BILL REQ. #: H-0085.5
| State of Washington | 60th Legislature | 2007 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/17/2007. Referred to Committee on Housing.
AN ACT Relating to providing affordable housing for all; amending RCW 43.185B.040, 36.22.178, and 43.63A.650; reenacting and amending RCW 36.18.010; adding a new chapter to Title 43 RCW; creating new sections; recodifying RCW 36.22.178, 43.185B.020, and 43.185B.040; making appropriations; and providing expiration dates.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 (1) The legislature finds that there is a
large, unmet need for affordable housing in the state of Washington.
The legislature declares that a decent, appropriate, and affordable
home in a healthy, safe environment for every household should be a
state goal and that, at a minimum, this goal must be accomplished for
every very low-income household by 2020. Furthermore, this goal
includes increasing the percentage of very low-income households who
are able to obtain and retain housing without government subsidies or
other public support.
(2) The legislature finds that there are many root causes of the
affordable housing shortage and declares that it is critical that such
causes be analyzed, effective solutions be developed, implemented,
monitored, and evaluated, and that these causal factors be eliminated.
The legislature also finds that there is a taxpayer and societal cost
associated with a lack of jobs that pay self-sufficiency standard wages
and a shortage of affordable housing, and that the state must identify
and quantify that cost.
(3) The legislature finds that the support and commitment of all
sectors of the statewide community is critical to accomplishing the
state's affordable housing for all goal. The legislature finds that
the provision of housing and housing-related services should be
administered at the local level. However, the state should play a
primary role in: Providing financial resources to achieve the goal at
all levels of government; researching, evaluating, benchmarking, and
implementing best practices; continually updating and evaluating
statewide housing data; developing a state plan that integrates the
strategies, goals, objectives, and performance measures of all other
state housing plans and programs; coordinating and supporting county
government plans and activities; and directing quality management
practices by monitoring both state and county government performance
towards achieving interim and ultimate goals.
(4) The legislature declares that the systematic and comprehensive
performance measurement and evaluation of progress toward interim goals
and the immediate state affordable housing goal of a decent,
appropriate, and affordable home in a healthy, safe environment for
every low-income household in the state by 2020 is a necessary
component of the statewide effort to end the affordable housing crisis.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 This chapter may be known and cited as the
Washington affordable housing for all act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 There is created within the department the
state affordable housing for all program, which shall be funded by the
affordable housing for all program surcharge provided for in RCW
36.22.178 (as recodified by this act) and all other sources directed to
the affordable housing for all program. The goal of the program is a
decent, appropriate, and affordable home in a healthy, safe environment
for every very low-income household in the state by 2020. A priority
must be placed upon achieving this goal for extremely low-income
households. This goal includes increasing the percentage of households
who access housing that is affordable for their income or wage level
without government assistance by increasing the number of previously
very low-income households who achieve self-sufficiency and economic
independence. The goal also includes implementing strategies to keep
the rising cost of housing below the relative rise in wages. The
department shall develop and administer the affordable housing for all
program. In the development and implementation of the program, the
department shall consider: The funding level, number of county staff
available to implement the program, and competency of each county to
meet the goals of the program; and establish program guidelines,
performance measures, and reporting requirements appropriate to the
existing capacity of the participating counties.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4 Unless the context clearly requires
otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this
chapter.
(1) "Affordable housing" means housing that has a sales price or
rental amount that is within the means of a household that may occupy
low, very low, and extremely low-income housing. The department shall
adopt policies for residential rental and homeownership housing,
occupied by extremely low, very low, and low-income households, that
specify the percentage of household income that may be spent on monthly
housing costs, including utilities other than telephone, to qualify as
affordable housing.
(2) "Department" means the department of community, trade, and
economic development.
(3) "Director" means the director of the department of community,
trade, and economic development.
(4) "First-time home buyer" means an individual or his or her
spouse who have not owned a home during the three-year period prior to
purchase of a home.
