One of the things we’ve been talking a lot about is the Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) program, which was the replacement for the Disability Lifeline. It’s a core safety-net program that helps ensure that temporary disabilities don’t force people onto the streets by providing access to some of life’s most basic household and sanitary needs.

Last week was a long, hard week in Olympia. Many bills competed for attention as the Tuesday night floor cutoff loomed in both chambers. Only one of the Housing Alliance’s top priorities fell victim to this cutoff when SSB 6321 died at 5:00 sharp Tuesday evening. This bill, sponsored by Senator Kohl-Welles, would have made it harder to use a tenant’s victory in eviction court as a reason to deny them future housing opportunities. The bill was amended in committee and received bipartisan support.

Olympia was a whirlwind of activity for affordable housing and homelessness issues last week. The Housing Alliance’s Fair Tenant Screening bills made significant progress in the Senate, while the House hosted a dramatic debate before passing SHB 2048 and sending it to the Senate. This bill will fill a shortfall in revenue for homelessness related programs with modest fees on real estate related documents.

Unprecedented Progress for Tenant Screening Bills

On Tuesday, February 7th, the Housing Alliance was joined by Andy Nicholas of the Washington State Budget & Policy Center. Andy explained the status of our current budget deficit and laid out the revenue options we should push to save ciritcal public dollars for safety net programs and services. If you missed it, we highly recommend listening to the recording.

Harnessing the Power of Advocacy

The Washington Low Income Housing Alliance and the Washington State Coalition for the Homeless merged on October 1st, 2011, becoming one organization. The merged organization, operating as the Housing Alliance, will advocate for the continuum of homeless and low-income housing needs across the state.