BySenate Housing Stability & Affordability (originally sponsored by Senators Zeiger, Kuderer, Das, Warnick, Nguyen, and Palumbo)

AN ACT Relating to creating a pilot program for certain cities to hire homeless persons for local beautification projects; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The department of commerce must establish a pilot program for cities to provide job opportunities to and hire persons experiencing homelessness for the purposes of local beautification projects. The pilot program must include three cities, two on the west side and one on the east side of the Cascade mountain range.

(b) A higher than average rate of unsheltered persons experiencing homelessness compared to sheltered persons experiencing homelessness;

(c) The ability to provide a local match to state funds up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars for purposes of this pilot program.

(3) Persons experiencing homelessness who are hired under this pilot program must be paid at least the local minimum wage and be connected with organizations that provide wraparound housing services.

(4) The pilot program expires July 1, 2022. By December 1, 2022, the cities selected to participate in the pilot program must report to the department of commerce the number of persons experiencing homelessness hired during the pilot program and the number of such persons connected with wraparound housing services. By July 1, 2023, the department of commerce must report to the legislature the statistics provided by the cities along with strategies for hiring persons experiencing homelessness for other local projects and any legislative recommendations.

(5) Persons experiencing homelessness who are hired under this pilot program are not considered state employees. Other provisions of law relating to civil service, hours of work, rate of compensation, state retirement plans, paid family and medical leave, and vacation leave do not apply to this pilot program, except for project supervisors, who must be city employees, and other administrative and supervisory personnel.

(6) Nothing in this section is intended to preclude or curtail collective bargaining rights between a labor union and a public employer.

(7) For purposes of this section, "persons experiencing homelessness" means individuals living outside or in a building not meant for human habitation or which they have no legal right to occupy, in an emergency shelter, or in a temporary housing program that may include a transitional and supportive housing program if habitation time limits exist.