(5) "Nonprofit organization" means any public or private nonprofit
organization that: (a) Is organized under federal, state, or local
laws; (b) has no part of its net earnings inuring to the benefit of any
member, founder, contributor, or individual; and (c) has among its
purposes, significant activities related to the provision of decent
housing that is affordable to extremely low-income, very low-income,
low-income, or moderate-income households and special needs
populations.
(6) "Regulatory barriers to affordable housing" and "regulatory
barriers" mean any public policies, including those embodied in
statutes, ordinances, regulations, or administrative procedures or
processes, required to be identified by the state or local government
in connection with its strategy under section 105(b)(4) of the
Cranston-Gonzalez national affordable housing act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12701
et seq.).
(7) "Affordable housing for all account" means the account in the
custody of the state treasurer receiving the state's portion of income
from the revenue of sources established by RCW 36.22.178 (as recodified
by this act) and all other sources directed to the affordable housing
for all program.
(8) "County affordable housing task force" means a county
committee, as described in section 7 of this act, created to prepare
and recommend to its county legislative authority a county affordable
housing for all plan, and also to recommend expenditures of the funds
from the affordable housing for all program surcharge in RCW 36.22.178
(as recodified by this act) and all other sources directed to the
county's affordable housing for all program.
(9) "Performance measurement" means the process of comparing
specific measures of success with ultimate and interim goals.
(10) "Performance evaluation" means the process of evaluating the
performance by established objective, measurable criteria according to
the achievement of outlined goals, measures, targets, standards, or
other outcomes using a ranked scorecard from highest to lowest
performance which employs a scale of one to one hundred, one hundred
being the optimal score.
(11) "Quality management program" means a nationally recognized
program similar or equivalent to the Baldridge criteria. All local
governments receiving over five hundred thousand dollars from (a) state
funding sources, including the housing trust fund, (b) housing finance
commission programs, (c) the affordable housing for all program
surcharge in RCW 36.22.178 (as recodified by this act), (d) the
homeless housing and assistance program surcharge in RCW 36.22.179, and
(e) any other surcharge charged under chapter 36.22 RCW to fund
homelessness programs shall implement a quality management program,
perform a quality self-assessment, and apply to the Washington state
quality award program by December 31, 2009, and at least once every
three years thereafter. The department and the Washington state
housing finance commission must apply to the quality award program by
December 31, 2009, and at least once every three years thereafter.
(12) "Affordable housing for all program" means the program
authorized under this chapter, utilizing the funding from the
affordable housing for all program surcharge in RCW 36.22.178 (as
recodified by this act), and all other sources directed to the
affordable housing for all program, as administered by the department
at the state level and by each county at the local level.
(13) "State affordable housing for all plan" or "state plan" means
the plan developed by the department in collaboration with the
affordable housing advisory board with the goal of ensuring that every
very low-income household in Washington has a decent, appropriate, and
affordable home in a healthy, safe environment by 2020.
(14) "County affordable housing for all plan" or "county plan"
means the plan developed by each county with the goal of ensuring that
every very low-income household in the county has a decent,
appropriate, and affordable home in a healthy, safe environment by
2020.
(15) "Low-income household," for the purposes of the affordable
housing for all program, means a single person, family, or unrelated
persons living together whose adjusted income is less than eighty
percent of the median household income, adjusted for household size for
the county where the project is located.
(16) "Very low-income household" means a single person, family, or
unrelated persons living together whose adjusted income is less than
fifty percent of the median family income, adjusted for household size
for the county where the project is located.
(17) "Extremely low-income household" means a single person,
family, or unrelated persons living together whose adjusted income is
less than thirty percent of the median family income, adjusted for
household size for the county where the project is located.
(18) "Local government" means a county or city government in the
state of Washington.
(19) "Authority" or "housing authority" means any of the public
corporations created by RCW 35.82.030.
