Colleagues,
A very good Monday morning and a quick update on the Washington State Legislature which did adjourn on-time by midnight yesterday.  Over the coming days and weeks we will receive briefings and reports on specific bills and budget appropriations.  I will forward those from the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance.  I will also forward information on whom to thank.  I have attached the summary of key policy bills from the Washington State Senate Democrats.  

For today:
The three tenant protection bills have passed including 5600 which required $1M for the Landlord Mitigation Fund in the Capital Budget.  As far as I know, all three bills will go into effect on/about July 28, 2019.  Remember - these are statewide and they represent a huge step toward preventing homelessness.  

The highlights are:
5600 - 14 day pay or vacate, judicial discretion in eviction proceedings
1440 - 60 day notice for ANY amount of rent increase
1462 - 120 day notice for demolishing the property

Those of you who followed 5290 - stopping the jailing of juveniles - a bill which had "died" was in fact brought back to life and passed.  

There is money for Housing/Homelessness/Behavioral Health in both the Operating and Capital Budgets and somewhere I had a clear break-out but for now, this is adapted from the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance:

$175M - the Housing Trust Fund

  • $35 million is for housing projects that provide supportive housing and case-management

    services for persons with chronic mental illness;

  • $10 million is for competitively awarded modular housing grants;

  • $10 million is for competitively awarded grants for state matches on private contributions that fund affordable housing;

  • $10 million is for competitively awarded housing preservation grants;

  • $7 million is for ultra-high energy efficient housing grants;

  • $45 million is provided for 15 specific housing projects; and

  • $57 million is for the following competitive housing projects:

    o $5 million for housing for veterans;
    o $5 million for housing that serves people with developmental disabilities;
    o $5 million for housing that serves people employed as farmworkers;
    o $5 million for projects that benefit homeownership; and
    o the remaining amount for projects that benefit low-income populations in need of

    housing.

$14.5M - increase in Housing & Essential Needs (will help an additional 1000 people)
$51M - 1406 - allows local jurisdictions to keep a portion of the state sales tax for affordable housing.
$7M - operations & Maintenance of permanent supportive housing
$44.1M for homelessness and affordable housing programs run through the Dept of Commerce

To those of you who advocated for these policies and budget appropriations - thank you!  We all made this happen - the candidates who attended our forums and were elected to office, the calls and visits to Olympia we made, the emails we sent, the testimonies we provided, the organizations and local governments who advocated for us and for the people we serve.  

We can do this!  
Maureen

MaureenHowardConsulting
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