Tenants rights

Michele Thomas, Director of Policy and Advocacy

If the Senate budget passes, state homelessness programs will be cut by 50%.

The legislature ended the regular session on Sunday, April 28, without a resolution on the budget. Governor Jay Inslee has announced that he’ll call them back into special session on Monday, May 13 to finish budget negotiations. There are significant differences between competing budget proposals and much at stake for people struggling with homelessness or housing insecurity. 

The Senate’s Operating Budget proposal, which passed out of their chamber with bipartisan votes, makes deep cuts to virtually every state homeless program:  

• The Consolidated Homeless Grant (CHG), which funds emergency shelter, domestic violence shelters, provides rent assistance and more is cut by 50%.
• The Aged, Blind, and Disabled (ABD) program, which provides modest cash assistance to people who are permanently disabled and unable to work is eliminated.
• The Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) program, which provides rent and utility assistance to temporarily disabled people is cut by 57%.
• Operations and Maintenance (O&M) support for affordable housing programs that serve extremely low income households exiting homelessness is eliminated. This is funding that helps pay for basic operations since the deeply affordable rent levels can’t provide enough to support day to day functions.
• Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), which provides cash assistance and access to other childcare and vocational programs for very low income parents with dependent children is cut deeply cut.

At a time when we need to do more to prevent and end homelessness, the Senate proposes to set us back even further. Enacting their budget would cause at least 20,500 more people to experience homelessness over the next two years.

Protecting services that prevent and end homelessness is impossible without enacting new revenue. Please tell your lawmakers that protecting the most vulnerable is more important than tax beaks for special interests.

Michele Thomas, Director of Policy and Advocacy

Session Ends

The session officially ended on the evening of Sunday, April 28, after 105 long days. But, since budgets are still not done, we'll need a special session for our elected officials to finish their business. Although many are decrying this special session as another example of “political gridlock,” the alternative would be reprehensible. With the Senate refusing to compromise on their budget proposal that slashes programs for affordable housing and homelessness, it is very good news that the House and the Governor are standing firm. And although the Senate’s “Majority Coalition Caucus” keeps saying that they were ready to go home long before Sunday, they seem to fail to recognize that stamping their feet and demanding that their cuts be enacted isn’t a very productive way reach a compromise. All last week, I heard a lot of political accusations of who is at fault for the lack of agreement. But regardless of who holds more or less fault, the special session presents an opportunity for extended advocacy. And that is a good thing.

More Time to Push our Lawmakers to Do the Right Thing

The Governor announced Sunday evening that he'll give the legislature a two-week break and then call them back on Monday, May 13. This presents an excellent opportunity for you to schedule an in-person meeting with your lawmakers while they are home. We urge you to consider calling your lawmaker to request a meeting while they are home. Start with their Olympia office and if they haven’t left instructions on the voicemail to call their home office, leave a message there. If your lawmaker is taking meetings during these two weeks, offer to host it at a building funded by the Housing Trust Fund or at an office where you administer Housing and Essential Needs services or at a shelter supported by Consolidated Homeless Grant dollars. This can help show your lawmakers the value of these programs. Additionally, consider writing a letter to the editor. A short message in your local paper urging lawmakers to enact revenue and to protect the safety net can go a long way. The Housing Alliance will soon be posting some helpful tips on our webpage. So, keep an eye out.

The Revenue Proposals in Play

Revenue is the key to a budget that both funds education and maintains the safety net. The Senate’s budget contained no new revenue, while both the House and the Governor are pushing a combination of revenue options including the closing of tax loopholes and making some temporary taxes permanent. It is critical that advocates for affordable housing and homelessness remain vocal on the need for revenue. To learn more about the proposals in play, please join us for a special member call on Thursday, May 2 at noon. During the this call, Housing Alliance lobbyist and lead coordinator of the Revenue Coalition Nick Federici will explain the revenue proposals, clarify how much they could bring in and how advocates can help make sure that they pass. Please RSVP by emailing me at michele@wliha.org and put “RSVP for May 2nd Revenue Call” in the subject line. We'll send you the phone number once you’ve RSVP'd.

Nick Federici

A Special Thank You

This has been a long, hard session. And we’ve got more work to do! But it's important to recognize the accomplishments that your advocacy won this session. The passage of the Fair Tenant Screening Act (SSB 5568), of Foster Care to 21 (E2SSB 5405), and of the 72-hour youth shelter notification rule (SB 5147) are significant accomplishments that everyone should be proud of. Additionally, many bills that would have been extremely bad for Washington’s tenants were stopped. Advocacy isn’t always fun, but it's always necessary. Thank you for standing up repeatedly and please stick with us over this two-week break and then into the special session. We can’t let the Senate’s proposed cuts to affordable housing and homelessness programs get enacted. And only advocacy is going to prevent it.

We won’t be sending out weekly summaries during the special session, but we'll be alerting you to significant developments via our blog, Facebook, and Twitter. And of course we'll continue to share strategic opportunities to take action.

