Michele Thomas, Director of Policy and Advocacy and Ben Miksch, State and Federal Policy Associate

Olympia was, if anything, even more frenetic than last week. Packed hearings spilled out into hallways, where advocates laid in wait hoping to snatch a moment of time with a legislator heading back to their office.

Making its way into the Senate this week was a slew of really bad bills focused on setting back access to affordable housing and tenant rights. In a session like this, aside from making progress on our own issues, we also have to play defense on bills that we feel act against our mission of creating opportunities for safe, healthy, affordable homes for all Washington residents. The Housing Alliance analyzes their contents and effects, talks to elected officials, and then shares our concerns. We’ll keep you all updated if any start making serious progress.

We weren’t just playing defense though. We were able to make some significant progress on our priorities this week. But first:

Progress on the Fair Tenant Screening Act, Introducing SB 5568

We are really excited to report a lot of positive movement on the Fair Tenant Screening Act. Senator Steve Hobbes introduced the Senate version of the Fair Tenant Screening Act, SB 5568. This bill will prohibit tenant screening reports from disclosing any information that reveals a tenant is a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. This is a huge step forward for ensuring that survivors of domestic violence won’t have to worry about tenant screening being a barrier holding them back from getting out of a dangerous situation. 

Experiencing domestic violence should never be a cause to deny someone housing. Not only is it wrong, it’s illegal. We don’t think that information should appear on a tenant screening report at all. We are also very excited about adding in other important eviction reporting provisions as the bill moves forward. Don't forget to thank Senator Steve Hobbs for sponsoring SB 5568 and also thank the ten co-sponsors (see above).

HB 1529, which is the House version of the Fair Tenant Screening Act, is a more robust version of the bill that already has the fixes necessary to change how companies can report evictions. The bill is slated to have a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, February 14 at 1:30pm. SB 5568 is scheduled to have a hearing in the Senate Committee on Financial Institutions and Housing and Insurance on Tuesday, February 12 also at 1:30pm. We are working with our partners at the Tenants Union, the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Solid Ground and elsewhere to make sure we have strong testimony in support of the bill. If you’re interested in testifying, let Michele know at michele@wliha.org.

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See You On Monday?

Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day is Monday, February 11! And the weather says we won’t get snowed out this year like we did last year. Knock on wood! So far we have 580 people registered to attend and advocate on behalf of ending homelessness and ensuring that every Washingtonian has the opportunity to live in a safe, healthy, affordable home in a thriving community. People will be coming in from all across the state, and constituents from 43 of Washington’s 49 legislative districts have meetings set up with their legislators to talk about affordable housing and ending homelessness.

We’ll also be having a rally on the steps at noon, to show everyone in Olympia just how many Washingtonians care about making this dream a reality.

Registration is closed at this point. But you can still attend on Monday. We'll have registration on the day-of. Unfortunately, we'll NOT be able to guarantee lunches for people who register on Monday.

If you can't join us on Monday, you can still be a part of Advocacy Day by participating online! Keep your eyes peeled for the online action alert we’ll be emailing out on Monday, and be sure to participate.

It is especially important that we get as many people to take action on Monday as possible.

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Getting By With A Little Help From More Friends

Next week, the Housing Alliance won’t be the only group who at the Capitol advocating for affordable housing and ending homelessness. On Tuesday, AARP will be having their Legislative Luncheon in Olympia, and they are including funding for the Housing Trust Fund as one of the items they’ll be advocating for. AARP knows how important it is that we ensure there’s enough affordable housing for our seniors and for the rest of our communities, and we appreciate having them as a partner.

Odds and Ends

Two other quick pieces of good news on our State Legislative Agenda Support Items. First, there was a great hearing on Foster Care to 21 (HB 1302) in the House, with amazing testimony from foster care youth. We are very excited by the progress it's making. Also, the Unused Property Bill (HB 1563) will be having a hearing next Tuesday at 1:30pm in the House Judiciary Committee.

We are planning a Learn at Lunch webinar to update members on the latest information about Housing and Essential Needs/Disability Lifeline. We will send out more information about it next Tuesday.

See you all on Monday!

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Edit: We had to correct the date and time of the House and Senate hearings for the Fair Tenant Screening Act, Part 2.