While key lawmakers are locked in negotiations over the budget and school funding in Olympia, Gov. Jay Inslee stopped in Southwest Washington on Friday with the goal of returning to the statehouse with stories reminding legislators how policy affect real lives.
“We just met a woman who is on a program that is very much being threatened in our budget discussion,” Inslee said. “She is a person who has worked for 35 years, she’s had some health issues, she’s temporarily unable to work.”
The Housing and Essential Needs program, or HEN, which is administered locally by Share, has helped pay the woman’s rent for the past couple of months, until she can return to work.
“Unfortunately, one of the budgets proposed by one of the parties really threatens to gut that program,” Inslee said.
Lawmakers in Olympia are in the midst of a second overtime session with the hopes of finding a deal on how to balance the budget and adequately fund the state’s public schools.
Clark County receives about $1.5 million in state funding to support the HEN program, which goes toward helping 100 to 125 people a month.
Although solving the state’s education problem is the priority this session, the governor said, it doesn’t make sense to do it while slashing other social services that people rely on.
“It’s our job to make sure we don’t have people who are forgotten in our society,” Inslee said.
“Our family members who have mental illnesses should not be forgotten. Our neighbors who have physical disabilities where they can’t work temporarily should not be forgotten. The homeless should not be forgotten. Our veterans should not be forgotten. And all those folks depend on some degree of state investment, and it’s our job to make sure the budget reflects that.”
Diane McWithey, executive director of Share, said she’s keeping a close eye on Olympia these days. Not only does the money for HEN flow through her nonprofit, paving the way for people to receive basic necessities from toothpaste to soap along with rental assistance, but there is the possibility more of her funding could be jeopardized.
One measure in particular has the potential of dramatically slash her funding and could shutter three homeless shelters, she said.
The measure, House Bill 1570, would extend what’s known as the document recording fee. It’s one of the primary funding mechanisms for homeless services.
To record the deed after a home purchase, there is a $48 fee. Some of the fee is kept by local entities, some goes to the state. But all of it is dedicated toward homeless services.
A significant portion of the fee is set to expire in 2019.
The measure that passed the House would remove the sunset date and allow local counties and cities to increase the fee. But the measure could face obstacles in the state Senate.
McWithey said that without the deed money, half of her budget would disappear.
“The homeless people on the street right now?” she said. “That would triple if that funding goes away.”
