STLCA’s request to the City · Proposed SLI · 2027 budget
The request is straightforward: make Seattle housing enforcement measurable. Give Council and the public the dates, explanations, and connected records needed to follow a complaint from the first report to the final outcome.
Six questions the record should answer
Show when the complaint arrived, how it was classified, the first substantive response, inspections where applicable, administrative contacts, enforcement, correction deadlines, follow-up visits, compliance, and closure.
Explain the outcome: verified correction, no violation, no contact, lack of access, withdrawal, duplicate, referral, administrative closure, or another reason. Define what Closed and Completed mean.
Connect complaints, notices of violation, citations, emergency orders, tenant-relocation records, rental registrations, and repeat activity at the same property through stable record links.
Separate potential penalties from amounts assessed, billed, collected, adjusted, waived, sent for collection, or still outstanding.
Identify the source systems and who maintains the information. Publish field definitions, transformations, quality checks, and a change history, including the LastInspDate inspection-date field.
Explain how complaint-based enforcement relates to the Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance (RRIO) program, City and private inspections, registrations, certifications, and later complaints.
Why the budget belongs in this conversation
Staffing, technology, fees, and renter protections all involve choices about public resources. Clear workload and outcome records help Council judge those choices.
The proposal calls for routine public reporting and an implementation plan. It distinguishes a missing field from an event that did not occur, and a case status from verified correction.
A complaint count tells us what came in.
What tells us how it ended?
The appropriate response depends on the complaint. An information request and a reported physical hazard should not automatically be measured the same way.
The request
STLCA asks Council to require case histories, meaningful closure reasons, connected property records, financial-enforcement outcomes, clear data ownership, and a plan for ongoing public reporting.
STLCA’s role is public-record research and advocacy. The proposed initiative authority would be a separate public institution.
From the reporting request to the structural proposal
The SLI asks the City to document and report its work. STLCA’s initiative proposal would change who holds specified rental-housing and renter-protection responsibilities, placing them in a separate public institution.
The initiative design includes public case histories, clear review routes, accessibility, and service continuity.
Explore the initiative proposal →See what the City was asked to show.
Then see what the initiative would change.