Renton family’s quest for reparations inspires WA bill
John Houston’s parents were pressured under the threat of eminent domain to sell their land to the Renton School Board in 1968, he said. But the school district ultimately never used the land and instead sold it to a developer.
Houston said his parents would’ve leapt at the opportunity to buy the roughly 10-acre property back. But they never got the chance, he said.
A bill introduced last week aims to prevent that from happening again.
Senate Bill 5142, also known as the Houston Eminent Domain Fairness Act, would require Washington school districts looking to sell or transfer excess land acquired through eminent domain or the threat of it to first offer the previous owner a chance to purchase the property back for the same price before entering the open market.
The bill targets seized lands that are intended for new schools but fail to be built. Districts that develop obtained property into a school or school grounds would not be obligated to offer a right of first refusal to the previous owner, under the bill.
State Sen. Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle, said the bill is a first step to “right an injustice for the future.”
For two years, Houston’s family and a group of supporters have been calling for a formal acknowledgment and financial restitution over the roughly $44,630 sale of his parent’s property, which he said was racially motivated and coerced.
The school district intended to build a middle school on the property near Honey Dew Elementary School but eventually canceled the project following the Boeing Bust in 1969. The district sold the land to a developer a few years later. Today, the area is filled with residential homes.
“For them to turn around and sell the land to a developer, not offering it back to my parents … It was just a punch in the gut,” Houston said.
Eminent domain, also known as condemnation, refers to the government’s right to seize private property with compensation in the interest of public use, such as to build highways or create parks.
Some projects that use eminent domain never materialize, resulting in “vacant lots and empty promises,” said Shaylynn Houston, John’s niece, during a public hearing last week.
Scores of Black families across America have been dispossessed of their land through eminent domain or the threat of it. Some estimate between 1949 and 1973, federal urban renewal projects across nearly 1,000 cities displaced about 1 million people, two-thirds of whom were Black.
The bill under consideration is modeled on a Utah law that applies to all public entities, not just school districts. Hasegawa said he limited the bill’s scope to avoid political pushback from local governments and agencies. The bill could serve as a template for future expanded legislation, he said.
While the bill would not retroactively apply to his family’s situation, Houston said he hopes the legislation will help families facing a similar situation in the future.
“I feel like eminent domain has its place but not when it destroys a whole community like that,” he said. “I feel good that (the bill is) going to help others.”
Lawmakers in the Law & Justice Committee will review the bill during an executive session Thursday.