Sec. 5 RCW 43.185B.040 and 1993 c 478 s 12 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) The department shall, in consultation with the affordable
housing advisory board created in RCW 43.185B.020 (as recodified by
this act), prepare and ((from time to time amend a five-year)) annually
update a state affordable housing ((advisory)) for all plan. The state
plan must incorporate the strategies, objectives, goals, and
performance measures of all other housing-related state plans,
including the state homeless housing strategic plan required under RCW
43.185C.040 and all state housing programs. The state affordable
housing for all plan may be combined with the state homeless housing
strategic plan required under RCW 43.185C.040 or any other existing
state housing plan as long as the requirements of all of the plans to
be merged are met.
(2) The purpose of the state affordable housing for all plan is to:
(a) Document the need for affordable housing in the state and the
extent to which that need is being met through public and private
sector programs((,));
(b) Outline the development of sound strategies and programs to
promote affordable housing;
(c) Establish, evaluate, and report upon interim goals and
timelines that are determined by the department and by which the state
and counties may be measured;
(d) Establish, evaluate, and report upon performance measures,
including the performance measures outlined in section 6 of this act,
for the state and for county governments;
(e) Evaluate and report upon all counties' use of the affordable
housing for all program surcharge funds provided for in RCW 36.22.178
(as recodified by this act) and all other sources directed to the
counties' affordable housing for all programs;
(f) Report upon how housing trust fund awards within the previous
one-year period are consistent with the plan and have contributed to
the goal of the affordable housing for all program; and ((to))
(g) Facilitate state and county government planning to meet the
state affordable housing ((needs of the state, and to enable the
development of sound strategies and programs for affordable housing))
for all goal.
(3) The information in the ((five-year)) annual state affordable
housing ((advisory)) for all plan must include:
(a) An assessment of the state's housing market trends;
(b) An assessment of the housing needs for all economic segments of
the state by wage level decile and special needs populations including:
(i) A report on the number and percentage of persons or households
statewide and in each county in each income level decile who are
currently living in housing that is not affordable given their wage
level;
(ii) A report on the number of additional affordable rental housing
units that are needed statewide and in each county to house persons or
households at each wage level decile;
(iii) A report of the number and percentage of persons or
households identified as having special needs statewide and in each
county who are not adequately and affordably housed;
(iv) An estimate of the additional housing units needed statewide
and in each county for each special needs population category;
(c) An inventory of the supply and geographic distribution of
affordable housing rental units made available through public and
private sector programs;
(d) An inventory of the homeownership units under public or
nonprofit control through a trust or covenant limiting the economic
value of the unit made available through public and private sector
programs;
(e) An estimate of the supply of homes available for purchase
statewide and in each county that are affordable to each wage level
decile;
(f) An estimate of the number of affordable homes for purchase
needed for each wage level decile to achieve the state's homeownership
goal, as determined by the department and included in the state
affordable housing for all plan, unless established by the legislature;
(g) A status report on the degree of progress made by the public
and private sector toward meeting the housing needs of the state and
each county and major city in the state, where information is
available;
(((e))) (h) An identification of state and local regulatory
barriers to affordable housing and proposed regulatory and
administrative techniques designed to remove barriers to the
development and placement of affordable housing; ((and)) (i) An analysis, statewide and within each county and major
city, of the primary contributors to the cost of housing and an outline
of potential strategies to keep the increasing cost of housing below
the relative rise in wages;
(f)
(j) Specific recommendations, policies, or proposals for meeting
the affordable housing needs of the state;
(k) Identification of key root causal factors of the affordable
housing shortage and the inability of very low-income households to
obtain and retain appropriate housing, and identification of possible
preventative strategies and related performance measures;
(l) A report on the growth in the population of persons in each
wage level decile statewide and for each county;
(m) A determination of the cost to the state of the affordable
housing shortage;
(n) A report of any differences in the rates of inflation between
median house prices, median rent for a two-bedroom apartment, and
median family income for persons or households in each wage level
decile;
(o) A summary of the recommendations of the affordable housing
advisory board report as required in RCW 43.185B.030;
(p) A response to all county legislative and policy recommendations
included in county affordable housing for all plans as well as proposed
strategies to address issues raised in the county plans; and
(q) A summary report of the department's evaluations of the
operations and accomplishments of other state departments and agencies
as they affect housing as required in RCW 43.63A.650.
