The City of Seattle and City Attorney Pete Holmes are touting a victory in ongoing legal challenges against the city’s wave of progressive tenant protections.

A federal judge this week upheld Seattle’s Fair Chance Housing Law, an ordinance passed in 2017 which bars landlords from denying housing to applicants or taking other actions against tenants because of their criminal history, finding that the restrictions are within legal bounds to reduce housing discrimination.

The rules forbid landlords and tenant screening services to “require, disclosure, inquire about, or take an adverse action against a prospective occupant, a tenant, or a member of their household, based on any arrest record, conviction record, or criminal history.”

“A criminal conviction should not be a lifelong sentence to living on the streets. Housing access is core to stabilizing a person’s life, so I’m thankful to the judge for making the sound legal decision today,” Holmes said in a press release on the legal win.

In the press release, Holmes also took a swing at the Pacific Legal Foundation, the group suing the city:

The court’s decision today represents yet another loss for the Pacific Legal Foundation, which has recently unsuccessfully challenged Seattle’s Democracy Voucher program and First-in-Time law. In a lawsuit that remains ongoing, PLF faced a setback in January in their case against Seattle’s and Governor Inslee’s eviction moratoria, the City’s three-to-six month overdue rent repayment plan ordinance, and the City’s six-month eviction defense after the current COVID-19 eviction moratorium ends.

Holmes, meanwhile, is facing reelection amid ongoing criticism from inside the city and far beyond over his approach to crime and public safety. Despite the incumbent’s supposed “soft on crime” stance, his strongest challenger appears to be police abolitionist Nicole Thomas-Kennedy.

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