TAKE ACTION - Keep critical housing and homelessness bills moving forward!

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Contact your lawmakers today on key housing and homelessness bills!

Week 10 is chock full of committee action! Contact your lawmakers about the eviction moratorium off-ramp and HB 1220!

As you know, hundreds of thousands of people are behind on rent in Washington, fearful of what will happen when the eviction moratorium is lifted. We must create an ongoing statewide source of rental assistance (HB 1277), enact just cause protections (HB 1236) and improve the eviction process (SB 5160) in order to prevent a massive increase in homelessness. In addition, we must make equitable improvements to our Growth Management Act and ensure that people experiencing homelessness cannot be pushed further to the margins (HB 1220).

Every one of these bills has a hearing or big vote this week, and lawmakers need to hear from you! Please use the form to the right to take action!

HB 1236 requires landlords to have a legitimate business reason to evict. This bill helps us achieve our goal of improving housing stability by closing loopholes that currently allow landlords to get around all tenant protections. Further, HB 1236 is critical in order for rental assistance to work – without it, landlords can cash a rental assistance check one day, then evict a tenant the next.
SB 5160 is critical for tenants facing eviction for nonpayment of rent. It provides low-income tenants access to counsel, ensuring that tenants most at risk of homelessness have support to assert their rights and save their homes. In other parts of the country where the right to counsel exists, 84% of represented households were able to stay housed. SB 5160 also provides other critical protections including realistic payment plans, access to mediation, and protections against future housing denials for tenants unable to pay during the pandemic.

HB 1277 creates a new statewide rental assistance program, funded through a $100 increase on the document recording fee. This program will ensure that tenants who still face volatile earnings or unstable employment throughout the slow economic recovery will not be left high and dry when federal rental assistance dries up. Portions of the funding can also be used for other eviction prevention programs and for operations & maintenance of Permanent Supportive Housing.
HB 1220 makes several important updates to the Housing Element of the Growth Management Act, requiring jurisdictions to address moderate, low, very low, and extremely low-income housing, and requires jurisdictions to address racially disparate impacts and displacement. The bill also prohibits cities from banning emergency shelter and permanent supportive housing in certain areas.

Thank you for using your voice to ensure that we prevent evictions and homelessness, and that we do not further marginalize those experiencing homelessness in our communities!

Please contact your lawmaker by sending an email using the form below.

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Contact your lawmakers today on key housing and homelessness bills!

House Appropriations Committee

Subject: WA residents need an ongoing rental safety net! Pass HB 1277

Message:

I am asking you to vote yes to move HB 1277 out of Appropriations as a key part of the off-ramp from the eviction moratorium. The most recent Census Bureau data shows that more than 136,000 renters are behind on rent, and at least 364,459 of people who are caught up on rent are using credit cards, savings, selling assets, or borrowing from friends or family to meet spending needs. Having depleted their assets, these people are at high risk of falling behind on rent. This data foretells a massive and ongoing need to fund rental assistance in our state, not just to meet the needs of those who have already fallen behind, but to ensure that many more do not risk eviction once federal assistance dries up. HB 1277 establishes an ongoing statewide rental assistance program aimed at preventing evictions now and throughout the duration of the economic recovery, which is predicted to happen the slowest for our low income residents. Many gig workers, restaurant workers, and other low-wage workers will continue to have volatile hours and earnings for some time, and we must ensure they have a safety net. This program would be funded through a $100 document recording fee increase, and realtors have shown support for this bill. Without it, Washington will see a spike in homelessness, which our emergency services systems are not equipped to handle. Thank you for recognizing the dire need for rental assistance in our state. Please pass HB 1277 swiftly.

Remaining:

Housing Human Services & Veterans Committee

Subject: Fund eviction prevention programs & keep our communities strong! Pass SB 5160

Message:

I am a constituent in your district, and I am asking you to please pass SB 5160 out of the Housing, Human Services & Veterans Committee! This key part of the eviction moratorium off-ramp will prevent a wave of homelessness in our communities. Currently, evictions happen swiftly and most tenants do not have support during the process. Roughly 90% of landlords have legal representation during the eviction process, compared to just 10% of tenants. Imagine being threatened with homelessness, showing up along to eviction court hoping for a way to preserve your housing, but having no idea how to navigate the process, while the opposition has hired a lawyer whose sole job is to ensure you are evicted. SB 5160 creates the right to counsel for tenants, establishes a statewide eviction mediation program, and provides other protections for tenants. Right to counsel programs in other jurisdictions have been shown to reduce evictions by up to 84%. The mediation program is meant to divert landlords and tenants from the eviction process, and creates a direct pathway through which landlords can access rental assistance funds. This bill is part of an important suite of legislation (SB 5160, HB 1277, and HB 1236) that will prevent mass evictions upon the lifting of the eviction moratorium, and I am strongly urging you to vote yes to keep our communities strong and resilient. We can get through this pandemic without a spike in homelessness if we enact reasonable protections. Pass SB 5160.

Remaining:

Housing and Local Government Committee

Subject: Strengthen our communities and prevent homelessness – Yes on HB 1236 and HB 1220!

Message:

Thank you for ensuring that HB 1236 made it out of committee! I am also asking for your support on HB 1220, and to be a strong yes vote on the floor for HB 1236. With nearly 23,000 people experiencing homelessness in Washington, and more than a hundred thousand renters at risk of eviction when the moratorium is lifted, the stakes couldn’t be higher. A critical part of the eviction moratorium off-ramp, HB 1236 is scheduled for a vote this Thursday, and your vote will help ensure that renters across Washington, and in my own community, cannot be kicked out of their homes for discriminatory reasons or in retaliation to tenant requests that the landlord follow their legal responsibilities. Currently: - Landlords can kick a tenant out with a 20-day notice without having to provide transparency to the tenant as to why they are being evicted. - This essentially allows for unchecked discrimination and is a massive loophole in our Fair Housing laws. - Landlords also frequently give 20-day notices if tenants assert their rights, including requesting repairs or requesting the landlord giving proper notice before entering. - After receiving a 20-day notice, the tenant cannot dispute the eviction because no reason is given to dispute, and so there is no due process for the tenant to fight unjust evictions. HB 1236 fixes this by requiring that landlords have a legitimate business reason to kick a tenant out of their home. The bill provides 17 “causes” for eviction, including dangerous tenant behavior, violations of the lease, nonpayment of rent, if the landlord wants to move into the unit, and many more! I am also asking you to vote yes on HB 1220. This bill will make much-needed improvements to our Growth Management Act by requiring cities to plan for and accommodate affordable housing, particularly for low, very low, and extremely low-income households, and address racial disparate impacts and displacement. It also ensures that local jurisdictions cannot exclude people experiencing homelessness from significant swathes of cities and further push them to the margins. This bill recognizes that practices that prohibit shelters and permanent supportive housing are discriminatory to their core, and they have no place in our state. Please vote yes on HB 1236 and HB 1220 to strengthen, rather than tear apart, our communities!

Remaining:

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Contact your lawmakers today on key housing and homelessness bills!

Week 10 is chock full of committee action! Contact your lawmakers about the eviction moratorium off-ramp and HB 1220!

Contact your lawmakers today on key housing and homelessness bills!

Contact your lawmakers today on key housing and homelessness bills!

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