(((2)(a))) (4) The ((five-year)) state affordable housing
((advisory)) for all plan required under ((subsection (1) of)) this
section must be submitted to the appropriate committees of the
legislature on or before ((February 1, 1994)) December 31, 2008, and
subsequent updated plans must be submitted ((every five years)) by
December 31st each year thereafter.
(((b) Each February 1st, beginning February 1, 1995, the department
shall submit an annual progress report, to the legislature, detailing
the extent to which the state's affordable housing needs were met
during the preceding year and recommendations for meeting those needs))
(5) To guide counties in preparation of county affordable housing
for all plans required under section 8 of this act, the department
shall issue, by December 31, 2007, guidelines for preparing county
plans consistent with this chapter. County plans must be substantially
consistent with the goals and program recommendations of the state
affordable housing for all plan and must include, at a minimum, the
same information analysis, on a local level, as described in subsection
(3) of this section and must include the performance measures outlined
in section 6 of this act.
(6) Based on changes to the general population and in the housing
market, the department may revise the performance measures and goals of
the state affordable housing for all plan and set goals for years
following December 31, 2020.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6 (1) The department, in consultation with a
task force established by the department consisting of the chairs of
the appropriate committees of the legislature, representatives
appointed by the director from a minimum of five county affordable
housing for all task forces representing urban and rural areas as well
as communities east and west of the Cascade mountains, and
representatives from statewide housing advocacy organizations, shall
create affordable housing for all program outcomes and performance
measures and goals addressing, at a minimum, the success of the state
and each county in the following areas:
(a) An overall measurement of the affordable housing needs met for
extremely low and low-income households within each twelve-month
period;
(b) A measure of the increase in affordable rental housing;
(c) A measure of the increase in self-sufficiency amongst
individuals and families;
(d) A measure of the increase in individuals' and family wages;
(e) A measure of community support for the state and county plans;
(f) A measure of county government financial support for the
program;
(g) A measure of the financial viability of the state and county
plans;
(h) A measure of the quality of the state and county plans; and
(i) A measure of the quality of the management of county
governments.
Measurement reporting must be subdivided by county, major city, and
political geography, and yearly targets for these results must be
included. Performance measures must be included in the department's
state affordable housing for all plan and all county affordable housing
for all plans.
(2) Performance measures and yearly targets must be established by
December 31, 2007, and must be reviewed annually by the department
after soliciting feedback from all county affordable housing for all
task forces.
(3) The department may determine a timeline to implement and
measure each performance measure for the state and county plans, except
that the state and all counties participating in the affordable housing
for all program must implement and respond to all performance measures
by December 31, 2010, unless the department determines that a
performance measure is not applicable to a specific county based on
parameters and thresholds established by the department.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7 Each county shall convene a county
affordable housing task force. The task force must be a committee,
made up of volunteers, created to prepare and recommend to the county
legislative authority a county affordable housing for all plan and also
to recommend appropriate expenditures of the affordable housing for all
program funds provided for in RCW 36.22.178 (as recodified by this act)
and any other sources directed to the county program. The county
affordable housing task force must include a representative of the
county, a representative from the city with the highest population in
the county, a representative from all other cities in the county with
a population greater than fifty thousand, a member representing
beneficiaries of affordable housing programs, other members as may be
required to maintain eligibility for federal funding related to housing
programs and services, and a representative of a private nonprofit
organization with experience in very low-income housing. The task
force may be the same as the homeless housing task force created in RCW
43.185C.160 or the same as another existing task force or other formal
committee that meets the requirements of this section.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8 (1) Each county shall direct its affordable
housing task force to prepare and recommend to its county legislative
authority a county affordable housing for all plan for its
jurisdictional area. Each county shall adopt a county plan by June 30,
2008, and update the plan annually by June 30th thereafter. All plans
must be forwarded to the department by the date of adoption. County
affordable housing for all plans may be combined with the local
homeless housing plans required under RCW 43.185C.040 or any other
existing plan addressing housing within a county as long as the
requirements of all of the plans to be merged are met. For counties
required or choosing to plan under RCW 36.70A.040, county affordable
housing for all plans must be consistent with the housing elements of
comprehensive plans described in RCW 36.70A.070(2). County plans must
also be consistent with any existing local homeless housing plan
required in RCW 43.185C.050.