Thank you for advocating with us!

Governor Jay Inslee signing Part 2 of the Fair Tenant Screening Act into law.

Ben Miksch, State and Federal Policy Associate

A totally neat thing happened to Rachael Myers and me at the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago, but we've been so wrapped up analyzing and advocating around the House and Senate budget releases that we haven't had a chance to share it with you.

So let me take a minute to fix that!

This was on the second day of the conference. Rachael and I were attending a lunch plenary in a ballroom filled with many people who work at organizations similar to the Housing Alliance in other states across the country. Right as we sat down, two advocates from New Jersey looked at Rachael's nametag and then gasped. One of the women looked at Rachael and said, "You're the group from Washington right? You're the group that does the Board Advocacy Project?"

I won't lie, my jaw dropped. And Rachael was pretty amazed as well. It turned out these two women had realized the power of board advocacy all the way on the other side of the country. They had been looking for resources for how to get their own board engaged and had stumbled upon our Board Advocacy Project video. They'd been inspired and had taken the video back to their board. And now we've got one more nonprofit board getting involved in advocacy.

The project is spreading throughout Washington as well. It often starts with just one board member taking action on email alerts. Then they start forwarding those email alerts to other board members, who start taking action as well. Before you know, it the board has formed an advocacy committee and has included advocacy requirements in the board member job description. Soon they are setting aside time during board meetings to strategize and plan for their upcoming advocacy efforts. Meanwhile, one of those board members joins a second board and brings that advocacy fire with them. And the whole process starts again.

I talked to a woman recently who was very interested in getting her board involved in advocacy. She had a friend who was in the same position. They told me about an ingenious plan they'd devised where each would join the other's board. That way they'd both each have an advocacy partner on the two boards. This is all it takes to kindle the advocacy fire for the whole board. I think it's brilliant.

As part of this effort, the Housing Alliance is working on a two-pronged approach. For boards or board members that are just getting started on this process, we have been offering tailored trainings about what advocacy is, why you should be doing it, and how to start advocating today.

For boards and organizations that are already involved in advocacy, we've been providing legislative updates to tie folks back into opportunities to take action.

If you're interested in either, feel free to reach out to me at benm@wliha.org or really anyone else here at the Housing Alliance and we'll get you set up with what you need.

Ensuring that everyone in Washington has the opportunity to live in a safe, healthy, affordable home is going to take all of us working together. That means board members, but it also means nonprofit staff, community members, volunteers, people who have or are currently experiencing homelessness, and legislators too.

Let's build the movement!

Guest Blogger: Doug McKeehen, Program Manager at Michael’s Place

As a social service provider who used to be homeless myself, I’m really worried about what the state budget for this biennium could look like. I can’t believe that if the Senate gets its way, homelessness programs will be hobbled by losing more than half their current funding. Several years ago, the very programs that are at risk of being drastically cut or eliminated this year saved my own life. After years of employment in the construction field, I became unable to work due to increasing health issues and pain. I fell into a deep depression, and my attempts to self-medicate led me into severe drug and alcohol addiction. I ended up homeless and spent several months living on the streets or in the shelters.

Back then, as now, there was a social safety net in place. The safety net programs were absolutely essential to my ability to turn my life around. That assistance allowed me to get help for my physical disabilities and get medication and treatment for my depression. I was able to get counseling for my addiction issues. I eventually got accepted into a transitional housing facility where I could continue to work on my sobriety and become more stable. Eventually, I moved into subsidized permanent housing, where I became stable enough to once again become fully employed. Until I became employed, there was a small money grant that allowed me to take care of my most basic needs.

The cuts that have been proposed by the Senate this year will completely eliminate or drastically cut every single program that saved my life at every single step of my journey back to independence and health. Had these cuts happened ten years ago, I would probably not be alive today.

I’m profoundly grateful that these programs funded by the State of Washington were there to help me. That’s why I’ve told my legislators (and I’m going to tell them again) that I’m counting on them to make sure that the final budget adequately funds the Housing Trust Fund, Housing and Essential Needs program, Aged Blind and Disabled program, and other programs that meet people’s most basic needs. I let them know that these programs have saved lives, including mine, and that it is important to me that they continue to do so.

I hope you’ll join me in working to keep these priorities front and center in the state budget negotiations.

----
Editor's Note:
You can join Doug in sending an essential message to your legislators before the clock runs out on this session. Click here to go to our TAKE ACTION page, and tell the legislature to invest in homes for low-income families and individuals and also to protect services that help people meet their most basic needs. Then send the link on to five of your friends, family, or co-workers. We must end this legislative session with an advocacy bang!

Michele Thomas, Director of Policy and Advocacy

Policy Bill Advocacy Winding Down

Last week brought the session’s final cutoff for policy bills. All policy bills that are not necessary to implement the budget are now either on their way to the Governor or dead until next year. Many bills that made the long journey of passing their own chamber got all the way to the floor of the other chamber, only to die on the last day. But they will be alive in 2014 to start the process over again. To see where all of our priorities and support items landed, check out our Bill Tracker.

