Advocacy

Together, We Banned Seattle Junk Fees!

by

Stay tuned for a possible state-wide effort to ban junk fees for all Washington renters. We have a victory to celebrate! Thanks to everyone who wrote letters, testified, told your friends, made awesome signs (including Alison’s new baby chicken) and spoke up in other ways, the Seattle City Council unanimously* banned rental junk fees including pet rent, effective July 1 2027! Hats off to the Stay Housed Stay Healthy Coalition for leading the charge on this effort! The Coalition on Homelessness is a proud member of SHSH.  Please join me to send a quick note of thanks to Mayor Wilson and our City Councilmembers. Electeds are people too and thanking them makes it more likely they will support our goals in the future. Scroll down for an easy email template and a more detailed description of what this junk fee ban means for renters. Join our September 17 Membership Meeting to learn more about this and a possible state-wide effort to ban junk fees, and stay tuned for budget legislation in the Fall to enforce this law and make sure that landlords who break the law are held accountable. *Councilmember Rivera is a landlord and City ethics rules disqualified her from voting due to a conflict of interest What Does This Mean? For rental agreements beginning on July 1, 2027 or later, landlords cannot charge junk fees in the city of Seattle. They must also disclose any mandatory and optional fees and amounts clearly in the rental listing. Banned junk fees include: Landlords ARE still allowed to charge: Easy, Quick, Copy/Paste Thank You Email For Seattle residents/workers Thanking elected officials is important! It makes it more likely they will support similar efforts in the future. If you have time, it’s always great to customize this message and say why you care about junk fees. …

Read more

Tukwila Speak up NOW: Don’t Banish Tukwila Residents

by

Do you work or live in Tukwila? Your city councilmembers need to hear from you NOW to stop a bad bill that would punish and banish people experiencing homelessness. The city council is poised to vote on this dangerous bill this Monday, July 20 at 7 p.m. The proposed new ordinance would make it a crime to “camp” on public property, punishable by up to 90 days in jail or a $1,000 fine. We know laws like these are designed to punish and banish people experiencing homelessness.  Please SPEAK UP TODAY! Send your message to Tukwila elected officials and Interim Tukwila Police Chief Eric Lund using the sample message below. Let them know that when thousands of people in King County communities lack basic shelter every night, it makes no sense to punish people who have no place to stay, or to push them out of their community. This proposal is cruel, shortsighted, costly, counterproductive, and it will NOT help people experiencing homelessness in Tukwila. Speak up before Monday at 7pm to stop this bad bill! Email Template Note: It’s great to personalize the subject line and the message if you have time. If you don’t have time, that’s OK! Just copy, paste, and hit send – numbers matter! TO: verna.seal@tukwilawa.gov; armen.papyan@tukwilawa.gov; hannah.hedrick@tukwilawa.gov; dennis.martinez@tukwilawa.gov; kate.kruller@tukwilawa.gov; joe.camacho@tukwilawa.gov; jane.ho@tukwilawa.gov; Mayor@tukwilawa.gov; E.Lund@TukwilaWA.gov SUBJECT: No Tukwila Banishment Law Dear Tukwila City Councilmembers, Mayor McLeod, and Chief Lund, As a Tukwila resident, I want all my neighbors to have a safe place to sleep at night, and I want our community to help people when they don’t. I’m glad that we have some shelter in our city but right now, we don’t have nearly enough affordable homes or shelter. As a result, too many people must try and survive outside. We should use our public resources to help people meet their basic needs, not punish them when they have …

