POLICY PRIORITY

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Prevent cuts to homelessness services and invest in the frontline workers and nonprofits helping
people experiencing homelessness every day.

Our state has a dedicated fund source for homelessness prevention from “document recording fees,” paid to register real estate transactions. All revenue ebbs and flows, and because of reduced home sales, there is a shortfall in collections from these fees. State lawmakers took action in 2023 to address the shortfall, but the document recording fees are still falling behind projections and another backfill of $70 million is needed to prevent cuts to homelessness services later this year.

These fees fund shelter, housing, street outreach, and other efforts to prevent people from becoming homeless and assist people experiencing homelessness in every county in Washington. When Washington is already unable to meet the needs of people facing homelessness, the last thing we can afford is to lose more ground.

In addition to filling the document recording fee gap, the state should also increase administrative funding for homelessness services contracts to help organizations increase their workers wages and address critical worker shortages.

More details:

• This is a budget ask, there is not a bill other than the state’s supplemental Operating Budget bill.
• Lawmaker champions leading the legislative effort include: Representatives Macri, Cortes, Leavitt, and Alvarado.
• The Governor’s proposed Supplemental Operating Budget bill created a placeholder to address the document recording fee shortfall. That budget earmarked only $10 million as a placeholder, These fees fund shelter, housing, street outreach and other efforts to prevent people from becoming homeless and assist people experiencing homelessness in every county in Washington.
• The Housing Alliance’s ask is to fill the gap for state and local shortfalls and to increase administrative funding to help front-line nonprofits increase their worker’s wages and address critical worker shortages.

Protecting people experiencing homelessness and ensuring that everyone has a home are fundamental values of the Housing Alliance and are key elements to our “Roadmap to Housing Justice”. Learn more at wliha.org/roadmap