An act aimed to reshape rental housing, evictions and tenant protections passed with a council member’s markups on Wednesday amid an affordable housing crisis in D.C., officials said.
This passed although D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called on the D.C. City Council to reject the Council’s Committee on Housing recommendations for the Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants and Landlords (RENTAL) Act.
“Now by gutting the RENTAL Act, Councilmember Robert White has sided with residents who are taking advantage of the system including those who commit crimes in their units, and in the process sinking our affordable housing market,” said Bowser on X.
“We are not here to pass policy without scrutiny,” said White in a statement. “The Mayor’s bill raises serious due process concerns, threatened the integrity of the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, and lacked economic data justifying significant changes to the housing ecosystem. Our Committee stepped in to fill in the gaps, restore balance, and protect the housing ecosystem that tenants rely on.”
