Thursday, October 1, 2026
The City of Olympia is seeking to improve compliance with its Rental Registry Program, aiming to register at least 63% of all rental units to make it financially self-sustaining.
Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED) Director Susan McLaughlin told the city council at a meeting on Monday, Nov. 10, while the program has made progress since its launch, both landlords and staff continue to face challenges.
“It’s been very challenging in terms of getting through the registration,” McLaughlin said. “And from our side, it’s been very challenging to meet our cost-recovery goals because we’re not getting the number of registrations that we need.”
The 2026 budget proposal includes funding for additional staff for the program. McLaughlin said the current position is budgeted half time, but the workload has already required full-time effort.
“We do not see that workload going away, and she continues to be working at full capacity," she said.
McLaughlin also asked for the addition of a new program specialist to further support operations.
She said the program needs sufficient staffing to achieve cost recovery and provide an easier registration process for applicants.
McLaughlin said staff are moving forward with code enforcement, which is addressing both unregistered rentals and unpermitted dwelling units discovered through the program.
Since its launch, the program has generated about $25,000 in business license revenue. As of July 9, only 28% of Olympia’s 18,423 rental units are fully registered, while 48% have not initiated the registration process, 12% have incomplete registrations and 5% are awaiting staff review.
Councilwoman Kelly Green was supportive of the idea for additional staff, but she questioned the timing of the proposal. She noted the council had recently gone through a difficult budget process that involved cutting some positions and considering others for elimination.
Green also said the council chose to preserve positions tied to services the community identified as priorities through public feedback.
“I’d be supportive of this if we could agree to revisit it in the first quarter, and have a more robust discussion about how this fits into our broader priority conversations,” she said.
Councilman Clark Gilman said it may be too early to judge the program’s costs before it reaches the full self-supporting point.
“We didn’t anticipate that the first year of the program would pay for itself. Three years down the road would be a time when I’d think it would make sense to take a critical look," he said.
Councilman Robert Vanderpool added that challenges are expected during a program’s early stage, and additional staff could help the city reach its registration targets.
Mayor Dontae Payne agreed the city should revisit the program’s performance over time. He emphasized that it was implemented in response to community concerns.
“This was a policy decision made on the basis of a number of qualitative and quantitative data from the community about the experiences they were having. And this was a policy that came before us as a solution to those challenges,” he said.
No vote was taken on the proposal. That staffing requests and compliance goals are going to be considered as part of Olympia’s 2026 budget deliberations.
16 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Oxidania
What are the qualitative and quantitative data (measures) that were the basis of the decision to implement this program? Before adding staff and taking resources from other priorities, provide a data snapshot that could tell us if this solution is actually working?
Thursday, November 13, 2025 Report this
TheVirtualOne
This program never should have existed. It’s just more government interference with property owners that solves a nonexistent problem, increasing costs, and ultimately making rentals more expensive. A hammer looking for a nail.
Thursday, November 13, 2025 Report this
BettyVerdammt
More performative nonsense.
Thursday, November 13, 2025 Report this
SpenceWeigand
Hmmmm. Government overreach. A lack of intended results. Plenty of unintended consequences. Of course it makes sense to throw more money at it during a time of looming and ominous budget deficits. I am constantly amazed our city council continually walks around its ass to get to its elbow. The whole registry should be scuttled post haste.
Thursday, November 13, 2025 Report this
jimlazar
In my opinion, the City Council erred in applying this program immediately to all landlords.
The first step should have been to apply it ONLY to large apartment complexes and perhaps to people managing more than 20 rental units, leaving the smallholder mom-and-pop landlords out of the process until we can see if and how it works.
At least 80% of the rental units are managed by professionals. They could register, understand the rules, and comply relatively quickly. The limited staff could focus on education and enforcement of the requirements with the large landlords.
Once the program was up and running, with 80% of the properties enrolled, then an only then should the Council have considered a decision to impose these regulations on individuals who own only a few (often only one) rental unit. Instead, the staff is being run ragged by hundreds of small rental owners who have legitimate questions about the program and how to comply.
For the smallholders, the City should simply have required that renters be provided a copy of the International Property Maintenance Code (which the City has adopted by ordinance) telling the renters what their rights were and who to call if something is not right.
Maybe in 2 or 5 years, the bugs will be ironed out for the large property managers, and then and only then should the City Council attempt to extend this program to the rest of the housing stock. By then, the staff will have learned what works and what does not, what is important and what is not, and perhaps even what is cost-effective and what is not. Perhaps we will learn that it is not worth the bother -- the increase in rents for tenants to pay for the cost of the program is not worth it to the tenants.
A couple dozen professional property managers are in charge of about ten thousand rental units in Olympia. Among the smallholders, there are probably 1,000 rental owners who maybe manager two thousand. Start with the big guys.
Thursday, November 13, 2025 Report this
waltjorgensen
What he, Jim Lazar, said
waltjorgensen@comcast.net
360-819-0678
Thursday, November 13, 2025 Report this
BobJacobs
This is simply a ridiculous program. The excuse for it is "health and safety". But how much health and safety protection will it provide, even at full operation. Check the frequency of inspections.
Bob Jacobs
Thursday, November 13, 2025 Report this
DHanig
Why does the city need a registry in the first place? Ostensibly, it is to assure rentals are maintained. But, if that were their intention, a simply complaint hotline with tenant notification would have been sufficient. Instead, they created a new bureaucracy that has to be fed and supported. The focus is now on enrolling enough landlords to justify expanding their staff.
Friday, November 14, 2025 Report this
zingZap33x
This rental registry has made SO much work for small landlords. One has to register with the Department of Revenue, and then the City of Olympia. Both registration processes are not straight forward and take extensive time to do. This year the City revamped its registry program platform and now landlords have to do a totally new registration for the same unit(s). The City seems to feel that landlords can spend endless hours running through this rigmarole.
Friday, November 14, 2025 Report this
Southsoundguy
Idiotic program.
Friday, November 14, 2025 Report this
Wesley
It is positively fraudulent to require the victims of government regulation to pay for that victimization. If the city can't afford to administer a program with its tax revenue, the program shouldn't exist.
Friday, November 14, 2025 Report this
JulesJames
"Pay for itself". No. Tenants are paying for this program. HEY TENANTS: IS THIS RENTAL REGISTRY PROGRAM WORTH IT TO YOU?
Friday, November 14, 2025 Report this
LindaD
I own exactly one (one!) affordable (affordable!) rental that I've had for 30 years. The new rules are simply impossible for one old lady. It's all about making me pay for new city staff. and, ultimately, driving me out of the market.
The big corporate apartment owners who suck wealth out of our community are not subject to much of the new law. They're exempt from rent caps and many of the other new rules. They get passes on property taxes. They have lawyers to do all the paperwork. and to make sure they're exempt, dumping the burden on the rest of us.
I had to get a license, then convince another agency I don't owe them money, then pay again for a license, then there's the nearly impossible registration process. Then there's all the new rules, which assume I'm Satan's Daughter that needs to be squashed into oblivion, not a long time tax payer, housing provider and member of the community. The whole thing is just plain offensive. The city is treating us with contempt.
People like me, local people whose tenants can text with a problem, will be replaced by the corporate apartment owners building nothing more than worker storage units. No hope of home ownership, no hope of human communication, no hope of building community.
Shame on you, city.
Friday, November 14, 2025 Report this
Gretchen
I also question why Olympia is implementing this program. This and the Workers bill of rights have merit but should be carried out at a higher level of government.
Olympia is not keeping of on the sidewalk installation promised in the 2011 Parks and Sidewalks bill I voted for. I will vote for no more taxes until I see the city council can deal with the basics of keeping a city running. Downtown, sidewalk, parks, .. handle the basics first guys.
Friday, November 14, 2025 Report this
TMknight
This whole registry idea, while well intentioned is a bureaucratic nightmare in the making. Firstly, it creates an expensive and lumbering system to address a relatively small problem of housing health & safety; a problem that should be addressed directly by the building department. Secondly, whether prohibited or not, the costs of this program are being passed on to renters. Thirdly, given other priorities, the city of Olympia cannot afford to fund another boondoggle, which is this is. City council should end this nonsense ASAP.
Sunday, November 30, 2025 Report this
Bridget
Did any of you commenting go to any of the meetings around this? I'm wondering, if like a lot of things that are decided by the council , the room was mostly empty when it came time for public comment. We need more community members in those rooms to help shape policy.
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 Report this