Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) – Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness Blog

January 2017 General Membership Meeting: Accountable WA, Legislative Advocacy

January 25, 2017 by Alison Eisinger

Thanks to those who joined us on Thursday, January 17 for our first General membership meeting of 2017! We had an action packed agenda complete with a call in to Olympia to start off our 2017 legislative advocacy. We were joined by community members from Catholic Community Services & Catholic Housing Services, Crisis Clinic, Friends of Youth, Housing Development Consortium, Jewish Family Services, Low Income Housing Institute, Plymouth Housing Group, REACH, Real Change, Recovery Cafe, All Home, Youth Care, and more! We heard a great presentation, called in to Olympia about legislative priorities, and signed famous Coalition Advocacy Postcards. Please read on for a summary of our meeting & important actions YOU can take before our next General Membership Meeting on Thursday, February 16th. Accountable WA, Kelli Smith, WA Budget & Policy Center As we know, Washington State had one of the most inequitable tax structures in the country, we do not have an income tax and therefore rely on sales tax and property tax to fund vital programs our communities need and to raise revenue. This structure causes people with lower incomes to pay disproportionately more of their income to taxes than people in the highest income bracket. The WA Budget and Policy Center, working with many organizations, has developed a package of legislation that would fix some of our tax problems, and make it so that people who are earning the least are not contributing the most in taxes (currently people who are in the lowest 20% income group contribute 16.8% of their income as WA state and local taxes, compared to those in the top 1% who contribute just 2.4% of their income to WA state and local taxes). There are two main goals of Accountable WA, we encourage you to learn more at the links below and click …

2015 Legislative Session Updates: On to Special Session

February 23, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

And it’s a wrap (but not really). The 2015 Regular Legislative Session ended on Friday 4/24, but the House and Senate have yet to agree upon a budget, so a special session will start on Wednesday, 4/29. We are happy that Extended Foster Care, the YEAR Act, the Homeless Youth Act, and the King County Bonding for Affordable Housing all passed! Unfortunately a number of our bills did not pass, as happens each session since only a limited number of bills can even be brought to vote. These bills will be re-worked in the break until the 2016 legislative session and be reborn and hopefully pass in 2016. Your phone calls, postcard signing, and advocacy have been significant and continue to be vital moving forward in the Budget process. Budgets from the House and Senate were both released in mid-April. See below for more details. The House and Senate will have to work together to agree upon a balanced budget. We are glad the House and the Governor both provided for revenue in their budgets, however the Senate did not. We encourage you to ask your legislators to “Please ensure the final budget raises new revenue and invests at least $110 million in affordable housing.” Please check out our tracker below and note the status of bills you have been tracking. Keep on making calls, fill out and send in a new postcard, and staying tuned for action alerts – Sign up for Coalition Action Alerts here! Take 5: call the Legislative Hotline to leave a message for your representatives and let them know what bills you support and also urge them to invest $100 Million in the Housing Trust Fund. These bills and budget asks are crucial to helping people experiencing homelessness in our community. Hotline Number: 1-800-562-6000 – real (and kind) people answer the phone! Hotline …

2015 Legislative Priorities

January 27, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

The 2015 One Night Count identified 3,772 too many people outside from 2-5am early morning Friday, January 23. This cannot be considered normal and we need YOU to take ACTION. We are now in the third week of the 2015 Washington State Legislative Session and your elected state legislators need to hear from you today! Call the Legislative Hotline to leave a message for your representatives and let them know that you support legislation that is crucial to helping people experiencing homelessness in our community. Hotline Number: 1-800-562-6000 – real (and kind) people answer the phone! Hotline Hours: Monday-Friday 8am-8pm Please find below short messages to use when you call your representatives and senators as well as links to PDF versions of one-pagers with information about the important acts and programs that are on our legislative agenda. Click here to view the Coalition’s Legislative & Budget Priorities in a printable version. Here are our legislative priorities in no particular order. Thanks to the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, Columbia Legal Services, The Mockingbird Society, and the Statewide Poverty Action Network for these one-pagers. State Housing Trust Fund: Invest $100 million to create good homes and local jobs through our State Housing Trust Fund Housing & Essential Needs (HEN), Aged, Blind, & Disabled (ABD) and SSI Facilitation PROTECT Crucial Programs & Prevent Homelessness for disabled and elderly Washingtonians: Maintain Housing & Essential Needs (HEN), Aged, Blind, & Disabled (ABD) and SSI Facilitation at current funding levels. Seniors and people with disabilities must be able to meet their basic needs and access recovery resources. Fair Tenant Screening Act (SB 5123 / HB 1257): ELIMINATE Barriers to Housing: Pass the Fair Tenant Screening Act (SB 5123 / HB 1257), and laws to prevent discrimination based on how people pay rent and ensure fair reporting …

