FW: Take Action Today! Save critical funding for homeless programs
Theresa
From: Craig, WSCH
& Moque, Housing Alliance [mailto:wl...@mail.democracyinaction.org]
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011
11:36 AM
To: the...@hatc.org
Subject: Take Action Today! Save
critical funding for homeless programs
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Dear Theresa,
This week marks an important cut-off date on the legislative calendar, marking the final day bills can move out of fiscal committees in their house of origin. Three important bills, SHB 1768 and HB 1707/SB 5645, need to move out of fiscal committees in order to continue making progress towards becoming law. These bills seek to maintain funding for current programs that end and prevent homelessness by adjusting document recording fees. If these bills are not passed, the Home Security Fund will face significant cuts due to decreases in current document recording fee revenue and because of a sunset of a document recording fee. SHB 1768 and HB 1707/SB 5645 will ensure that the homelessness programs funded by the Home Security Fund will continue to serve our communities. See below for more background on the Home Security Fund.
|
Contact your elected officials to tell them to vote yes on SHB
1768 and HB 1707/SB 5645. Your action will help ensure that these important
bills do not die in committee! Take action today! |
Thank you for taking action and stay tuned for more opportunities to stand up
for an end to homelessness and to create more opportunities for people to live
in safe, healthy and affordable housing.
In solidarity,
Moque and Craig
More background on the Home Security Fund:
The Home Security Fund supports the Emergency Shelter Assistance Program,
serving over 47,000 people each year, the Transitional Housing, Operating and
Rent (THOR) program, which serves over 3,000 families with transitional
housing, the Independent Youth Housing Program, which serves 198 youth aging
out of foster care, and Housing Grant Assistance Programs which gives grants to
foster innovation in counties. Local communities have implemented innovative
services with these funds, for example:
Whatcom County
created a Homeless
Service Center
where people could access a wide range of help in a single location. With that
in place, the number of people homeless dropped by 25% and the number of people
chronically homeless and becoming homeless upon leaving jail dropped by almost
50%.
King County’s Forensic Assertive Community
Treatment program provides housing and services to mentally ill persons who
were cycling in and out of jail. The program cut jail bookings in half in the
first year after being housed.
Clark County created a supportive housing
project for people experiencing long-term homelessness. With the center in
place, even as the number of people accessing the homeless service system rose,
the number of people returning to shelter after having been housed dropped
dramatically.
The gap these bills will fill:
At the end of the 2011-2013 biennium, the Home Security Fund will be short by
at least $12m. If a $20 increase initiated just a couple years is allowed
to sunset as currently scheduled, the $12 million dollar gap will triple to
$32m in the 2013-2015 biennium. HB 1707/SB 5645 address the sunset and
SHB 1768* implements a new document recording fee of just $5.00 on all documents
currently subject to fees and is estimated to raise enough to fill the gap in
the Home Security Fund.
"SHB" 1768 means Substitute House Bill 1768 because the bill was previously amended in committee.
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