With less than one week left of session (the last day is scheduled for Sunday, April 28), it's now all about the budget and revenue. To protect our priorities and to win investments in affordable housing and homelessness programs, everything hinges on how much revenue the House and the Governor’s office can get the Senate to agree to. Less revenue = more cuts. It really is that simple.

Take Action! This Last Week is Critical Advocates need to keep getting messages to lawmakers to tell them that the final budget must adequately fund the Housing Trust Fund (HTF); Housing & Essential Needs (HEN) program; and Aged, Blind, & Disabled (ABD) program and restore all the cuts within the Senate’s budget. Don’t forget, if the Senate has their way, our state will enact deep cuts to every affordable housing and homelessness program we have. The Consolidated Homeless Grants that fund emergency, youth, and domestic violence shelters; rent assistance; and more would be cut by 50%. HEN would be cut by 57% and ABD eliminated. The HTF received just $35 million, when the need is so much greater. So we must stay engaged and repeatedly urge our lawmakers to match the House Operating Budget and to match the Governor’s HTF allocation of $65 million. Please take action today and ask others to join you.

What’s Next?

Although technically possible, it's unlikely that our lawmakers will be able to reach agreement on the budget before session ends on the 28th. If they are not able, the Governor will likely call a special session. A 2/3 majority vote by both chambers of the legislature can also establish a special session, but tradition established over the last several years has the Governor taking the action. Special sessions can last thirty days at a time, and if the budget isn’t finished in that time, another one can be called. If we do run into a special session, it's rumored the Governor may give lawmakers a brief break before calling them back. If so, this break may present a great opportunity for advocacy when your lawmakers are back home. Stay tuned for more news on this.

Federal Advocacy Update

While the budget and revenue debates rage on in our state, they're also a central focus in D.C. That's why the federal budget also continues to be front and center for our advocacy efforts.

At the end of March, Congress passed a budget deal to take us through October. Advocates were able to secure some small increases for public housing and McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Grants. However, as for the rest of the budget, it was as if someone took the Fiscal Year 2012 budget, crossed out "2012" and wrote in "2013." On top of that, Congress also failed to end sequestration. This means that right now the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts are winding their way through the complicated federal budget pipeline and seeping into our communities. The national organization Coalition for Human Needs has been tracking the effects of sequestration. And all is not well.

Advocates are now turning their attention to the Fiscal Year 2014 budget, which gives us a chance to undo some of these cuts and increase funding for the programs we need to build affordable housing and end homelessness in our communities. President Obama just released his budget last week: an end to sequestration, big increases for homeless assistance, undoing cuts to Section 8 and public housing, continued support for the Veteran Administration's homeless programs, and $1 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund.

Despite the good news for affordable housing and homelessness programs in the President's budget, it's a long road from a proposal to actually passing a budget. Advocates will need to continue staying active and involved and fighting for the programs that serve the most vulnerable in our communities. We also need to be thinking creatively to find new sources of federal funding for affordable housing programs. For example, the National Low Income Housing Coalition's United For Homes campaign, would redesign the Mortgage Interest Deduction and fully fund the National Housing Trust Fund. It's a great example of new and creative thinking. We recommend you check it out.

Further Reading

For a more in-depth examination of the budget proposals, the National Alliance to End Homelessness and the National Low Income Housing Coalition are both great resources.

Michele Thomas, Director of Policy and Advocacy

The Battle of the Budgets

With just a couple of weeks of the regular session left, the budget battle has intensified. The House released both their Operating and Capital Budgets last week, and they couldn’t be further from the Senate. The House’s inclusion of revenue, primarily from the closing of costly corporate tax breaks, allowed them more room to make deep investments in K-12 education (as required by the State Supreme Court’s McCleary Decision), while still investing in the safety net. Contrast this to the senate’s budget that didn’t close one tax loophole and instead relied on deep cuts to affordable housing and homelessness programs to balance their budget. The senate’s budget would cause at least 20,000 more people to experience homelessness. While the House budget maintains current investment levels in the Housing and Essential Needs program; the Aged, Blind, & Disabled program; Consolidated Homeless Grants; and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).

You can read more about the Operating Budget and the differences between the House and Senate budgets here.

The Washington State Budget and Policy Center has this overview of the revenue that the House included in their budget.

Take Budget Action (Updated) Now that both chambers have released their budgets, and the Governor has released his budget priorities, negotiations will start in earnest. These negotiations will be led by budget writers and majority party leaders and will largely take place behind closed doors. But advocates like you have a powerful role. We have to push the House and the Senate to do the right thing and raise their Housing Trust Fund allocations to match the Governor's. It is important to take action again and again until the budget is signed. So please start your week off right by getting to a phone and clicking this link with our updated advocacy message to our legislators.

