Vancouver city staff say they’re in the dark about the condition and location of rental housing in the city. Their proposed solution — requiring landlords to license their rentals — drew general support with a few critiques from the city council on Monday.

From Seattle to Pasco, many cities in Washington have rental habitability programs that require inspections and registration of rental units. The goal is to keep an eye on rentals, ensuring they meet basic standards.

But Vancouver has fallen behind. Staff can only estimate the number of rental units — about 40,000 — and inspections are largely complaint driven.

“If you talk to our code folks … we get some incredibly small number of complaints,” Vancouver Economic Development Director Patrick Quinton told the council Monday. “That’s no

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