Week 8 Legislative Update!

Dear friend,

We have just a week and a half left in the 2022 legislative session! We passed the opposite chamber policy cutoff last Thursday, and today marks the fiscal committee cutoff for any bills still moving along in the process. Thank you so much to everyone who took action over the weekend before a critical Ways & Means hearing with five of our priority or support agenda bills being heard. Just between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, you helped generate HUNDREDS of additional supportive sign-ins for these bills advancing housing justice and solutions to homelessness.

House Bills 1643, 1905, 1866, 2097, 1620 were all scheduled for executive session in the Senate Ways & Means Committee this morning. At the time of writing, HB 1866 had already been passed out to the Rules Committee, with more votes scheduled on these other bills today.

Last week we were working hard to read and weigh in on the three budgets all released on Monday (the House released both their Capital and Operating Budgets and the Senate released their Operating Budget, having released their Capital Budget the prior week). There is a lot of good news to share about the budgets, but there are some key differences to take action on! But overall, the budgets prove what powerful, statewide advocacy can do. They also point to the difference it makes when we elect housing champions to state office.

Both the Senate and House fully funded an increase to the Aged, Blind and Disabled cash grant from $197 per month to $417 per month! This is huge for so many Washingtonians, and we are very hopeful that this funding will be in the final budget;
Both Operating Budgets also include $4.5 million for foreclosure prevention;
The Senate fully funded our request for $2 million for pre-eviction legal civil aid, while the House funded it at $1.6 million;
The House Capital budget bill includes a record setting $521 million for affordable homes, including the Housing Trust Fund, rapid acquisition program and a new Health and Homes account for Permanent Supportive Housing! We have never seen funding like this before for affordable housing and solutions to homelessness;
The House fully funded our request for $78 million for homelessness workforce retention, as well as $55 million for rental assistance! The Senate budget does not include funding for either of these.

Here’s where we need your help-- the House goes further than the Senate when it comes to investments for affordable housing and solutions to homelessness. The Senate needs to hear from as many housing justice advocates as possible, we are SO close to making historic investments in affordable housing and solutions to homelessness! Will you make a quick call to the Legislative Hotline?

Call and leave a message for your Senator: 1-800-562-6000

Sample script:

I am glad to see that the budget includes funding to address the affordable housing and homelessness crisis. Please make sure that the final Capital budget includes $521 million for affordable homes, including $100 million for the Housing Trust Fund. And that the Operating budget includes $78 million to support the frontline workers helping to end homelessness and $55 million for rent assistance. Everyone needs a safe, affordable place to call home and these investments will help make that possible.

At Friday’s advocates briefing, we heard updates from Andy Nicholas with the Washington State Budget and Policy Center, Jeff DeLuca with the Washington State Community Action Partnership (WSCAP), and Alison Eisinger with the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH).

We were grateful to hear Andy’s thoughts on the budget from a bird’s-eye-view. As a reminder for all of our advocates, this is a supplemental session which means that any adjustments to the budget are adjustments or additions to the existing two-year budgets passed in 2021. Since the budget was enacted last April, the state has more revenue than expected so there is a lot of opportunity for more investments in our communities. Generally speaking, the 2022 budget proposed by the Senate is putting more in reserves whereas the House is choosing to fund programs and services more significantly. Sadly, we were told that this year is no different than previous years in that the funding for the Department of Corrections and policing (including state patrol) is still much higher than the funding for programs that support low- and middle- income Washingtonians and making sure people are adequately housed and fed. Andy also updated us on a major victory for tax fairness last year- the capital gains tax. The tax has been challenged in court and we are still waiting for a verdict from the Douglas County Trial Court.

Jeff from WSCAP gave us an update on weatherization, which is a federal assistance program created in the 1970’s to mitigate the energy crisis that caused utility bills to spike. In addition to energy efficiency measures, Washington offers a Weatherization Plus Health program that is in serious need of further funding from the state. The Weatherization Plus Health program is a creative approach that really addresses housing security, the climate crisis via residential solutions, and improving health outcomes. They can currently only get to 2-3,000 homes per year even though at least 50,000 households are eligible. If the state funded this program fully, it could have a huge impact for everyone, especially low income residents. Take action here!

Alison from SKCCH shared good news! Community based offices of the Department of Social and Health Services had been closed since March 2020, making it nearly impossible for many people to access benefits and services. SKCCH has been working hard to pass legislation to make sure that this never happens again and to create new guidelines for DSHS offices regarding open hours and phone line availability. Alison was very pleased to share that DSHS issued a new letter to stakeholders announcing that they would reopen for services this week. However, that doesn't mean that we don’t need to pass HB 2075 because it’s still necessary to ensure access to DSHS community services. Please urge your Senators to stay the course!

Want to get updates like this live? We have one last weekly advocate briefing this Friday from 1:30 to 2:30. Register here. We’ll also hold a special session wrap-up call on Friday March 11 at 10am. Mark your calendar now!