Housing Trust Fund Update

Over the past several weeks, hundreds of you have taken action to make sure the House continued to invest in the Housing Trust Fund. And although we were disappointed to see the House’s Capital Budget allocating just $51.5 million for the Housing Trust Fund, your advocacy made sure it wasn’t zero. And your advocacy can give us a chance of bringing up that allocation to match the Governor’s request of $65 million. Take action today, and keep standing by for more updates.

Here is how the House Capital budget breaks down for the Housing Trust Fund and affordable housing:

 • $51.5 million for the Housing Trust Fund. Allocations are limited to the projects named in this list, which allocates the following to these categories:
          ◦ $27.050 million for farmworker housing (11 projects named)
          ◦ $9.367 million for housing for homeless vets (6 projects named)
          ◦ $6.064 million for housing for people with chronic mental illness (3 projects named)
          ◦ $9.019 million for housing for people with developmental disabilities (10 projects named)

 • $4.5 million for public housing authorities to preserve 5 project-based buildings with expiring contracts. The appropriation is solely for the following projects:
          ◦ Charter House ($777,000)
          ◦ Emerson Manor ($829,000)
          ◦ Naches House ($1.065 million)
          ◦ Wenatchee House ($1.173 million)
          ◦ Harbor House ($656,000)

 • $14 million was allocated for one project (Building 9) in Seattle's Sand Point neighborhood. The funds will rehab an existing building and convert it to affordable housing.

 • $70 million in total was allocated for affordable housing. Note: earlier reports included an additional allocation for mental health beds that was put in Commerce's budget, but this has been clarified to not be for affordable housing, hence the adjusted number.

 • Additionally, $10 million was allocation for Energy Matchmakers. These funds are for weatherizing homes occupied by low-income households.

A Win for Tenants!

While the budget battle raged, the Fair Tenant Screening Act (SSB 5568) humbly continued its progress and won an astonishing unanimous vote on the House floor on Friday. Representative Steve O’Ban (R-28th) was joined by Representative Derek Stanford (D-1st), the prime sponsor of the House version (SHB 1529) in standing to urge their fellow elected officials to join them in voting yes. This bill has had a long journey and will soon be enacted into law when the Governor signs it. There are many thank yous to elected officials to go around. And since it passed both chambers unanimously, we all can simply thank our senator and representatives for voting yes on SSB 5568 and standing up to protect tenants. You can add this to your budget message when you call the hotline today: 1-800-562-6000.

Although we still have more progress to make in order to fully eliminate the barriers to housing that tenant screening reports create, take a moment to be proud. Because of your advocacy, more people will be able to find a safe, healthy, and affordable home due to closure of the discrimination loophole against survivors of domestic violence.

Time is Running Out...

Lastly, we hope you will be joining us at our 23rd Annual Conference on Ending Homelessness. The discounted registration rate ends today, Monday, April 15. So stop procrastinating. Sign up here before it is too late.

Time to speak out and take action on our state budget!

Michele Thomas, Director of Policy and Advocacy

First, Take Action

Call your Senators. Get your phone ready and then click here. You'll be directed to a page with a concise advocacy script for your Senator with the message that the Senate needs to match the House budget for funding affordable housing and homelessness programs.

House and Senate Budget Details

Special thanks to Statewide Poverty Action Network for their Senate budget analysis on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and Laurie Lippold with Partners for Our Children for her House budget analysis on TANF.

Consolidated Homeless Grants (CHG)

The CHG are the state's primary funding to the counties for various homeless housing services. Administered by the Department of Commerce, these fund such programs as domestic violence shelters, transitional housing for families, and short-term rent assistance.
Senate budget cuts Consolidated Homeless Grants by 50 percent, causing an additional 11,500 people to experience homelessness.
House budget preserves funding for CHG.

Housing and Essential Needs (HEN)

HEN provides emergency rent and utility assistance (paid directly to the landlord) and provides access to basic needs like hygiene products and bus tokens through an Essential Needs Bank.
Senate cuts HEN, yet its caseload (amount of people eligible) is expanded. But the budget only provides 43 percent of the funds needed to serve this vulnerable population. The caseload expansion includes 35 percent of the disabled individuals currently receiving cash through the Aged, Blind, and Disabled program (see below).
House preserves funding for HEN.

Aged, Blind, and Disabled (ABD)

Senate eliminates ABD, effective July 1, 2013. This means approximately 22,000 disabled people across the state receiving the $197 cash benefit will have this small, but critical benefit terminated. They will be eligible for Housing and Essential Needs if they are homeless or at great risk of homelessness (and the Senate assumes that 35% will be), but HEN is significantly reduced and will not even be able to continue serving the current eligible population.
House preserves funding for ABD.

