Caitlyn McKenney

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Affordable Housing Owner Sues City of Seattle: Unpacking the Lawsuit

Caitlyn McKenney
October 30, 2024
Last week, GRE Downtowner, LLC (GRE) filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle, arguing that the city’s policies have destroyed the livability and economic viability of GRE’s Addison on Fourth apartment building. The Addison on Fourth is an affordable housing building nestled between Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square and Chinatown-International District. The lawsuit alleges that the city has forced the Addison to either continue operations in service of a public good at a massive private loss, or to shut down operations entirely. Both options GRE describes as “disastrous.” To understand why a privately-owned housing building is in default, facing over $40 million in liabilities, and “hemorrhaging money,” in an affluent west-coast city, we must look at a series of …

Washington Law Unfairly Keeps Prior Evictions Off Tenant Screenings

Caitlyn McKenney
October 23, 2024
When it comes to tenant’s rights laws, good intentions don’t always lead to good or fair outcomes. One example is a Washington State law that allows tenants to keep their eviction from being disclosed to future housing providers. The state allows an order of limited dissemination (OLD) to be filed for eviction cases to prevent housing providers from denying tenants due to a previous eviction.