FINAL BILL REPORT

                                   SSB 5669

                                  C 295 L 91

                              SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

Brief Description:  Establishing housing trust fund priorities for projects submitted by regional support networks.

SPONSORS:Senate Committee on Health & Long‑Term Care (originally sponsored by Senators Niemi and West).

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH & LONG‑TERM CARE

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HOUSING

BACKGROUND:

The housing trust fund (HTF) program, administered by the Department of Community Development (DCD), provides loans and grants to local governments, nonprofit organizations, and public housing organizations to increase the availability and affordability of safe, decent, and sanitary low-income and special needs housing.  Households benefiting from HTF dollars may not earn more than 50 percent of the median income for the area in which the project is located.  Thirty percent of all HTF dollars must be spent in rural areas of the state.

The Community Mental Health Act authorizes groups of counties to develop regional support networks (RSN) to contract with the state for the treatment of mentally ill persons.  The RSNs allow local authorities the flexibility to develop comprehensive mental health systems which are most appropriate and effective for each locality.  Current law also requires that RSNs provide services to underserved populations including children, elderly, minorities and the disabled.

SUMMARY:

A 5 percent administrative cost lid is imposed on payments from the housing trust fund.  The Department of Community Development must provide for a geographic distribution of funds on a statewide basis.

RSNs are added to the organizations which may receive assistance from the Department of Community Development (DCD) under the housing trust fund (HTF) program.

The Department of Community Development is given discretion to choose the series of statutory criteria it must use to give preference to proposed projects.  In addition, four more criteria are added.  They are:  project location and access to employment centers; project location and access to public transportation services; the degree of commitment from programs to provide funding or support services for projects focusing on special needs populations; and projects proposed by groups with statutory mandates to develop community housing.

Applications for state housing trust fund projects targeting the mentally ill may only be approved if they are consistent with regional support network plans.

Regional support networks may receive technical assistance from the HTF and may identify and submit projects for housing and housing support services to the HTF.  Projects identified or submitted must be fully integrated with the RSN six-year operating and capital plan, timeline, and budget.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

Senate      47    0

House 98    0     (House amended)

Senate      45    0     (Senate concurred)

EFFECTIVE:  July 28, 1991