Read more

General Membership Meeting – June 18, 2026

by

For our June GMM, we learned about crisis care options in King County (including DESC’s Mobile Rapid Response Crisis Team), Washington’s summer EBT program (SUN Bucks), and talked about federal impacts on our local system of housing and care. King County Crisis Care Washington’s SUN Bucks program Time to Take Action Protect HUD’s Equal Access Rule The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has proposed a rule change would remove protections for people to access shelter, housing and services that best fit their gender identity, instead making those resources contingent on matching biological sex. That would further marginalize trans, intersex, and nonbinary people who are already at extremely high risk of homelessness and dangerous situations while they are homeless. Leave a comment today in opposition to this rule change. Comments are due at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, June 29. Sample comment below: I strongly oppose the proposed changes to the Equal Access Rule issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This proposal would remove critical protections that ensure fair and equal access to housing and services for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people. By stopping people from choosing services that align with their gender identity, forcing them into programs and services that do not meet their needs, and allowing providers to require proof of a person’s biological sex, this rule opens the door to discrimination, denial of services, and dangerous conditions for people seeking HUD-funded shelter, housing, and services. According to data from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, transgender people are more likely to be unsheltered than their cisgender peers, and those who are unsheltered have worse health and experience more dangerous conditions than those who are sheltered. More data is available at https://endhomelessness.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Trans-Homelessness-Brief-July-2020.pdf. Instead of discriminating against trans, nonbinary and intersex people experiencing …

Read more

Annual Membership Meeting – May 21, 2026

by

2026 Annual Membership MeetingThursday, May 21, 8:30-11 a.m. 9:15 – 9:30 a.m. Welcome and Introductions 9:30 – 10 a.m. The Power of Being in Coalition Together 10 – 10:40 a.m. Who Can Call King County Home? A conversation about the housing affordability crisis with: 10:40 – 10:50 Coalition Board of Directors Candidate Slate 10:50 – 11 a.m. Member Announcements Speak Up Against HUD’s Attempt to Dismantle the Equal Access Rule COMING IN AUGUST: Helping Homeless Students: McKinney-Vento 101 A training for public school, housing, and human services staff working with students experiencing homelessness in area public schools. SAVE THE DATE: Truth to (Staying) Power Thurs, Sept 17, The Royal Room – Tickets on sale in June Support the Coalition and celebrate a milestone of staying power for our Executive Director, Alison Eisinger (20 years!). PAST COALITION MEETINGS & TRAININGS: bit.ly/SKCCHYouTube INTERESTED IN MEMBERSHIP? Individual, Allied, or Organizational Email membership[at]homelessinfo[.]org or call 206-204-8350 for more information. Join our next Membership meeting Thursday, June 18, 9-10:30 a.m., Zoom Register here.

Speak Up Against HUD’s Attempt to Dismantle the Equal Access Rule

by

Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has proposed a rule change that would remove protections for people to access HUD-funded shelter, housing and services that best fit their gender identity. Tearing down the “Equal Access Rule” would make those resources contingent on matching biological sex, and it would allow service providers to demand proof of someone’s biological sex in order to access services. That would further marginalize trans, intersex, and nonbinary people who are already at high risk of homelessness and dangerous situations while they are homeless. Speak up today against this terrible rule change! Write your comment before June 29, 2026 using the template below. HUD is legally required to review all comments and respond to them in their final rule. We have successfully stalled out other terrible rule changes before by submitting an overwhelming number of comments – let’s do it again! Sample comment – please customize it if you have time: I strongly oppose the proposed changes to the Equal Access Rule issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This proposal would remove critical protections that ensure fair and equal access to housing and services for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people. By stopping people from choosing services that align with their gender identity, forcing them into programs and services that do not meet their needs, and allowing providers to require proof of a person’s biological sex, this rule opens the door to discrimination, denial of services, and dangerous conditions for people seeking HUD-funded shelter, housing, and services. According to data from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, transgender people are more likely to be unsheltered than their cisgender peers, and those who are unsheltered have worse health and experience more dangerous conditions than those who are sheltered. More data is available …

