February 2, 2026, the Spokane City Council voted 5-2 to impose a new ordinance requiring property owners to "participate in good faith" with city-designated eviction prevention or diversion programs to help tenants for at least 30 days before proceeding with eviction for nonpayment of rent. That adds another month to a six-month eviction process.
This policy will hurt both the tenant and property owner, introducing extra cost and ultimately higher rents.
Property owners must now notify tenants about these programs in leases, rent-increase notices, and pay-or-vacate notices. The city will maintain a list of nonprofits offering mediation, rental assistance referrals, legal support, and dispute resolution, funded largely by $2.9 million in state allocations through June 2027.
Spokane evictions for nonpayment already take approximately six months from the first missed payment to execution of a writ of restitution.
Proponents claim this will reduce homelessness and keep families housed. Quoted in the Spokesman Review, Councilman Paul Dillon called the ordinance a potential model for other cities amid "extreme housing insecurity." Tenant advocates highlighted cases of vulnerable renters facing eviction over delayed assistance.
This policy represents classic government overreach that prioritizes tenant delays over property rights and market realities. It will primarily serve to prolong evictions of nonpaying tenants, often those unwilling or repeatedly unable to pay, while doing little to address root causes like regulatory barriers to new housing supply, which drive up rents in the first place.
Adding a mandatory 30-day diversion period on top of existing notice requirements, court backlogs, and legal processes extends timelines further without guaranteeing payment or resolution. Nonpaying tenants continuing to occupy units create risk for a property owner, forcing owners to cover operating costs (mortgages, taxes, maintenance) that get passed on through higher rents for responsible tenants. One property owner noted the longer nonpayment drags on, the more it burdens the broader rental pool.
The eviction prevention programs, mediation, rental assistance applications, and counseling are already available voluntarily. Tenants facing hardship can engage nonprofits, apply for state or local aid, or seek mediation through entities like the Northwest Mediation Center on their own initiative long before any eviction notice is served. The ordinance creates a false sense of mandatory salvation at the eleventh hour, raising expectations that cannot always be met. With prior funding cycles exhausting quickly and current allocations at risk of depletion due to high demand, many tenants will participate only to learn assistance is unavailable.
Exceptions exist for serious violations like property damage or illegal drug use, but nonpayment, the most common eviction trigger, now faces extra hurdles.
Washington Policy Center research consistently shows that policies restricting evictions or imposing new mandates on rental housing reduce supply. Property owners exit the market, convert units to owner-occupied or short-term rentals, or screen tenants more stringently, making it harder for low-income renters to find housing. Spokane's eviction filings dropped during moratoriums but rebounded sharply afterward (from ~480 annually in 2020-21 to nearly 2,200 by 2024), underscoring pent-up demand and the limits of intervention.
Rather than layering bureaucratic delays, Spokane should focus on easing housing production through streamlined permitting, reduced fees, and fewer land-use restrictions. True prevention comes from abundant, affordable supply, not forcing property owners to subsidize nonpayment indefinitely.
Property owners and tenants alike deserve predictable rules that respect contracts and encourage responsibility on both sides.
