent if there isn’t “adequate cooling” in every room of the rental.
The draft agenda defines ‘adequate cooling’ as “sufficient to avoid risks to tenant health, including, but not limited to, heat exhaustion, dehydration and worsening cardiovascular or respiratory conditions.”
Schilling testified at a June 22 council meeting with representatives from Catholic Charities, Volunteers of America, the Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium and other providers. They said the proposal is an unfunded mandate, and some warned that landlords are already putting their rentals up for sale.
“Since the introduction of this ordinance, [our members who are rental property managers] have seen a 15% drop in their customers, who are taking them out of the rental stock and putting them into the open market,” Darren Watkins, a government affairs director for Spokane Realtors, testified in June.
RHAWA submitted a letter in opposition to the ordinance, with signatures from representatives at the Downtown Spokane Partnership, Spokane Homebuilders Association, Washington Multi-Family Housing Association, Urban Settlements, Spokane Realtors, RenCrop Realty, Kiemle Hagood, Coldwell Banker Tomlinson, Spokane Building Owners and Managers Association and Rockwood Property Management.
DSP President Emilie Cameron also penned a letter to the city outlining her organization's opposition.
Schilling, Cameron and the other opponents told the council that they support the goal of protecting residents from extreme heat, but say the city is going too far with this proposal. Councilmembers Paul Dillon, Kitty Klitzke and Sarah Dixit have all defended their proposal in meetings leading up to July.
Dillon has framed the proposal as a life-saving measure, while Dixit says climate change is increasing summer temperatures, and Klitzke says the idea provides discretion so tenants can use A/C as needed.
Councilmember Kate Telis has also defended the policy and the changes to the 80-degree threshold.
“The heat that’s required to have adverse health effects will depend on the tenant,” Telis said during a June 8 meeting, explaining why they cut the provision. “No one's going to have adverse heat effects at 75 [degrees], probably, but some may have it at 80, but most may not, so that's the reason for the ambiguity.”
