Rents soar through the roofs

When gas prices soared 25 percent this spring, the state attorney general was so vexed he launched an investigation.

When Regence BlueShield jacked health premiums 19 percent in May, a headline summed up the gut reaction in one word: "Gulp!" But in Art Segal's hyper-inflating world, price hikes like those seem trivial.

So far this year, Segal's apartment rent has gone up a staggering 107 percent.

He lives in Seattle's U District, in a rooming house where you share kitchen and bath. He paid $375 a month for his room in March. In April it went to $475. He just got a letter raising it to $775.

"It's a shock, to say the least," says Segal, who makes $12 an hour grading tests. "Who can sustain a doubling of their housing budget?"

Eye-popping rent increases aren't isolated to low-rent buildings. Near the top of Queen Anne, a tenant just saw her rent raised 70 percent, from $1,055 to $1,795. It was too much, and she moved.

Another tenant, a doctor who lives on Capitol Hill, said her rent had crept up at a reasonable rate — about 4 percent a year. Then her building sold, and the new owners raised her rent from $930 to $1,290 — a 39 percent jolt.

Mike Scott, of Seattle's Dupre+Scott, has been analyzing local rents since 1981. He's heard all manner of rent horror stories, but even he blanched.

"I'm just floored by 70 percent or 100 percent rent increases," he said. "Sometimes you get extreme increases when a building sells or is remodeled. But these are the extreme of the extreme."

One landlord, at the Queen Vista on Queen Anne, refused to discuss it. The others hadn't returned calls by deadline, but I'll keep trying (and if you can top Segal's 107 percent rent-hike story, let me know.)

Scott says the whole rental market is hot. Average rents are up 12 percent on the Eastside this year, the highest rise ever recorded for that area.

In Seattle, it was 8 percent, below the modern record of 9 percent in the dot-com years.

Driving it all is a booming economy and the condo craze. So many apartments are being converted to condos that last year the region had a net loss of 4,000 rental units. This year we're going to lose 3,000 more.

John Fox has been agitating for renters here since the '70s. He believes Seattle is experiencing the largest economic displacement of renters in his lifetime. What's strange is how quiet it is.

"There's enormous social upheaval going on, but you barely hear about it," Fox said. "The political leadership is shrugging and doing nothing."

What could they do? Rent control often creates more problems than it solves. But a law barring "economic evictions" — outlandish rent increases of, say, 20 percent or more — might be a good idea.

We could build more apartments. We could limit condo conversions. We can beg landlords to have mercy.

Segal, who moved here from New York, says Seattle is the Wild West of apartment living.

"People say it's so liberal here, but for renters, it's lawless. You're completely on your own."

Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.