SSI Facilitation and Incapacity Examinations

Senate cuts funding for incapacity evaluations and SSI facilitations. Beginning July 1, 2015, the state will stop providing facilitation services that move clients to Social Security Insurance (SSI) and will no longer conduct the incapacity examinations used to determine eligibility for SSI facilitation. It's believed that the intention is to provide facilitation services only for those already currently receiving them and to cap the program to prevent any additional clients.
House preserves funding for incapacity evaluations and SSI facilitations.

The Housing Trust Fund (HTF)

Senate allocates $35 million to the Housing Trust Fund. The Senate Budget redirects $2.5 million in Housing Trust Fund loan repayments to the General Fund. SSB 5895 eliminates deposits to the HTF from the Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) and redirects those deposits to the Education Legacy Trust Account for funding education. Currently the REET is one of a couple Housing Trust Account revenue sources. This bill would eliminate this one source and redirect it permanently. As of January 2013, REET was projected to be approximately $950,000 in 2013-15 Biennium.
House allocates $71 million to affordable housing including the $55.55 million to the Housing Trust Fund in the Capital Budget.

Operations and Maintenance Funds (O&M)

Operations and Maintenance (O&M) funds support projects serving very low-income populations (<30% area median income). Because such projects charge little or no rent, supplemental income is needed to ensure that they can operate. The state provides small, but critical, O&M contracts to a number of projects across the state. The contracts are funded via a portion of real estate document recording fee revenue. Currently O&M provides operating subsidies to 67 projects serving high-need populations across the state. Projects supported include emergency shelters, transitional housing, seasonal farmworker, group homes, and multi-family projects serving households with special needs and extremely low incomes.

Senate eliminates Operating and Maintenance Funds (O&M) and sweeps them to the General Fund. That change is likely to result in the closure of nonprofit homeless and domestic violence shelters and other community assets that support some of the most vulnerable people in our state. It also could also risk the viability of some projects currently applying for HTF dollars.
House preserves funding for O&M.

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)

TANF provides temporary cash and medical help for families in need. Some families participate in the WorkFirst Program, which helps participants find and keep employment. Another program to know is Working Connections Child Care (WCCC), which helps families with low incomes pay for child care while they work or meet WorkFirst participation requirements.

TANF Money Swept to General Fund

The $143,918,000 in TANF and Working Connection Childcare (WCCC) caseload underspend funds were transferred to the state general fund. It is important to understand that the origins of this underspend are due to the caseloads being artificially suppressed by budget cuts and policy changes that have been made over the past several years*. This has occurred while family and child poverty has increased and deepened during the Great Recession; these funds should instead be used to restore deep cuts that have made it difficult for TANF families to meet their basic survival needs.

*If you were following conversations about the Governor’s proposal for a new Rapid Re-Housing Program, you may note that the program depended on some of the TANF underspend for funding.
Senate budget does not include the Rapid Re-Housing Program.
House sweeps some of these funds to General Fund, 
but also re-invests some in projects such as the Rapid Re-Housing Program. 

Assistance Will Not Adjust with Family Size

Senate cuts $2,708,000 from TANF by creating a "family cap policy." This policy freezes a family's cash grant amount to their family size at entrance of the TANF program. This means that if they have additional children while on TANF, their cash grant is not increased. This will make it more difficult for parents to meet their children's basic needs and is an anti-child and anti-family policy.
House does not include a "family cap policy."

Services to TANF Families Reduced

Senate cuts $14,526,000 from TANF by reducing funding to WorkFirst partners by 10%. These WorkFirst partners provide much needed services to help stabilize families. These services include domestic violence support services to address family violence, barrier removal services (such as mental health treatment), education and job training, and job search support. Without access to these services, it is very difficult for TANF families to move out of poverty into employment.
House does not include this WorkFirst partners funding cut.

Working Connections Child Care Cut

Senate reduces the Working Connection Child Care cap from 33,000 slots to 29,000 slots. The WCCC is projected to reach the 33,000 cap by the end of biennium due to administrative improvements that have streamlined the application process and improved access. Low-income parents depend on subsidized childcare in order to be able to enter and succeed in the labor market. Without this support, many parents will be unable to afford to work due to the high cost of childcare.
We are still in the process of analyzing the House Budget’s TANF expenditures.

TANF Contingency Funds Cut

The budget cuts $33,817,000 in federal TANF contingency funds. Washington State received these funds because of our high poverty rate. TANF has been cut by $385,000,000 since 2009 and an additional $200,000,000 in funding has been swept to the general fund. We should restore deep cuts that have hurt families rather than transferring much needed resources out of TANF.
We are still in the process of analyzing the House Budget’s TANF expenditures.

TANF Redesign Cut

Senate budget cuts $4,073,000 in caseload savings from the TANF redesign process. The TANF redesign process, which was intended to improve services to TANF families in order to accelerate their pathway out of poverty, will only succeed if it is adequately funded. Reducing funding will limit essential services that help TANF families succeed.
House budget does not include a cut from a TANF redesign.

