STLCA STLCAThe accountability layer between complaint and policy.
STLCA Open Data Accountability Dashboard

Seattle housing enforcement records are public. This dashboard shows what the public record can actually explain.

This page looks at Seattle complaint and violation records reported through SDCI’s public open-data / built-environment record system. It compares complaint volume, notice-of-violation records, missing inspection fields, and closed/completed complaints that still lack visible inspection documentation.

The dashboard opens to 2015-2025 because that is the clearest recent long-range window for public trend review. Use the filters to switch year ranges or view one council district at a time.

What you are looking at

  • Complaint records are records ending in -CP.
  • Notice of violation records are records ending in -VI.
  • Missing inspection date means no visible value in LASTINSPDATE, or the source flag says no inspection date.
  • Missing inspection result means no visible value in LASTINSPRESULT, or the source flag says no inspection result.
  • Closed/completed means the public status says Closed or Completed. It does not, by itself, prove inspection or correction.

Source files

Wider reviewed record universe: 233,543 citywide complaint/enforcement records.

Interactive working file: MASTER_SOURCE_CITYWIDE_LLT_THRU_20251231_ENRICHED_01272026__PLUS_RECORDLIST-RARE.csv (source CSV not included in this website ZIP)

Prior KPI reference: CITYWIDE_KPI.html

The headline record gap

Percentages are shown first because they tell the public how much of the record is documented, missing, or moving into formal violation records. Counts are shown underneath each percentage.

Violation records compared with complaints
0%
0 VI / 0 CP
This compares formal violation records to complaint records in the selected view.
Complaints missing inspection date
0%
0 of 0 complaints
A missing date makes it harder to see when or whether inspection activity occurred.
Complaints missing inspection result
0%
0 of 0 complaints
A missing result makes it harder to see what the public record says happened.
Closed/completed complaints missing result
0%
0 of 0 closed/completed complaints
Closure is a status label. This checks whether a visible inspection result is present too.

Complaints and violations must be seen together.

A violation total means very little by itself. The relevant question is how violation records compare with complaint records over the same period.

Complaint records vs notice-of-violation records by year

Blue bars are complaint records. Amber bars are violation records. The amber line shows VI records as a percentage of complaint records.

Complaints (-CP)Violation records (-VI)VI ÷ CP percentage

How to read this chart

Look for years where complaint volume is high but violation records are comparatively low. That is why this dashboard never shows violation records alone.

District comparison: reported volume beside formal violation records.

Each district is shown with complaint records and violation records side by side. The label above the amber bar is the VI-to-complaint percentage.

Inspection visibility: date and result are separate fields.

This separates missing inspection date from missing inspection result. Both matter, but they do not mean the same thing.

Complaint records with missing inspection fields

For each district: total complaints, complaints missing inspection date, and complaints missing inspection result.

Closed/completed complaints missing inspection fields

This looks only at complaints marked Closed or Completed, then checks whether the inspection date or result is visible.

Selected view

Use the district filter to see how the same record questions change by district.

Complaint records

0

Records ending in -CP.

Violation records

0

Records ending in -VI.

Closed/completed missing result

0%

Share of closed/completed complaints missing visible inspection result.

Issue-language signals in complaint text

These are keyword scans across DESCRIPTION and DESCRIPTION1. They are exploratory signals, not official categories, and a single record can match more than one topic.

Oldest open or under-review complaint records

Selected date range and district. Closed/completed records are excluded.

Open dateRecordStatusAddress