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.