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WSCH 2011 Legislative Agenda

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The Washington State Coalition for the Homeless (WSCH) has adopted the following legislative agenda for the 2011 legislative session to ensure that basic housing and survival needs are met to the greatest extent possible.

Lead Items

Protect State Homeless Funding and Ten Year Plan Implementation
Due to the current economic recession and decline of real estate activity, the various document recording fees will not generate sufficient revenue in the 2011-2013 biennium or beyond to adequately fund critical state homeless programs such as the Emergency Shelter and Homeless Prevention (ESHP) and Transitional Housing Operating and Rent Program (THOR). The Legislature must identify additional funding mechanisms to forestall a $10.6 million shortfall in the upcoming biennium. To avoid a tripling of this shortfall, the Legislature will have to extend or permanently reauthorize the $20 additional recording fee it enacted in 2009 or resume funding state homeless programs and other critical services through the general fund. More…

Increase the supply of affordable housing by maintaining the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) at $200 million, and ensure the HTF continues to serve those most in need by providing an additional funding mechanism for the Operations and Maintenance Fund. Advocacy Partner: Washington Low Income Housing Alliance. The HTF serves very low- and low- income families and individuals, including those who are homeless or most at risk of becoming homeless. More than 70% of HTF units are occupied by extremely low-income people, making it a vital resource in the fight to end homelessness. Additional operating and maintenance funds are needed if HTF units are to continue to serve those most in need. More…

End homelessness for homeless families with children by authorizing an allocation of $6 million for the Washington Families Fund (WFF).
In 2004, the Washington State Legislature created the WFF, an innovative public-private partnership dedicated to funding services to help homeless families. The WFF supports affordable housing paired with supportive services including job training, parenting classes, and financial planning that help connect families to the opportunities they need to stabilize their lives and become self sufficient. To date Washington Families Fund programs have served 626 families, composed of 736 adults and 1,210 children. More…

Improve care for vulnerable homeless people while reducing state expenditures. An annual investment of $1 million will allow for the creation and ongoing operation of two new targeted supportive housing projects for the highest utilizers of public crisis services. The projects will be geographically dispersed and will have 50 units each. The state investment will be used to cover on-site services costs in the projects. Providing this supportive housing for this population will result in one-year cost offsets of approximately $42,000 per person served, for a total savings of more then $4 million. $2.4 million of this would be in lower Medicaid payments to health care providers. More…

Improve access to housing by making informed consent requirements within HMIS more flexible. The informed consent requirements currently required by Washington State have unintentionally created barriers to quickly placing clients into appropriate housing. We are looking to remove those barriers while maintaining the safety and privacy of clients entered into HMIS. This legislation will continue to heed all federal laws regarding exemptions in HMIS particularly survivors of domestic violence, and people living with HIV/AIDS. More…

Support Items

Provide housing to foster children through age 21.
Current Washington law authorizes the state to provide safe housing for youth exiting foster care. Recent federal legislation provides a 50% match to states that “opt in” to the federal Fostering Connections Act. This legislation in 2011 will align the state policy with the federal requirements allowing Washington to secure the 50% match allowing us to serve more youth.

Preserve the Disability Lifeline program.
All of us hope that if we become disabled or struggle with a mental illness that we will have the economic security and support we need to recover, get back to work, and maintain a modest quality of life. By providing small monthly cash grants and medical coverage for disabled adults who are unable to work, Disability Lifeline is often the difference between housing and homelessness, between a meal and going hungry. 50,000 people per year rely on Disability Lifeline to pay rent, cover critical medications, and pay for basic needs. Cutting this program would increase homelessness, hunger and usage of hospital emergency services. This will ultimately cost the state more and could cost people’s lives.

Pass the Fair Tenant Screening Act.
Due to a gap in regulation homeless and low-income renters routinely pay for multiple tenant screening reports that they seldom get to see. The law does not require that reports be routinely disclosed to potential tenants, who are often denied housing because of public records that contain incomplete, inaccurate or misleading information. The Fair Tenant Screening Act would allow tenants to pay once for a screening report and be able to use it again within a 60 day period, remove misleading information from their records, and prohibit tenant screening companies from including inaccurate information in the screening report.

Improve Access to and Quality of Mainstream Services
We must maintain or increase the funding for the following programs if we are to eliminate homelessness in Washington State: