SHB 1570 Community Statement of Support |
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SHB 1570 Community Statement of Support
We, the undersigned organizations representing a broad range of homelessness, housing, real estate, landlord, local government, community, business, social service, legal, faith, social justice, labor, and health care interests, have come together in strong support of SHB 1570.
Homelessness is an emergency in rural, urban, and suburban communities across Washington. Nearly 21,000 people were counted as homeless during the 2016 point in time count, and people of color, people with disabilities, people fleeing domestic violence, people who are LGBTQ, and youth who are exiting public systems are experiencing homelessness at disproportionate rates.
Washington’s investments in homelessness are working. Homelessness has decreased in Washington by 17.7% since 2005 despite the impact of the Great Recession, and despite recent increases in the drivers of homelessness, such as rapidly increasing rental rates, persistent high rates of poverty, and a significant shortage of affordable housing.
SHB 1570 proposes effective solutions that are responsive to the need in our state while also ensuring accountability. SHB 1570 prevents the elimination of over 60% of our state’s homelessness resources, which would cause 34,000 additional people to experience homelessness between 2019 and 2021 alone. SHB 1570 also allows counties to increase the Homelessness and Housing Assistance surcharge by up to $50, increasing local resources needed to bring effective services and housing assistance to scale in order to move more people inside, more quickly.
All people in Washington deserve access to a safe, healthy, and affordable home. We urge the legislature to prioritize our state’s homelessness emergency by passing SHB 1570 this year.
We, the undersigned organizations representing a broad range of homelessness, housing, real estate, landlord, local government, community, business, social service, legal, faith, social justice, labor, and health care interests, have come together in strong support of SHB 1570.
Homelessness is an emergency in rural, urban, and suburban communities across Washington. Nearly 21,000 people were counted as homeless during the 2016 point in time count, and people of color, people with disabilities, people fleeing domestic violence, people who are LGBTQ, and youth who are exiting public systems are experiencing homelessness at disproportionate rates.
Washington’s investments in homelessness are working. Homelessness has decreased in Washington by 17.7% since 2005 despite the impact of the Great Recession, and despite recent increases in the drivers of homelessness, such as rapidly increasing rental rates, persistent high rates of poverty, and a significant shortage of affordable housing.
SHB 1570 proposes effective solutions that are responsive to the need in our state while also ensuring accountability. SHB 1570 prevents the elimination of over 60% of our state’s homelessness resources, which would cause 34,000 additional people to experience homelessness between 2019 and 2021 alone. SHB 1570 also allows counties to increase the Homelessness and Housing Assistance surcharge by up to $50, increasing local resources needed to bring effective services and housing assistance to scale in order to move more people inside, more quickly.
All people in Washington deserve access to a safe, healthy, and affordable home. We urge the legislature to prioritize our state’s homelessness emergency by passing SHB 1570 this year.