Washington’s Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness, approved in 2005, establishes a vision and action plan to move our state toward its goal of ending homelessness. The key elements to making this vision a reality are affordable housing, rental assistance and supportive services, state systems that no longer discharge people into homelessness, adequate health services for those who need them, and performance tracking to improve outcomes. Our joint State Legislative Agenda calls for a sustained, multi-year effort to end homelessness. Critical steps were achieved in the 2008 legislative session, with bills and funding that increased the Washington State Housing Trust Fund, additional dollars for the Washington Families Fund and THOR programs, as well as consensus condominium legislation and clarification of the .1% sales tax for mental health and chemical dependency allowing investments in housing. The 2008 session was a great effort, especially given the state’s financial strain. The 2009 session is the time to affirm our resolve to create a society that does not leave any of its members out on the street.

2009 JOINT STATE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA*

Creating Lasting Solutions. Together.

• Affordable Housing Production:
  Renew and increase the Housing Trust Fund
  Affordable housing is the essential, stable base from which families and individuals grow and thrive. Education, jobs, and health care depend on stable housing. Housing combined with supportive services builds a bridge out of homelessness, and prevents it for those at risk. Washington has a serious statewide affordable housing crisis. Due to rapidly increasing land prices, construction costs and population growth, at least 250,000 Washington households currently lack affordable housing. The Housing Trust Fund supports all types of affordable housing and leverages four times it’s funding from other public, private and philanthropic sources. Despite recent increases in funding, the Trust Fund still has a substantial backlog of projects sitting ready for development, and rising construction costs are placing increasing pressures on the fund. In 2008, with support from key leaders in the House and Senate and from the Governor, we funded $200 million for the Trust Fund. This money is making a real difference, but a critical need remains. Renew and increase the Housing Trust Fund in 2009. Learn more.



• Rental Assistance and Services for People who are Homeless or At Risk of Homelessness:
  Continue and expand non-capital funding of housing and support services to help families, single adults, couples and youth at risk of homelessness
  The state’s Transitional Housing, Operating and Rent (THOR) program and similar local programs demonstrate that short-term assistance in the form of rent vouchers and funding for support services can provide a quick exit from homelessness or prevent homelessness altogether. Allowing people to remain homeless carries much greater economic and human costs than investing in housing and services. Despite existing funding (and great progress), over 22,000 people are homeless on any given night in Washington State. We must keep intact our existing programs and continue to expand to meet the tremendous need. Learn more.



• Require State Institutions to Create Informed and Responsible Discharge Practices:
  Require corrections, state mental health institutions and the foster care system to identify persons being discharged into homelessness and require a plan for eliminating that practice
  A key element of both the Washington and King County ten-year plans is preventing people from being discharged from state care into homelessness. For persons discharged from our mental health institutions and inmates discharged from state correctional facilities, the lack of housing and support services is a recipe for recidivism. Stable housing with appropriate services stops that cycle. In the criminal justice area, the 2007 Legislature created two county pilot programs, but these pilots were funded at only half of the levels that had previously been available for short-term rental assistance. These programs must be brought to scale. The state Mental Health Division has prepared a blueprint for Mental Health Housing; that plan must be funded. We must also continue to help young people who “age out” of the foster care system to establish themselves as productive adults through housing, treatment, education, and employment services; pilot programs must be brought to scale now. State agencies should be held accountable for tracking housing outcomes of people discharged from state services. As part of that effort, the Department of Corrections, mental health institutions and the foster care system should be required to track the housing outcomes of people they discharge, and create and report to the Legislature on the plans they have in place or the resources needed to eliminate discharge into homelessness by 2011. Learn more.



• Facilitate Development of Low-Income Housing:
  Provide incentives for creation of housing for low-wage working families
  There is an undeniable crisis in the lack of low-income housing. The Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, the Housing Development Consortium, the Committee to End Homelessness in King County, the Puget Sound Regional Council and others are working on strategies to create incentives for the creation of such housing. Recommendations include a sales tax waiver on the costs of low-income housing construction and a prioritization of state infrastructure funds to support projects that are committed to affordable housing. We need the state to provide tax incentives and targeted investments to spur the creation of housing that is affordable to low-wage workers and their families. Learn more.



• Use Existing Funds More Efficiently:
  Restructure and coordinate existing programs and fund sources
  At both the state and local levels, we have fragmented funding and delivery systems. In 2007, the Governing Board of the Committee to End Homelessness in King County adopted two resolutions addressing this situation. The first called for coordination of funding awards, with service and housing funding combined in a single application process. The second called for “full program funding,” recognizing that services require housing and vice versa, and calling on funders not to fund one side of the equation without funding the other. The Legislature should similarly require agencies to prepare a plan for coordinated funding, combining housing and services funding to achieve a more efficient system. Learn more.



• Give Local Governments the Revenue Tools They Need:
  Address the structural failure of local and county funding systems
  Under ten-year plans throughout the state, local governments are being required to undertake significant housing and human services obligations. At the same time, limits on revenue sources, lack of flexibility and budget caps are leading to debilitating cuts to human services needed most. The Legislative must address the structural problems for local and county governments to ensure adequate flexibility and resources. Learn more.

*The 2009 Joint State Legislative Agenda for the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness in King County was developed by the Committee to End Homelessness in King County, United Way of King County, the Church Council of Greater Seattle, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, and the Housing Development Consortium.