The Seattle City Council has passed a law that will allow homeowners to voluntarily add themselves to a special “do not disturb” register—listing people who do not want to receive offers to buy their homes. The initiative is aimed at tackling harassment and exploitation by speculators who try to snap up homes at below-market prices. The bill was introduced by City Council member Dionne Foster, a longtime activist and advocate for tenants’ rights in Seattle. She is known for her work promoting social housing, strengthening protections for apartment tenants against eviction, and supporting initiatives for shared ownership of land and housing. In 2023, she ran for the City Council to represent tenants’ interests and fight the housing crisis, and although she did not win then, her voice regularly appears at hearings on land-use policy and housing affordability. Foster said the new measure will help protect those who face the risk of losing not just a home, but also wealth built up over generations.
The register will begin next year under the management of the City of Seattle Office for Civil Rights. Contact with people included in the list—calls, letters, emails, flyers, and door visits—with offers to buy or help sell housing will be considered a violation of housing rights. For a first violation, a $1,000 penalty will apply; for each subsequent violation within the year, the fine will be $2,000. Foster emphasized that such actions often resemble an endless stream of intrusive advertising that many property owners are familiar with.
The law was prompted by a crisis of displacement of Seattle’s Black community, especially in the historic Central District neighborhood. The Central District was not an accident—it has long been a center of Black culture and the city’s political life. In the first half of the 20th century, racial restrictions and “redlining”—when banks refused to issue mortgages in “blighted” areas—effectively confined African Americans here. Thousands of Black workers also moved in, coming to the shipyards during World War II. Later, however, the area was subjected to devastating transformations: in the 1960s, the construction of Interstate 5 cut through its eastern part, and many homes were demolished as part of “urban renewal.” Then the repeal of discriminatory rules, rising housing prices in the center of the city, the tech boom, and a large influx of white residents set gentrification in motion. In the 1970s, three out of four Central District residents were Black; today, they are less than 15–20%. Black families are being pushed into the southern suburbs, and local activists have been trying to stop that process for decades.
Leaders from the Black Legacy Homeowners project and a 2021 report titled “Catastrophic Gentrification in King County” played a special role in shaping the law. King County is the largest county in Washington State and includes Seattle and many suburbs, including Bellevue, Renton, and Kent. The county functions as a regional government: it runs public transportation, the healthcare system, and land resources, and through special taxes and funds it finances the construction of affordable housing, addresses homelessness, and regulates regional growth. At the same time, the county’s infrastructure projects and investments in specific neighborhoods raise prices there, often accelerating gentrification and displacing low-income residents. As a result, King County policy directly affects who can remain living in Seattle and its surrounding areas.
The report noted that practices reminiscent of today’s speculation trace their roots to “blockbusting”—a tactic banned in 1968, when real estate agents pressured white homeowners to sell their homes quickly out of fear that people of another race would move into their neighborhood. Although the practice became illegal, predatory methods did not disappear—they simply became more sophisticated. Those targeted include older people, people with disabilities living on fixed incomes, and residents of neighborhoods that speculators believe are about to be “switched” in terms of demographics.
Foster gave an example: one Central District resident received in the mail a sales contract that was already filled out and signed, along with a note saying, “per our conversation, sign and return.” There had been no conversation—this was a fraudulent scheme, which Foster described as exhausting and demoralizing. Seattle is joining other cities that have already restricted these practices: among them are New York, Jersey City, and Philadelphia, where a register was created in 2020 to protect against house flippers that buy homes without investing and then resell them quickly at a markup.
The bill received broad support at public hearings, including from representatives of the real estate industry. At the same time, they secured approval of an amendment excluding mass general advertising mailings from the definition of a “buy offer.” The amendment, introduced by Council member Maritza Rivera, and the main bill were adopted unanimously. Foster emphasized that the register will not just get people out of unwanted calls, but will become a real tool to protect Black communities, older residents, and everyone fighting gentrification and displacement from their home neighborhoods.
Based on: Seattle council bars homeowner solicitations to fight displacement