Read more

2026 Legislative Wrap Up – April 16, 2026

by

At our 2026 Legislative Wrap Up, we welcomed Washington state lawmakers and advocates who are champions for homes, homeless services, and progressive revenue. We were joined by Representative April Berg (LD-44), Representative Strom Peterson (LD-21) and Senator Alvarado (LD-34), as well as Emma Scalzo from the Balance Our Tax Code (BOTC) coalition, Emily Vynanek from the Washington Budget & Policy Center, and Lianna Kressin from the Statewide Poverty Action Network (SPAN) to unpack the 2026 Washington State legislative session and celebrate our wins together! If this wealth of information is something you want to share with others or access again, please subscribe to the Coalition’s YouTube channel, where our membership meetings and trainings are collected. What the Millionaires Tax means for our communities Jump to 09:42 in the recording to hear Rep. April Berg speak on this new legislation. The Coalition joined the Balance our Tax Code (BOTC) coalition and the Statewide Poverty Action Network (SPAN) in supporting the Millionaires Tax (Senate Bill 6346). Representative Berg was a huge champion of this much-needed update to our tax code, which will add a 9.9 percent tax on household incomes above $1 million. When it goes into effect in 2029, the Millionaires Tax will help fund a significant expansion of the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC), which puts more money into the pockets of people living on low incomes. It will make other important changes too, like making school breakfast and lunch free for all K-12 students in Washington’s public schools and eliminating sales tax on certain hygiene products and over-the-counter medicine. House Bill 2266 passes for Housing Fairness Jump to 18:34 in the recording to hear from Rep. Strom Peterson and others about House Bill 2266 and what it means for our communities. The Coalition and our community of advocates across …

Read more

Speak Up: It’s HUD’s Job to House People

by

Recent rulings in two lawsuits against the  U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have provided short-term protections for the Continuum of Care (CoC) program and permanent supportive housing that thousands of King County residents rely on to stay housed and safe. Let’s celebrate these victories AND let’s speak up together to fight ongoing threats to essential federal programs. Recently, HUD proposed three dangerous rules that would force many people who live in federally subsidized housing into homelessness. None of these changes are final yet, and we still have an opportunity to prevent them. Submitting a flood of comments has worked in the past to successfully stall or stop harmful rules.  Federal rulemaking is a unique process. HUD is legally required to review all comments and respond to important issues in their final rule. So, it’s important we all submit comments to accumulate as many as possible. You can always submit anonymously if you prefer, so your information won’t be part of the public record. Once you’ve left your comments, please share this opportunity to take action with others. Together we can protect people who rely on federally-funded housing! Time limits & work requirements for public housing put millions at risk of homelessness HUD proposed a rule that, if passed, would allow public housing authorities and owners of certain HUD-assisted properties to enforce work requirements for work-eligible* people, mandating them to work up to 40 hours per week or lose their housing. This rule would also implement an unprecedented two-year time limit on assistance that could result in an estimated 3.3 million people losing their rental assistance, including 1.7 million children.  📢 Leave a comment in opposition to the Time Limit & Work Requirement Rule before Friday, May 1, 2026 Example comment (adapted from the National Low Income Housing Coalition) Everyone needs to live in a safe, stable, affordable home. Federal rental assistance programs help more than …

Read more

Analysis of House Bill 2266 for Housing Fairness (Passed into Washington State Law in 2026)

by

Disclaimer: this summary was prepared by Coalition staff in April 2026, and is intended to help the public understand the impact and importance of HB 2266. It should not be used as legal advice. Background Since the Growth Management Act went into effect in 2021, cities and counties are not allowed to prohibit STEP housing (Shelter, Transitional Housing, Emergency Housing, and Permanent Supportive Housing) in certain zones within their jurisdictions. Unfortunately, many jurisdictions found loopholes in that law and imposed unreasonable requirements, restrictions, and barriers – many rooted in stigma or neighborhood opposition – to work around this requirement and make developing STEP housing more costly, burdensome, and vulnerable to disruption. These local regulations include opaque, complex, and arbitrary approval processes, restrictive spacing requirements (i.e., banning shelter within 1,000 feet from another shelter), and unfunded mandates for providers. These practices create barriers that make it extremely difficult to create or operate much-needed shelter and housing. In some cases, these barriers even required existing shelter to shut down. Some examples are listed below. To the best of our knowledge, these will all be unlawful once HB 2266 goes into effect later in 2026. HB 2266 closes loopholes in the Growth Management Act and paves the way for more STEP housing to be created in jurisdictions across the state. Summary Expanding siting: HB 2266 changes how cities and counties must approach siting(approving a location) for STEP housing. It requires cities and counties to allow: Limiting requirements: HB 2266 also places important limitations on what cities and counties can require as a condition of siting or developing STEP housing. Under this bill, cities/counties are generally not allowed to: If a city/county uses a design review process, that process must be administrative (done by the lead city planner, not elected officials) and it must …

