Can My Landlord Do That?: Tenant Rights, Responsibilities, and Resources

Legalese is fraught with misunderstanding. Convoluted syntax, sporadic Latin, clause upon clause--the precise language required to define complex legal frameworks and establish legal boundaries can be all but unreadable to those untrained to do so. Can My Landlord Do That?: Tenant Rights, Responsibilities, and Resources documents an effort to diminish the exclusionary power of legalese: the development and implementation of an accessible, legible, and publicly-available workshop to demystify the language of housing in Whatcom County for tenants and landlords alike. Developed during a six-month internship at LAW Advocates of Whatcom County--a Bellingham-based non-profit that provides free legal advice to low-income residents--the workshop explains existing housing statutes, itemizes recent developments at the local and state levels, and highlights resources and procedures available to the public. Once realized, the workshop was presented to the public at the Bellingham Public Library, the Ferndale Community Services Resource Center, and Western Washington University's (WWU) Office of Off-Campus Living. Moving forward, a recorded version of the workshop will be shared with and used by the Bellingham Tenant's Union and WWU's Off-Campus Living. The project includes: a pamphlet of resources for public distribution; the PowerPoint accompaniment to the workshop; the publicly-available recording of the workshop; and, an Artifact consisting of process materials, from the first communications with LAW Advocates to the final video presentation. Can My Landlord Do That?: Tenant Rights, Responsibilities, and Resources exists to be inherited, updated, and utilized in Whatcom County for years to come.