Important TANF Sanction Changes

October 9, 2014 by Alison Eisinger

Today’s post is brought to you by Sara Robbins, Benefits Attorney at Solid Ground and Coalition on Homelessness Board Member. Please share this publication with any staff that are working with TANF recipients! I wanted to let everyone know that there are significant changes happening to the TANF Sanction Rules. Starting November 1, 2014, if someone’s TANF grant is in sanction for 2 consecutive months the TANF grant will close. The current rule is that TANF will close after 4 consecutive months of sanction. I have attached a mailer that was sent out by DSHS to all TANF recipients informing them of the change. I am also including a link to the Washington Law Help publication that gives more information about TANF sanctions. This rule change is especially important since there is a rule that if someone’s TANF closes 3 times they will be permanently disqualified from receiving TANF. If someone is permanently disqualified, anyone in the household will be ineligible for TANF. Please feel free to contact myself (see below) or anyone in Family Assistance if you have questions about the rule change, You can also contact us if you are working with families that are currently in sanction or at risk of entering sanction. Sara Robbins, Benefits Attorney Phone: 206.694.6741 Fax: 206.694.6777 www.solid-ground.org www.solidgroundblog.com Here are the helpful links again: WA Law Help DSHS Mailer to all TANF recipients

Recap: Coalition’s General Meeting – January 16, 2014

January 21, 2014 by Alison Eisinger

Happy near-end of January, everyone! We’re in the midst of one of our busiest month’s at the Coalition on Homelessness. But that doesn’t mean we’re giving up on our new Recap Tradition. Without further ado, here’s what happened at the Coalition’s General Member Meeting, held on January 16, 2014. As a reminder, the General Member Meeting takes place every third Thursday of the month from 9.00 – 11.00 a.m. at the East Cherry YWCA (2820 E. Cherry Street in Seattle). For more information, check our website’s Members’ tab for a link to the ‘Committees & Meetings’ page, or simply follow this link to take you there directly. Our next General Member Meeting is Thursday, February 20, 2014. __________________ Introducing the new Director at Committee to End Homelessness King County Mark Putnam, who last worked for Building Changes, is now the new Director at the CEHKC. Mark spoke about why this work is important and what his goals and hopes are as Director. Here’s a quick paraphrase of Mark’s words: Our community is vast and large, and we are committed to listening. Will be holding many community meetings to get input and hear from folks. Speaking with Legislators about legislative priorities. Understands that people are looking for solutions and leadership beyond incarceration/police involvement, moving folks who are homeless from one neighborhood to the next. We’re thinking hard about what’s next — the long-term, clear goal is focus. Please do get connected with CEHKC — attend the Governing Board meetings, which are open to all. Committee to End Homelessness: Governance changes and process Kate Speltz, King County – Homeless Housing Programsm, and Eileen Denham, City of Seattle Human Services Department, joined us to give background and information on next steps. Here’s a quick paraphrase of what they shared: Reminder: King County receives $24 Million in McKinney funding. Useful terminology: HEARTH …