Read more

Truth be told, advocacy works: How a five-year-old helped advance housing justice during the 2026 legislative session

by

On Monday, January 26, 2026, a five-and-a-half-year-old named Truth visited the state capitol for the first time with her mother, Danisha. The two made the trip to Housing & Homelessness Advocacy Day (HHAD) on the Coalition’s Nancy Amidei Advocacy Express bus. “I just got word and jumped on the bus,” Danisha said when we met for coffee two weeks after our visit to Olympia. Danisha has been subscribed to Coalition emails for years. She’s worked in social services for the past decade and is currently a graduate student at the UW School of Social Work. She’s been a shelter counselor at DESC and Compass Housing Alliance and a housing advocate—helping people find housing, navigate resources, and communicate with landlords—at Neighborhood House, all Coalition member organizations. While working to find stability for others in our regional system of housing and care, Danisha said she was always one check away from being in shelters herself. “We’ve been through the ringer with housing,” Danisha said. She and her family went through the shelter system when Danisha was young. By age 13, Danisha had lost both her parents and was living with relatives. She never had a formal guardianship and was unable to access any of the foster care resources for kids who age out. “I just kind of turned 18 and just kept going in life,” she said. Right now, Danisha pays $2,150 in housing expenses for a two-bedroom apartment in Seattle for her and Truth. “It’s not even one of these new ones where you have a gym, and a roof top, and a little grill,” she said. Eight years ago, Danisha lived with her two siblings in a five-bedroom house with two bathrooms, a front yard, and a backyard. They paid $2,150 in rent. The house was in the same ZIP …

Read more

Navigating SNAP: Program basics & new HR1 requirements – March 25, 2026

by

PLEASE NOTE: The information in this training is accurate as of March 25, 2026. Benefit programs are undergoing significant and ongoing shifts. Here are a few resources where you can verify the information provided in this training: We invite you to watch and share this training on Navigating SNAP: Program Basics and the New HR1 requirements with your colleagues and communities who will be impacted by new limits to accessibility. The Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness is proud to present this in partnership with attorneys and public benefits experts from Solid Ground’s Benefits Legal Assistance (BLA) team.  In this training, BLA staff go over program basics (who can access programs and how to apply), explain what is changing, and how the communities you support will be impacted. You will also learn how to access BLA services for appeals on decisions and case consultation. The HR1 changes to the SNAP program are now the largest changes to eligibility since the 1996 Federal Welfare Reform Act. We know the most vulnerable will be disproportionately impacted by these changes, including people experiencing homelessness and people living with disabilities. We bring this information to the frontlines to help you advocate for and support the folks you work with. Please share this information and check our website for future training opportunities concerning SNAP benefits and other vital programs for communities impacted by HR1. For information and action about the harmful effects of H.R. 1 in terms of SNAP, please bookmark this page from FRAC: SNAP Cuts Mitigation Hub: Responding to H.R. 1 – Food Research & Action Center  Thank you to Solid Ground’s Benefits Legal Assistance team for presenting this informative training. Q: Do ABAWD requirements apply to being 18-21 and a student enrolled in high school? A: Students ages 18–21 who are enrolled at …

Read more