 WE DID IT!!! Maureen, There’s no other word for it than VICTORY. The legislative session ended at midnight last night and housing justice advocates have walked away with truly historic wins that will mean the difference between homelessness and a safe home for many thousands of Washingtonians. Congratulations, everyone! Stay tuned later this week for an action alert asking you to say thank you to lawmakers who championed our issues. Great news! But what did we win, exactly? And why do you call it historic? Glad you asked! Broadly speaking, lawmakers made bold investments in affordable homes, passed historic tenant protections and eviction reform, and controlled the costs to build affordable homes. Here are some of the details… Bold investments in affordable homes: - Lawmakers allocated an unprecedented $175 million to the Housing Trust Fund. While this falls short of the $200 million we’d hoped for, it’s still the largest HTF allocation ever included in a biennial budget, and it will build nearly 5,000 more permanently affordable homes across the state.
- Local communities will gain a brand-new source of funds to build affordable homes with the option to retain a portion of the state sales tax they already collect, thanks to HB 1406/Robinson.
- Housing & Essential Needs received a $14.5 million increase: its first-ever bump, despite rents soaring statewide since its inception in 2011. While this is much less than the $69 million we’d asked for, it still represents a 25% increase overall. We estimate it will help 1,000 more people avoid homelessness.
Powerhouse tenant protections and eviction reform: - A robust eviction reform bill, SB 5600/Kuderer, will allow tenants 14 days (instead of three) to catch up on late rent before losing their homes, allow eviction court judges to use discretion and consider extenuating circumstances such as job loss or hospitalization, expand a mitigation fund to ensure landlords receive judgement payments promptly while giving tenants more time to pay, and limit the attorney fees tenants can be required to pay.
- HB 1440/Robinson increases the amount of notice landlords must give tenants of rent increases from 30 to 60 days.
- These two bills combine to form the largest-ever overhaul of the state’s Residential Landlord-Tenant Act since its inception in the 1970’s.
Controlling costs to build affordable homes: - HB 1923/Fitzgibbon tackles local regulations that unnecessarily raise the cost or complexity of building affordable homes; for instance, reducing the parking requirement in developments near transit hubs. A new $2.50 document recording fee will fund local planning grants. Starting in 2024, the fee will support operation and maintenance of permanent supportive housing or affordable housing – the first-ever such dedicated funding source!
- Affordable housing and labor advocates found agreement on HB 1743/Ormsby to control the cost of building affordable homes, while ensuring wage increases to the workers who build them.
In addition, there were many, many more bills passed that will advance the cause of housing justice. From protections for mobile home owners and new investments for youth and young adults experiencing homelessness, to $44 million for Department of Commerce-run programs for homelessness and affordable housing, we made real progress together this year! This is thrilling! Sounds like housing justice got all the wins, eh? Well, not quite. It was a very strong session, and together we’ve achieved victories that will help many thousands of Washingtonians. But some of our priorities didn’t make it through session. Just Cause Evictions (HB 1656/Macri, SB 5733/Saldaña) These bills would have required landlords to have a legitimate business reason to terminate a tenancy. We ran into strong opposition and pursuing the legislation would have required severe concessions that would have defeated the point. We’re not giving up, and we’ll spend time educating and negotiating with lawmakers between sessions. We believe these bills have a strong future. Real Estate Excise Tax (HB 1921/Frame) Representative Frame’s bill would have restructured the Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) to bring in more revenue overall, while lowering the tax rate for homes valued under $500,000. That excess revenue would have been used as a dedicated funding source for the Housing Trust Fund. We think this was a brilliant bill, and unfortunately lawmakers agreed. They restructured the tax as this bill had proposed, but kept the revenue for the General Fund. By making the REET more progressive and increasing revenue to the General Fund, it’s still progress. But we are sorry to lose a dedicated funding source for the Housing Trust Fund.
Whew! How did all this… happen? A lot of good ideas, smart strategy, and hard work – by staff, elected housing champions, and advocates across the state. Here’s a look at some of the numbers. - Advocates like you took action more than 3,000 times this session, sending over 8,000 messages to lawmakers – the largest number of messages ever sent during a session!
- 783 new advocates sent housing justice messages to their lawmakers this session.
- More than 650 of you showed up in Olympia for Housing & Homelessness Advocacy Day, sporting red scarves and meeting lawmakers face to face.
- 36 advocates provided testimony on 13 separate bills or budgets – some of you testified more than once!
- Resident Action Project members organized a well-attended panel for lawmakers on their personal experiences of housing instability and called for new investments in affordable homes.
- The Housing Alliance organized and supported speakers for multiple committee work sessions, including on the criminalization of homelessness, impediments to building affordable homes, and multiple sessions for Senate committee on Housing Stability and Affordability.
- Together, we kept up the pressure on lawmakers, gathering steam and momentum throughout the session. Our first action alert saw 97 advocates take action. Our final two had around 500 responses each!
This session, lawmakers across the state heard repeatedly that housing justice is a real priority for their constituents. Your voices were loud and clear, and you did not let them forget it for one minute. We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: this was a terrible budget year, with lawmakers facing severe budget shortfalls that could have easily derailed the entire housing justice agenda. Instead, we’re closing out session with historic wins and investment levels. That wouldn’t be possible without you. Thank you! OK, what’s next? After we all get a couple good nights’ sleep and celebrate the victories, here’s what we have coming up. Explainers: Stay tuned for phone calls that explain in detail some of the bills that passed this session. We’ll certainly host a call for the new eviction reform legislation and possibly for others as well. These calls will be open to all members. GiveBIG! Excited by all this progress for housing justice? Want to see more? Support the Housing Alliance for GiveBIG! Every dollar makes a difference and improves our ability to deliver historic wins that will ensure every Washingtonian has access to a safe, healthy, affordable home. Schedule a donation today. Ready to take the next step in your advocacy? Become a Legislative District lead! The Housing Alliance is looking for volunteers who will mobilize their networks to keep local advocates informed year-round and take action during the legislative session. We can support and connect you to housing justice champions in your district, adding to your own network. Interested? Want to learn more? Contact John at johns@wliha.org. Please join us in welcoming two new staff members to the Housing Alliance. John Stovall will join us full-time as our new Member Organizer, after doing great work as our legislation session policy analyst this year. His organizing and policy experience along with his deep knowledge of our issues and our members will be incredible assets in his new role. He completes his MPA in June and will rejoin us full-time in the new role in July. Jamala Henderson will start as our Communications Specialist on May 6. If you recognize her name, it’s likely because she spent 14 years as a broadcaster and journalist at KUOW. She is an extraordinarily talented storyteller who also has a deep understanding of working with the media. She’ll bring exciting new energy and ideas to the organization. Thank you for your advocacy and for being part of the Housing Alliance! |