Washington Families Fund (WFF)

WFF is a private/public partnership that funds innovative programs around the state focused on transitioning homeless families into stable housing.
The Senate budget originally did not include funding for the WFF, but Senator Nelson introduced an amendment in Senate Ways and Means Committee on Thursday (the 4th) to add the program back into the budget. The amendment passed and would fund it at $5.3 million. However, the funds to pay for the program are redirected from other homeless programs. While we are grateful and encouraged that law makers see the importance of the WFF, this funding source is not ideal. We will continue to work with our partners and our legislative champions to advocate for new dollars for this important program.
House funds the WFF at $2 million from existing Commerce funds. Although we are happy they are looking to support such an important fund, we will continue to seek General Fund appropriations.

We will adjust and update this analysis as more information comes in, posting to Twitter and Facebook when we update our analysis.

Time to speak out and take action on the Senate's budget! Click here to send a message.

Michele Thomas, Director of Policy and Advocacy

The Senate's Budget

Last week was dominated by the release of the Senate’s budget, which cuts affordable housing and homelessness programs by 52%.

Last Tuesday, at around 9:30pm, the Senate suddenly announced they were going to release the budget the next afternoon and then hold a hearing on it right after. When the budget was finally released near 1:00pm on Wednesday, it left only a little over two-and-a-half hours to read it before the 3:30pm hearing. Despite the outrageously short notice, six Housing Alliance members were able to rush down and testify on the deep cuts to the Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) program and on the elimination of the Aged, Blind, and Disabled (ABD) program:

Thanks to our testifiers: Greg Winter from the Whatcom Homeless Service Center in Bellingham; Jennifer Milton and Kate Stragis from Community Action of Skagit County; Alison Eisinger from the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness; Ania Beszterda-Alyson from the Low Income Housing Institute; and Robin Koskey of Building Changes.

Do you have comments of your own on the budget? Join our action to send letters to the editor to share why you think the safety net should be funded. Email our Community and Member Organizer Alouise Urness at alouise@wliha.org to learn more.

Read our previous blog post for our breakdown of the deep cuts to affordable housing and homelessness programs in the Senate budget.

The Senate passed the budget out of committee on Thursday and then passed it off the floor on Friday night, 30 to 18. Many good amendments that would have restored cuts to homelessness and affordable housing programs failed to make it onto the budget. Senator Jeannie Darneille (27th-Tacoma) introduced three amendments – one to restore the deep cuts to the Consolidated Homeless Grant, one to restore the cuts to HEN and ABD, and another to eliminate a cruel cut to the TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) grant, in which the family’s grant is capped at their initial family size when first seeking TANF assistance, instead of growing with the family.

Senator Darneille summed up the hard budget week: This is not the final budget and not the final product. I am counting on my former colleagues in the House of Representatives to have compassion for the least among us. I am counting on them to correct the wrongs that were included in this budget and am counting on them to stand up for women, children, the vulnerable, and the disabled in all our communities.

The Time for Action is Now

Budget writers and leaders in the Majority Coalition Caucus have been characterizing the budget as “protecting the most vulnerable” and as “what Washington wants.” Help us tell your lawmakers that this budget isn’t what you want and that a 52% cut to programs that prevent and end homelessness is far from protecting the most vulnerable. Click here to quickly and easily send a message to your legislators in both houses that this budget is not what Washington wants. 

And if you are one of the many who have already taken action with our alert, please click here to urge others to join you by sending them the above link. Action this week couldn’t be more critical. 

How Did Your Senator Vote? ESSB 5034 Operating budget 2013-2015 Senate vote on 3rd Reading & Final Passage 4/5/2013 Yeas: 30   Nays: 18   Absent: 0   Excused: 1

Photo Credit: Alan Cordova

Voting Yea:  Senators Bailey, Baumgartner, Becker, Benton, Braun, Brown, Dammeier, Eide, Ericksen, Fain, Fraser, Hargrove, Hatfield, Hewitt, Hill, Hobbs, Holmquist Newbry, Honeyford, King, Litzow, Mullet, Nelson, Parlette, Pearson, Rivers, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Smith, and Tom
Voting Nay:  Senators Billig, Chase, Cleveland, Conway, Darneille, Frockt, Harper, Hasegawa, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, Murray, Padden, Ranker, Rolfes, Schlicher, and Shin
Absent:  n/a
Excused:  Senator Carrell

The Fair Tenant Screening Act Advances

The budget release shadowed out the movement that the Fair Tenant Screening Act made last week. SSB 5568 was voted unanimously out of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning, clearing last week’s policy deadline with just one day to spare. We appreciated the efforts of Representatives Jamie Pedersen (43rd-Seattle) and Steve O’Ban (28th-Pierce County) to strengthen the bill by adding a penalty if a screening company violated it. In the end, no amendment was added to the bill in order to ensure that it wouldn’t get killed in the Senate. It is now in House Rules Committee and needs to be voted on the House Floor by Wednesday, April 17 in order to make its way to the Governor for signature. Stay tuned for an action request if it looks like anything threatens it from proceeding to the next step.

