March 28, 2018
Please forward to your sub grantees and contact your OFAH grant manager
if you have any questions.
The legislative
session included the passage of bills that will allow more housing stability for
people experiencing homelessness in Washington state. Here is a rundown and a
few key points of the bills that are relevant to our work. Click on the bill
number to read the legislation as passed.
HB 2667: Expanded Housing and
Essential Needs (HEN) eligibility
- On March 13, Aged, Blind and Disabled (ABD) recipients became
eligible for HEN.
- Those who are disabled due to substance use are now eligible for HEN.
-
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) must share names of HEN eligible individuals with Commerce by July
2018.
HB 1570: Improved resources
to increase access housing
- Increase of the document recording fee.
- Document recording fee is now permanent.
-
Ratification of state/local planning and performance management.
- 45 percent
"private rental housing" now includes housing owned by a nonprofit
housing entity in addition to housing owned by a private landlord.
HB 1630: HMIS consent for
minors
- Minors may consent to share personally identifying information
- Parents/guardians may still consent for minors
HB 2578: Prohibition of source
of income discrimination
-
Amends the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act to prohibit discrimination
based on the tenant’s source of income.
- Creates the Landlord Mitigation Program.
HB 1831: Revises resources limitations for public
assistance
- Updates
asset limits so people on state public assistance get to keep a larger portion
of their assets and still be eligible for public assistance.
Read more
from Rachel Myers, executive director of the Washington Low Income Housing
Alliance: There is Much to
Celebrate this Legislative Session
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In order to support
Goal 2 of the Homeless Housing Strategic Plan, the Office of Family and Adult
Homelessness (OFAH) committed to publish project-level performance data
quarterly. The draft of the Rapid
Re-Housing Performance Dashboard is
available here
for your review. This dashboard includes data on all Rapid
Re-Housing projects in the Washington Balance of State Continuum of
Care.
Join us for a tour
of the draft Rapid Re-Housing Dashboard and other performance reporting updates
via webinar Wednesday, April 4, at 1 p.m. Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/360109139340633857
HUD is hosting a
convening of state grantees in Washington, D.C. on May 10-11, 2018. Commerce staff will
be attend this important gathering. There will be peer-to-peer time, as well as valuable breakout sessions
aimed at enhancement of the program.
Commerce is reviewing
the 811 dollars committed to existing projects, and looking at spending data
now that the program is in its third year of operation. Preliminary data
suggests that Commerce may look to identify and add additional units to this
program in the coming months. This will
likely begin with investigating whether existing multi-family housing projects
in the 811 portfolio can increase their capacity. Updates will be posted as
needed.
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Myth: All HEN-eligible individuals must be provided essential needs items.
Fact: Counties are not obligated to provide essential need items. Whether you provide them is up to your program design and funding capacity. If you
are considering not providing essential needs items, take a look at what community resources might
already be available for HEN individuals.
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OFAH
and the Office of Homeless Youth (OHY) staff attended the 2018 Conference on
Ending Family and Youth Homelessness, on March 1-2 in Los Angeles, Calif. Nan
Roman, president and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness opened
the conference with a description of the current agency priorities, including examining
strategies to meet the needs of rural communities, how best to serve those who
are unsheltered and in encampments, efforts at the national level on affordable
housing, and the impact of racism in homelessness and the homeless system.
OFAH Grant Manager Julie Montgomery attended a session hosted by lead researchers on
a recently published study on racial inequities in homelessness. Read the study
here, and see study author and session speaker Marc Dones give
a history of housing segregation here.
Registration is
open for the 2018 Conference on Ending Homelessness in Yakima, Wash., May
22-23, 2018. Find information about the program and how to register: http://wliha.org/conference
The HMIS Team offers ongoing training for new
and current HMIS users. Find information on the Commerce website on the HMIS
page here: www.commerce.wa.gov/hmis or contact Maylee Stevenson at Maylee.Stevenson@commerce.wa.gov
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