Amazon and Microsoft workers: No more special rental deals for you in Seattle

geekwire.com

9 points·ljk··3 comments

If you buy the argument that "tech worker" is a proxy for "white male"[0] then this amounts to the city requiring housing discrimination by landlords: Combined, Seattle ordinances require that landlords offer benefits to certain minorities and now require that equivalent benefits not be offered to certain non[-visible]-minorities. This does absolutely nothing to actually solve the housing crisis, which is the only way non-tech-workers won't be priced out to the detriment of us all.

[0] I'm not sure I do, since of the top 10 of my coworkers according to the frequency of our interaction, only one is a non-Hispanic white male, and you have to go to my lead's lead's lead's lead to find the first of only two white males in my management chain.

Why would a landlord even want to offer this deal? Are they getting a kickback from the companies involved or something?

Better tenants. And there is competition for high-income tenants, particularly areas like Capitol Hill which are gentrified. Most people don't want to pay $2,100 a month for a 1bd, but the ones who do are worth getting in the door and generally work for tech companies.

Example - I didn't have to pay a security deposit for my last place due to working at Microsoft. It didn't really impact my decision to live there, but it might have if there was competition in their price range.

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