2008 state legislative priorities

1. Affordable housing production:
   Increase the size of the Housing Trust Fund to $230 million

   Affordable housing is the essential, stable base from which families and individuals grow and thrive. Education, jobs, and health care all depend on stable housing. For many, housing combined with supportive services builds a bridge out of homelessness, or 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 its 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 2007, the Governor proposed $140 million for the Trust Fund; the Legislature adopted funding at $130 million. This new funding is very welcome, but barely keeps up with the increased costs of land acquisition and construction. To truly make progress, we must increase the “real dollars” in the Housing Trust Fund.

   The Housing Trust Fund should be increased to $230 million per biennium.

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2. Rental assistance and services for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness:
   Expand the proven Transitional Housing, Operating and Rent (THOR) program to help single adults, youth, and people at risk of homelessness in addition to families, and provide an increase in total funding

   The state’s Transitional Housing, Operating and Rent (THOR) program and similar local programs demonstrate that short-term rental assistance in the form of vouchers and support services can, for many, provide a quick exit from homelessness or prevent homelessness altogether. An expansion of this proven, successful state program by increasing the number of families served; making it accessible to single adults, couples without children, and youth; and allowing it to be used for people on the verge of homelessness would go far toward helping to end homelessness in Washington.

   THOR program funding should be increased by $10 million per biennium and the eligibility expanded.

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3. Washington Families Fund:
   Expand and continue the proven success of service-enriched housing to support families moving from homelessness

   The Washington Families Fund (WFF) is a key resource for ending homelessness in Washington. WFF combines state and private contributions to provide multi-year funding for service-enriched housing for homeless families. Since its creation in 2004, WFF has made ten-year service funding awards to support 174 units of homeless family housing statewide. King County has received $717,500 in WFF services funding, awarded to programs with 27 units of family housing that are expected to serve 120 families over ten years. By investing in the WFF, the state and private funders are promoting a proven strategy for assisting homeless families. To date, the state has invested $6 million in WFF, which has been matched by private contributions. These funds will be fully committed by spring 2008. Additional state funding in 2008 is essential to sustain WFF’s successful private fundraising and allow providers across the state to gather the multiple resources needed to create new service-enriched housing for homeless families.

   WFF funding should be renewed and increased to $8 million per biennium.

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4. Discharge from state systems into stable housing:
   Fund housing and supportive services for individuals leaving correctional facilities and for youth aging out of foster care

   A key element of both the Washington and King County ten-year plans is preventing people from being discharged from state care into homelessness. Stable housing with appropriate services stops that cycle. For inmates discharged from state correctional facilities, the lack of housing and support services is a recipe for recidivism. The Legislature created two county pilot programs in the 2007 session, but these pilots were funded at only half of the levels that had previously been available for short-term rental assistance. Evidence-based studies clearly show that stable housing is essential to successful prisoner re-entry to their community. 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.

   We must bring these proven programs to scale now and hold state agencies accountable for tracking housing outcomes of people discharged from state services.

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5. Support low-income and workforce housing development:
   Provide incentives for creation of housing for low and moderate-wage working families

   We are experiencing a housing crisis in the lack of low-income and workforce housing. A number of groups, including the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, the Housing Development Consortium, the Committee to End Homelessness in King County, and the Prosperity Partnership of the Puget Sound Regional Council, are working on strategies to create incentives for creation of more such housing. Key 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 and moderate-wage workers and their families.

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6. 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 Committee to End Homelessness in King County’s Governing Board adopted two resolutions addressing this situation. The first called for coordination of funding awards, so that service and housing funding can be combined in a single application process, allowing greater effectiveness for both funders and providers. 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.

   CEH will work with legislators and state agencies to help implement these innovations on the state level, including specific legislative authorization, as necessary.

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7. Prioritize work on HB 2014 and low-income tenants facing displacement due to condo conversions

   The loss of affordable rental housing due to the conversion of apartments to condominiums, or condo conversion, is contributing to a growing housing crisis in our region. Over 5,500 households have faced displacement due to condo conversion in the last three years in the City of Seattle alone. House Bill 2014 addresses potential modifications to existing law governing the property owner's and the tenant's rights and responsibilities when an apartment is to be converted. The Committee to End Homelessness encourages the Washington State Legislature, working with all interested parties, to prioritize work on House Bill 2014 in the 2008 legislative session.

   Prioritize work on House Bill 2014.

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Home is the Heart of It All:
Providing affordable housing and ending homelessness in Washington

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 tracking performance to improve outcomes.

Home is the Heart of It All calls for a sustained, multi-year effort to end homelessness. Important first steps were achieved in the 2007 legislative session, with bills and funding increasing the Washington State Housing Trust Fund, additional funding for local Ten-Year Plans, housing and services for youth aging out of foster care and inmates leaving the correctional system, and mental health funding for persons on GAU.

Find out more:

See: 2008 state outcomes (DOC)
See: Federal priorities