Housing Alliance in the News

Last Tuesday, we also held a safety net press conference with our friends at the Statewide Poverty Action Network to highlight the importance of Housing and Essential Needs program; the Aged, Blind, and Disabled program; the Housing Trust Fund (HTF); TANF; and the Washington Families Fund (WFF). Speakers shared how important these programs have been for themselves and their families and how the programs successfully transitioned them out of homelessness. The Olympian covered the press conference with this detailed article here.

Our State's Communities Threatened Further by Federal Cuts

Lastly, as the intensity and urgency of the fight to fund state homelessness programs grows, the impacts of federal cuts are becoming clearer. For a new analysis of how sequestration is going to result in more homelessness and poverty, see the newest article in The Nation’s "Week in Poverty" series, an interview with Doug Rice from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It provides a stark perspective on how critical it is that our state not add more cuts on top of the deep ones sequestration is already bringing.

As our state and federal elected officials engage in budget debates, it is critical that we continue to join together. Over the last week, over 1,400 messages were sent to state elected officials. We need you to keep the pressure up. Our advocacy is the only thing that will ensure that we end the session with the resources our state needs to continue making progress at preventing and ending homelessness and eliminating poverty. Please stay tuned for timely updates and opportunities to speak up.

Michele Thomas, Director of Policy and Advocacy

The Capitol last week was full of rumors and anticipation about the Senate’s budget release date and about Governor Jay Inslee’s budget priorities. As it turned out, the Senate did not release their budget, and they also have not confirmed if they will release it this week. But Governor Inslee did release his budget priorities, which revealed a mixed bag of positive first steps on revenue and disappointing cuts to Disability Lifeline (more on that below).

First, We Need You to TAKE ACTION Now that we've heard from the governor regarding his budget priorities, the legislature is set to release theirs. This is the perfect time to let your elected official know that we need to pass a budget that protects our state's most vulnerable residents. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones are showing record highs. It's time for our economic recovery to reach all people on all streets. Not just Wall Street. Pass a budget protecting safety net programs that help create housing opportunities for our communities! Click here to take action now.

Fair Tenant Screening Act Update

Since the next bill cutoff date is Wednesday, April 3, last week was spent hearing a lot of bills. The Fair Tenant Screening Act, SSB 5568, is scheduled to be voted on in the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, April 2 at 10:00am. If it's passed out of committee, it then heads to House Rules Committee and then to the floor for another vote. Remember, so far this bill and the similar house version SHB 1529 received broad bipartisan support every step of the way. We hope it will continue to move forward in the same manner. Watch the Housing Alliance’s Facebook page and Twitter feed (hashtag #FTSA2013) for timely updates on Tuesday morning.

Governor Inslee’s Budget Priorities

Thumbs Up for Revenue

The Governor presented budget recommendations last Thursday that includes significant revenue obtained from the closing of tax exemptions and the extension of two taxes otherwise set to expire (a modest B&O tax on some services and a tax on beer). If the legislature takes these recommendations, about $1.2 billion will be gained. The current budget deficit is about $1.3 billion (before taking into account the extra spending mandated on K-12 education by the Supreme Court’s McCleary decision). There is no doubt that the Governor’s proposal is a great first step towards solving our budget problems. But without more revenue, the state will again rely on cuts to human services to balance the budget. Over $11 billion has already been cut and it is time to say no more.

Thumbs Down for Disability Lifeline Cut 

Although not unexpected, it was still disappointing that the Governor’s budget recommendations eliminate most cash grants for the Aged, Blind and Disabled population and also eliminates DSHS incapacity examinations (cash grants are maintained for the aged population). Although the recommendations indicate that Housing and Essential Needs will continue to be funded and incapacity examinations will be moved to the counties, it's unclear if there is enough funding recommended to meet the needs of even the current eligible populations. Here are a couple excerpts from the budget recommendations that speak to these cuts:

Terminate the disabled grant program to maximize the refinancing of Medicaid expansion. Services provided through the Essential Needs and Housing Support program in the Department of Commerce will provide housing and other supports, such as transportation vouchers.
The aged grant program will continue.

Save $13.4 million by eliminating Social Security Income facilitators for disabled childless adults. This function will be shifted to the counties as part of safety net reform.

Governor Inslee Rapid Rehousing Proposal

Another detail of Governor Inslee’s budget recommendations is to redirect Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds to a new program that would support Rapid Re-Housing for families with children. While we are still learning details of the program, it will include the use of $10 million of TANF dollars and about $5 million from document recording fee revenue. The Department of Commerce will administer this program and they plan on starting in April with five pilot programs in the following counties; Spokane, Snohomish, Whatcom, Cowlitz and Mason. More details to come as the program is fleshed out.

You can read the Governor’s press release and proposal here.

