Action Alert: Let Bellingham Voters Decide on Initiative 2026-01
As mentioned in our last update, today’s Bellingham City Council meeting includes another important vote. Before the Council decides whether to adopt Initiative 2026-01 or send it directly to the November ballot, we’d like to share a few key facts and explain why we believe Bellingham voters should have the opportunity to decide this issue.
Future 42 respectfully urges the City Council to send Initiative 2026-01 to the ballot rather than adopting it without a public vote.
What Does Initiative 2026-01 Do?
Initiative 2026-01 would prohibit landlords from using certain paid algorithmic rent-pricing services that analyze public and private market data to recommend rental prices, lease renewal terms, or occupancy levels for multiple properties or landlords. The measure would also create enforcement mechanisms, including a private right of action, whistleblower protections, and civil and criminal penalties.
Does This Initiative Solve the Problem?
There is no question that housing affordability is one of Bellingham’s biggest challenges. High rents and home prices have made it increasingly difficult for many families, workers, young adults, and seniors to find housing they can afford.
One of Initiative 2026-01’s findings states:
If that’s the case, should the City Council adopt the initiative as law before voters have the opportunity to consider its potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences?
Questions Worth Considering
Housing affordability is influenced by many factors, including housing supply, construction costs, permitting, taxes, insurance, and other market conditions. This initiative regulates how some rents may be calculated, but it does not directly address many of the underlying factors that affect affordability.
In recent years, the City of Bellingham has adopted a number of tenant protection and housing policies intended to improve affordability and housing stability, including limits on annual rent increases and expanded notice requirements for renters. Initiative 2026-01 would add another local regulation focused on one aspect of rental pricing.
Despite these policy changes and increased regulations that were implemented to address the rising apartments prices, the opposite has happened. Rents have increased 71% over the past 11 years and now average approximately $2,275 per month, making Bellingham 14% higher than the national average. These continuing increases in housing costs raise the question of whether additional regulations like Initiative 2026-01 will improve affordability.
The initiative also raises practical questions that deserve public discussion. Housing professionals have expressed concern that the definitions may apply more broadly than many people realize. For example, terms in the language of the initiative such as “system or software,” “automated process,” “private databases,” and “recommendations” could create uncertainty about how the ordinance would apply to commonly used property management practices and business tools.
Seattle recently adopted a similar ordinance that is already facing a federal legal challenge. Combined with the initiative’s own finding that the targeted practice is not known to be common in Bellingham, these unanswered questions support allowing voters—not just the City Council—the opportunity to decide this issue.
The Council’s Options
Today, the City Council may:
- Adopt the initiative as city law.
- Send the initiative to the November ballot.
- Place an alternative measure on the ballot alongside the original initiative.
Future 42 believes the Council should choose the second option and allow Bellingham voters to decide this issue in November.
When a proposal regulates a practice that the initiative itself says is “not known to be a common practice in Bellingham,” while important questions remain about how it would work in practice, allowing voters to decide is the more transparent and thoughtful approach.
Take Action Today
If you believe voters—not just the City Council—should decide Initiative 2026-01, please respectfully contact the Council before today’s meeting.
Attend the Council Meeting
Today, July 27 • 7:00 PM
Council Chambers, Second Floor
Bellingham City Hall
210 Lottie Street
- Join Online: https://cob.org/cczoom
- Sign Up to Speak or Submit Written Comment: https://cob.org/gov/council/meetings/public-comment-reg
- Email the City Council: ccmail@cob.org
Suggested Message
Please send Initiative 2026-01 to the November ballot rather than adopting it without a public vote. Housing affordability is an important issue, but this proposal raises important questions about its necessity, its scope, and how it would work in practice. I respectfully ask the Council to allow Bellingham voters to decide this issue in November.