43rd District Rep. Nicole Macri says new eviction reform is moving ahead in Olympia. Her bill to extend the legally required “pay or vacate” period has moved out of the House with a 54-44 vote and will now head to the state Senate.

“I’m really excited for these new protections for renters that will allow people a little bit more time when they fall behind on rent and part of our key strategies to help people maintain their homes and drive affordability and make sure we are preventing displacement across the state,” Macri said.

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House Bill 1453 would extend the current 3-day notice to pay or vacate to 14 days,” ensuring that families have a little bit more time when they fall behind on rent.”

“There is no other situation where a person or family could lose something so critical, so quickly, and evidence shows that evictions are a leading cause of homelessness,” Macri’s office says about the bill.

Last year, CHS reported on a study of Seattle evictions that showed that 86.5% of eviction filings were for nonpayment of rent and of these, 52.3% were for one month or less in rent. The numbers also showed that women and people of color were much more likely to be evicted over small amounts of owed rent.

Research has shown that eviction is one of the leading causes of homelessness.

The Seattle City Council has also resolved to address the city’s eviction problems.