Budget Advocacy

As we’ve mentioned before, the Senate is set to be the first chamber to release a budget, and they could do so any day now. At the close of last week though, rumors were flying about a breakdown in negotiations within the “Majority Coalition Caucus” and there was still a lot of uncertainty about when the budget would come out. Regardless, we do know that advocacy on our priorities is critical.

If you haven’t already sent a letter to your elected officials asking them to fund the Housing Trust Fund, Washington Families Fund, Disability Lifeline (Housing & Essential Needs and the Aged, Blind and Disabled program) and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, then please do so now! Click here to send emails to your legislators.

If you have already sent a letter, please ask three of your friends, family, or colleagues to take action with you. Click here to send an email asking three others to take action. Tell them why you care and what is at stake.

Safety Net Press Conference

Stand-by for tweets and updates on Tuesday, April 2 at 12:30 from our Safety Net Press Conference. Senator Darneille (27th-Tacoma) and recipients of safety net services will be joining us, as well as a formerly homeless vet and an education worker from the North Thurston County School District. Together, our speakers will explain why it's critical to maintain investments in safety net services and why funding education at the expense of services is a zero-sum game.

Don’t forget to take action today!

Ben Miksch, State and Federal Policy Associate

When I was in D.C. last week for the annual National Low Income Housing Coalition Conference, I kept coming across various news articles and commentaries about how sequestration wasn’t really that big of a deal. By that point, sequestration had been in effect for nearly three weeks, and the only effects many had seen in D.C. were cancelled White House tours and airport delays. Surely this wasn’t the widespread calamity that advocates had said it would be, right?

As a response, other Washington advocates and I carried two letters and a story to each of our meetings with our legislators. Greg (not his real name) had a good paying job and was able to provide for himself until he was diagnosed with cancer. The recovery process cost him his job, and he had difficulty staying housed. For several years he'd been on the waiting list with the local housing authority, hoping to get a housing choice voucher to help him stay stably housed while he worked to get back on his feet.

The two letters continued his story. The first, dated February 1, was a note telling him that he'd been selected off of the wait list, and that he was eligible for a Housing Choice Voucher. He just had to find an apartment that fit in the price range, and he would have a place to call home.

The second letter, dated February 20, was a lot less cheerful. It informed him that due to sequestration and uncertainty around the federal budget, his offer for a Housing Choice Voucher was rescinded. No more looking for an apartment. No more ticket to housing stability.

As the New York Times pointed out in their March 3 article As Automatic Budget Cuts Go Into Effect, Poor May Be Hit Particularly Hard, housing programs in particular are bearing much of the cuts. In the past, when a person or family transitioned away from needing a Housing Choice Voucher, that voucher was given to another person or family on already very long waiting lists. Because sequestration is reducing the number of vouchers the housing authorities can support, many have stopped pulling people off their waiting lists and are instead using attrition to let vouchers disappear.

King County Housing Authority, for example, expects that they’ll be able to serve 600 fewer families with vouchers over the next year. Some housing authorities have even had to rescind vouchers from people currently out looking for housing, as was the case in the story above.

Housing authorities across the country are looking into similar measures, as well as other cost-cutting plans, like deferring maintenance and leaving positions vacant rather than rehiring. Some housing authorities are even looking into furloughs and layoffs. The worst story I’ve heard so far is from Tucson, Arizona, where the mayor has said they are looking at evicting 250 to 400 families - up to 1,800 people – from subsidized housing within the next 60 days. That is not being proposed in Washington State. But it's a clear sign of how dire times are.

The Coalition on Human Needs has been collecting articles about the impact of sequestration in communities across the country, including the story from Tucson. You can read their list here.

Housing authorities are really the canary in the coal mine for how sequestration cuts are going to harm the most vulnerable in our communities. Due to the complex nature of federal budgets and the time it takes funds to move into programs and out to communities, we aren’t going to see the full picture of harm cuts will cause for a little while yet. But just because we won’t see the effects of funding cuts for a few months doesn’t mean that sequestration isn’t causing real pain in our communities.

In fact, right now you can find out more about the immediate and future pain sequestration will cause. HUD has put together a sequestration information page, which includes Secretary Shaun Donovan's written testimony on the impacts of sequestration, including his estimate that 100,000 homeless and formerly homeless people are at risk of losing their current housing or emergency shelter. It also includes letters HUD has sent to each state's governor (including our own Governor Inslee), and is being updated with other notification letters about how HUD is expecting sequestration to affect the programs they administer. Check out that page here.

Shaun Donovan at Housing Washington 2012

We'll be paying close attention to how sequestration plays out, and working to get that information back to Congress. They must know how urgent it is that they stop sequestration as soon as possible. If you’re starting to see these effects play out in your community, please let us know.

Remember, this is only week four. Unless Congress acts, sequestration will be in effect for the next 10 years. The sooner we stop it, the sooner we can help folks like Greg get back on their feet into stable housing.

Photo Credits: Patrick Dixon, peoplesworld, and the Housing Alliance.