Column missed point on rental rules

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I’m afraid that Doug Lomas’ recent guest column chastising the Bellingham City Council’s current struggle with the complicated issue of three-unrelated people in a home did little to enlighten the public regarding the true nature of this nettlesome matter. Even worse, it promoted a generally misinformed view that will serve to confuse the public’s understanding of an already difficult issue. I write this as an owner of a house in the York area and have, I believe, a familiarity with the issue.

This matter has less to do with “scofflaw rental owners” and more to do with correcting a bad and unenforceable law that is patently unfair. Enforcement requires the Orwellian practice secretly observing a household while subjectively attempting to sift residents from guests and related from unrelated, all while hiding behind a bush, I presume.

Sounds like something our current government would dream up. Hardest hit — if it were somehow enforceable — would be gays and lesbians, unrelated elderly who forgo late-life marriage for some sensible reason, and many of the rest of us at one time or another.