BILL REQ. #:  H-4512.2 

Read first time 01/30/2004.   Referred to Committee on Children & Family Services.

     AN ACT Relating to housing for homeless veterans; adding a new section to chapter 71.24 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   It is estimated that veterans constitute nearly thirty percent of Washington's homeless adult population. According to the United States department of veterans affairs, veterans are twice as likely as nonveterans to become homeless. Women veterans are four times as likely as nonveteran women to become homeless. Homeless veterans experience multiple barriers to employment, including long-term homelessness, unemployment, higher rates of hepatitis C, physical and mental disability, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse issues. When veterans who are seriously mentally ill are homeless and do not have access to stable, affordable housing and the services they need, they frequently enter the criminal justice system or use costly emergency services, including emergency rooms, hospitals, mental health treatment facilities, shelters, and other services for crises that could have been avoided.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 71.24 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) It is the policy of this state and the purpose of this section to facilitate and support the development and operation of housing for homeless mentally ill veterans who possess significant barriers to their social reintegration due to mental illness, and the effects of long-term homelessness that render them unable to share housing with the general homeless population.
     (2) The provision of housing exclusively for mentally ill veterans who possess significant barriers to social reintegration and employment is hereby authorized and shall not be considered unlawful discrimination, notwithstanding any other provision of law.
     (3) For the purposes of this section, "housing for mentally ill veterans," means emergency, transitional, or permanent housing tied to supportive services that assist mentally ill veterans who possess significant barriers to social reintegration and employment in stabilizing their lives and developing the skills and resources they need to make successful transitions to independent, self-sufficient lives.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   (1) The mental health division of the department of social and health services shall establish a pilot program to provide housing for fifty mentally ill, homeless veterans. The pilot program shall be financed through the capturing of moneys that otherwise would be spent on criminal justice, hospital emergency room, and other sources to serve mentally ill, homeless veterans.
     (2) The department of social and health services may adopt rules to implement this section.