Summary

Councilmember Reagan Dunn issued a statement Tuesday opposing a motion that asks for rents and mortgages to be frozen until the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Story

King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn issued the following statement on a proposed motion to ask state and federal officials to freeze payment of rents and mortgages amid the COVID-19 pandemic:

"A rent and mortgage moratorium would set a very dangerous precedent by harnessing the power of a public health crisis to undermine the basic free market principles of supply and demand. If landlords and banks aren't paid, we could see far, far greater damage to our economy than what has already been caused by this pandemic. This legislation should be opposed.

“Many landlords and banks have been doing everything in their power to be sensitive and accommodating to their clients' individual financial circumstances, not because they are mandated to do so but because it's the right thing to do. This is the unity and generosity that our region needs right now – not our government's forced shifting of financial burdens."