Recap: Coalition’s General Meeting – December 19, 2013

January 10, 2014 by Alison Eisinger

As we were bidding farewell to 2013, Alison and I discussed what we’d like 2014 to look like for the Coalition’s Everyone Counts blog. One idea that we’re running with is to post a recap after every General Member Meeting. 2013 was a great year for our Coalition, and one we want to build off of in 2014. So, here to ring in this New Year with our new tradition is a Recap of December’s General Member meeting. As a reminder, the General Member Meeting takes place every third Thursday of the month from 9.00 – 11.00 a.m. at the East Cherry YWCA (2820 E. Cherry Street in Seattle). For more information, check our website’s Members’ tab for a link to the ‘Committees & Meetings’ page, or simply follow this link to take you there directly. Our next General Member Meeting is Thursday, January 16, 2014. __________________ Seattle Final Budget News & Thank You to Mayor Mike McGinn Our friends at the Seattle Human Services Coalition’s handout highlights our HUGE win with the City of Seattle Budget process: an additional investment of $6,891,219! Out-going Mayor Mike McGinn and Jerry DeGrieck, Senior Policy Advisor to Mayor McGinn, came to receive the Coalition’s sincerest Thank You for their leadership and commitment to Seattle residents over the past four years, and also for his strong support of the Coalition’s budget recommendations this past year. Mayor McGinn shared his heartfelt thanks to the Coalition and its members for all of our advocacy, and encouraged us to keep it up. 2014 Legislative Session Preview Robin Zukoski of Columbia Legal Services (CLS) provided background and an overview about the upcoming Legislative Session. Ben Miksch of Washington Low Income Housing Alliance (WLIHA) shared with us WLIHA’s 2014 State Legislative Agenda. Carrie Dolwick of Transportation Choices Coalition shared the status of Transportation policy at the …

End of Regular Session down in Olympia – Two Weeks until the Beginning of Special Session!

May 1, 2013 by Alison Eisinger

Sunday marked the end of the 105 day regular session down in Olympia with no budget agreement in sight. Governor Inslee has called all the legislators back down to Olympia for a special session to work out the budget beginning on May 13. While it may seem frustrating that the legislators couldn’t work out a budget in 105 days, it’s actually really great for housing and homelessness advocates to have an extended session. A special session means that we are more likely to end up with a final budget that reflects what we want: adequate investment in affordable housing (at least $65 million for the Housing Trust Fund + $28.5 million allotted to affordable housing projects by the House) and investment in the services that the people we serve need most, including Disability Lifeline (Housing and Essential Needs and Aged, Blind and Disabled) and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Your legislators will be back home in their district for the next two weeks, so now it is MORE important than ever before to stay in touch with your legislators. Email them or better yet invite them to your programs and show them how your programs – especially programs that are funded by the Housing Trust Fund or Housing and Essential Needs programs – work! If we don’t keep in touch with our elected officials, we will not end up with the budget that we want in the end – one that protects affordable housing and services for our homeless and low-income neighbors. The end of regular session also marks a time to celebrate our advocacy as a community this session and what it helped us to win. Our collective advocacy helped us pass part 2 of the Fair Tenant Screening Act, Foster Care to 21, and 72-hour notification for …

Some Good News From Olympia last week as the budget process continues

April 15, 2013 by Alison Eisinger

Last week was a busy week for housing and homelessness advocates. First, the House passed its proposed budget, a huge improvement over the Senate’s version. On Wednesday at noon, the House Appropriations Committee released their proposed budget and then passed it through the House of Representatives late Friday night. The House’s proposed budget protects important parts of our state’s safety net and includes revenue. It preserves funding for: Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) Aged, Blind and Disabled (ABD) Working Connections Child Care Consolidated Homeless Grants (CHG) which funds homeless housing programs across the state, including domestic violence shelters, transitional housing for families, and short-term rent assistance. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families The House also allocated $71 million for the Housing Trust Fund, more than double what the Senate allocated. This is very important, however, it is still well below the $175 million that we need in our state to create housing that is affordable to low income and working families. On April 10, the same day that the House released their budget, our friends at Poverty Action issued a call to action to “Save our Safety Net.” We joined them in urging our members to call Olympia to tell their legislators to protect Washington’s safety net. We had some surprising evidence (in addition to people e-mailing us and posting on our facebook page) that lots of people took action: last Wednesday evening, members of the Coalition’s Board of Directors made their calls to the free Legislative Hotline. Board president Emily Meyer called, and began to deliver our short message. After her first few words, “Please vote for full funding for vital programs,” the hotline operator recited the rest of our message back to her, “that really help families and people with disabilities in our community: HEN, ABD, TANF. Please include new revenue …