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The National Low Income Housing Coalition issued its yearly Out of Reach report. The report documents the significant gap between renters’ wages and the cost of housing across the United States.
The Housing Wage is an estimate of the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a two-bedroom rental home. The U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) fair market rent (FMR) states that a person should not spend more than 30 percent of his or her income on housing costs.
In Washington, the Housing Wage averaged across the state is $30.46. This means that a person making $13.50 per hour would need to work 90 hours or work 2.3 full-time jobs per week in order to rent a two bedroom home. In order to afford a one bedroom home, a person making $13.50 per hour would need to work 73 hours per week or 1.8 full-time jobs.
The Housing Finance Unit in the Department of Commerce administers three capital financing programs designed to create and preserve affordable housing for people with low income and special needs. Our primary program is the state’s Housing Trust Fund (HTF), which has been around for 34 years and invested approximately $1.1 billion to develop over 50,000 units of affordable housing to-date.
The Housing Finance Unit also administers two federal programs, HOME and the National Housing Trust Fund, run simultaneously with the State HTF. It helped invest more than $200 million in our state’s affordable housing stock. On average, $1 of state investment is leveraged by $5 of investment from other sources, both private and public.
Housing projects typically receive capital investments through an annual competitive application process based on RCW priorities and capital budget requirements. When evaluating applications, program staff coordinate their review and funding decisions with:
- Local communities (cities and counties)
- Federal low-Income Tax Credit Program staff at the Washington State Housing Finance Commission
- The Behavioral Health Team at Health Care Authority
- The Early Learning Facilities team
- The Housing Assistance Unit (for homeless services)
Program details
 This year’s homeless outreach training academy will be hosted virtually by Corporation for Supportive Housing staff. The training will offer four, two day sessions, over two weeks. The Outreach Academy is a comprehensive program that builds upon each session.
Week one
- Wednesday, September 22, and Thursday September 23, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Week two
- Tuesday, September 29 and Wednesday, September 30, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Academy details
People living with serious mental illness want to work. Individual Placement and Support (IPS) helps them attain their goals. The National Association of Mental Health Directors recently promoted IPS in their monthly newsletter through an infographic. The infographic describes the effectiveness of the IPS model. The infographic was originally developed by professionals in Tennessee to educate their legislative leaders. You can see the graphic on the IPSWorks website.
Panelists will highlight the key role employment plays in recovery. Participants will learn how supported employment services offer new gateways to empowerment and recovery for members of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. National employment data from SAMHSA’s Uniform Reporting System (URS) will be shared.
Panelists include
- Daniel Vega, Cultural Director
- Jill Fabian, Program Manager
- Sandy Lucas, Employment Coordinator
- Genevieve James, Recruiter/Job Developer
- Toni Cruz, Trainer/Coach
- Leah Stickel, Peer Support
- Diane Rivera, Community Member
Webinar details
- Thursday, September 10
- 10:30 a.m.
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Register
Conference number: PWXW1623520
Audience passcode: 2352436
To call in: 1-877-918-5751
Telehealth has made it possible for people to access health and social services while social distancing during COVID-19. In order to use telehealth people need access to the internet (aka access to broadband). Not everyone in Washington State has access to internet or the speed of the internet connection is too slow.
The Washington state Governor’s Office of Broadband and Department of Commerce are mapping the availability and speed of internet service across the state. They ask that we all take a one minute “speed test”.
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