Whatcom County ‘rental radar’ expands reach after hundreds report habitability, landlord concerns
An interactive map detailing historical and ongoing habitability issues and property management concerns in Whatcom County is expanding its reach to surrounding counties in the state after seeing such a robust response from renters and tenant advocates.
The map, known as the “Sh*t Rental Radar,” was launched in October by the Bellingham renters’ advocacy group Tenants Revolt. It’s accessible to the public via the Tenants Revolt website. The map is designed as a resource for tenants by offering transparency to prospective renters and is informed by personal renter reports and documentation.
“We’ve had requests from all over the country and outside the country for the radar so that people can track and see what the history is and what the conditions have been with specific rental properties and with property management companies and landlords,” said Rebecca Quirke, head of Tenants Revolt.
The map is expanding its reach to Snohomish County in the next week or two, with plans to include King County in the next month, Quirke told The Bellingham Herald.
Tenants Revolt will continue to manage the radar and use their process of verification for all of the submissions in these other counties. The group’s main concern is confirming the validity of the reports and protecting anonymity for the renters who come forward.
Protecting renter rights
The map was built using data imported from the Whatcom County Tax Parcel Viewer website. It is searchable by address, parcel number, property management company or landlord. You can also see what city ward a property is located in as well as which City Council member oversees that ward. Various icons on the map indicate problematic conditions that have been reported in a unit such as mold, unusually high utility bills, a lack of heat, nonfunctioning windows, discrimination or landlord retaliation.
“When we see these really egregious abuses of power from these predatory landlords, people who own 100 properties in a city, and weaponize them and commodify them, and have people really panicked that they are going to be unhoused — it’s important to let them know that they’re not alone and to rally support in every way that we can,” Quirke said.
By Jan. 12 the map had 299 publicly available submissions. Hundreds more reports have been submitted to Tenants Revolt but are still in the process of being verified or will remain off the radar due to tenant concerns of retaliation, Quirke said.
The group intends to use that anonymized data to maintain a record of trends in habitability issues and illegal actions among different property management companies.
“There are so many properties in Whatcom County that aren’t suitable for human habitation,” Quirke said.
Opportunity to verify unit improvements
Tenants Revolt has received eight requests from property management companies asking the group to remove reports of properties they manage, claiming the issues do not exist, according to Quirke. When these requests are made, Quirke offers to send an inspector to the property in question to verify that the conditions have been remediated and include an update in the report indicating those improvements.
“No one has taken us up on that, which lets us know that those conditions, in fact, do exist, and their issue isn’t that the things have been remediated — it’s that they don’t want to be called out for their criminal practices,” Quirke told The Herald.
Funding the work
Tenants Revolt has been historically run by volunteers but the group is actively applying for grant funding to be able to continue offering these services to tenants free of charge.
“It will be really powerful to get funding for what we’re offering to the community and to be able to cover our own needs so we can stay fully present,” Quirke said. “We want to make sure that the people who are really needing support have all the support that they need and we’re not stretched too thin.”
Former Bellingham City Council member Kristina Michele Martens is assisting Tenants Revolt in applying for that funding. She told The Herald that after spending two years in a council seat, she’s seen how so many of the area’s issues tie back to insecure housing.
“When it comes to this topic, Tenants Revolt is the only entity doing this work, being this engaged, being so thorough, and being so activated to get to the heart of what these issues are,” Martens said. “Of course I’m going to do this.”
This story was originally published January 22, 2024 at 4:00 PM.
