#HHAD2020 Mon Feb 3 was our biggest HHAD ever!! 600 or more pre-registered, and even more showed up on the day of. It was a wonderful celebration of advocacy in action, with folks from practically every legislative district in the state enthusiastically showing their support for housing justice in Washington. Thanks to all who came and lent their voice to our movement! We’ll have a proper update for you next week. Key updates: - HB 2453/ Macri (requiring a landlord to have a legitimate business reason to make someone move).Bill sponsors have decided that the House bill will be the “vehicle” for this policy. That means that it’s Senate counterpart (SB 6379) will not move, and we’ll focus our attention on keeping 2453 moving through the process. The bill was scheduled to be voted out of its policy committee last week, but to give committee members more time to consider 13 proposed amendments, that was postponed. We expect it to be voted out of committee before the Feb. 7 cutoff.
- HB 1694/ Morgan (allowing tenants to pay move in fees over several months). Language in this bill will be replaced with a “striker amendment” that will amend the bill on the House floor. It was already pulled out of the House Rules committee and is ready for a floor vote any time!
- SB 6378/ Kuderer This is the “trailer” or follow up bill that fixes some technical issues and a few problems with last year’s eviction reform bill (5600.) Among other things, the bill addresses the problem of some landlords issuing pay or vacate notices on the 2nd of the month to tenants who were previously allowed a grace period to pay their rent when they received government benefits like social security. The bill is currently in the Senate Rules committee and needs to be pulled to the Senate floor for a vote.
New developments Rep. Macri (43rd LD) has introduced HB 2907 which would allow King County to tax large corporations to generate funding for affordable housing. This could bring in approximately $120 million a year and could be used to build, operate, and maintain affordable housing, rental assistance, and for shelter for youth and young adults, among other things. Expedia has publicly stated support for the bill and other big businesses including Microsoft are reportedly interested. While this bill only impacts King County, it could create a model for other counties to request similar progressive taxing authority to address their affordable housing needs. The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the House Finance Committee on Feb. 4 at 8am. Rural housing needs: We’re working with Rep. Debra Lekanoff (40th LD) on a budget proposal to identify the impediments and develop solutions for building affordable housing in rural communities. This is an exciting opportunity that could inform 2021 legislative priorities. What’s going on with the Multi-family Tax Exemption program? There are several bills currently being considered to amend the Multi-family Tax Exemption program (MFTE). This program gives developers a tax exemption for building multi-family housing in designated areas. Under current law, developers of at least four units can get the tax break for eight years with no affordability requirement. A 12-year tax break requires that only 20% of the housing be affordable to households earning as high as 150% of the area median income (AMI). Yet Washington’s affordable housing shortage is concentrated among people earning far less. For every 100 households earning 50% of the AMI and below, there are only 50 available and affordable homes, while for those earning 80% of AMI, there are 99 available and affordable homes for every 100 households. (Gap Report: National Low Income Housing Coalition.) The MFTE program offers a significant tax break, and the state doesn’t require it to provide enough public benefit. In many neighborhoods, housing that is affordable to people earning 80% of median income is what is already available without a tax subsidy. (It’s behind a paywall, but the Tacoma News Tribune has a good article about this) Worse, rents at that price are frequently way out of reach for people currently living in the neighborhood. That means that without changes to the tax break, the MFTE program subsidizes gentrification and displacement. This is a big focus in the Legislature right now, with a lot of stakeholders including big for-profit developers who want more tax breaks. We’re holding the line and leading efforts to improve this program by requiring more affordability, better protections for tenants in housing created using this tax break, anti-gentrification protections, and more transparency and analysis of the real public benefit. More opportunities to advocate and stay informed! We’re working with the housing consortia in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, and Whatcom counties to encourage action supporting a set of priorities that encourage preservation and production of affordable homes. Visit Homes for Washington to join an organizational sign on letter or take action as an individual. Don’t forget about our biweekly member calls to get in-depth updates every other Friday, live from Olympia! Register here. There are just three left! The next call is Friday, February 14 (housing love!), then February 28, and finally on March 13 for an overview of the session which ends on March 12! As always, thanks for your advocacy! | 