(2) County affordable housing for all plans must be primarily
focused on (a) ensuring that every very low-income household in the
county jurisdictional area has a decent, appropriate, and affordable
home in a healthy, safe environment by 2020 and (b) increasing the
percentage of very low-income households that access affordable housing
without government assistance. County plans must also be substantially
consistent with the goals, performance measures, and program
recommendations of the state affordable housing for all plan and must
include, at a minimum, the same information, analysis, and performance
measures as described in RCW 43.185B.040 (as recodified by this act)
and section 6 of this act. In addition to these performance measures,
counties must report on a common performance measure, to be determined
by the department, measuring the health and safety of tenants of
affordable rental housing. All local governments within a county,
including towns, cities, and counties, must report information related
to this performance measure to the county task force. Counties shall
report on achievements according to stated performance measures to the
department annually by December 1st, beginning in 2008.
(3) County affordable housing for all plans must include timelines
for the accomplishment of interim goals and targets, and for the
acquisition of projected financing that is appropriate for outlined
goals and targets. Plans must also include state legislative
recommendations to enable the county to achieve its affordable housing
for all goals. Legislative recommendations must be specific and, if
necessary, include an estimated amount of funding required and
suggestions of an appropriate funding source.
(4) Each year, the department shall:
(a) Summarize key information from county plans, including a
summary of legislative recommendations;
(b) Conduct annual performance evaluations of county plans; and
(c) Conduct annual performance evaluations of all counties
according to their performance in achieving stated affordable housing
goals in their plans.
(5) The department shall present the summary of county affordable
housing for all plans and the results of performance evaluations to the
appropriate committees of the legislature annually on or before
December 31st.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9 Any county may decline to participate in the
affordable housing for all program authorized in this chapter by
forwarding to the department a resolution adopted by the county
legislative authority stating the intention not to participate. A copy
of the resolution must also be transmitted to the county auditor and
treasurer. Counties that decline to participate shall not be required
to establish an affordable housing task force or to create a county
affordable housing for all plan. Counties declining to participate in
the affordable housing for all program shall continue to collect and
utilize the affordable housing for all surcharge for the purposes
described in RCW 36.22.178; however, such counties shall not be
allocated any additional affordable housing for all program funding.
Counties may opt back into the affordable housing for all program
authorized by this chapter at a later date through a process and
timeline to be determined by the department.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 10 A county may subcontract with any other
local government, housing authority, community action agency, or other
nonprofit organization for the execution of programs contributing to
the affordable housing for all goal. All subcontracts must be:
Consistent with the county affordable housing for all plan adopted by
the legislative authority of the county; time limited; and filed with
the department, and must have specific performance terms as specified
by the county. County governments must strongly encourage all
subcontractors under the affordable housing for all program to
implement a quality management program and apply to the Washington
state quality award program. This authority to subcontract with other
entities does not affect participating counties' ultimate
responsibility for meeting the requirements of the affordable housing
for all program.
Sec. 11 RCW 36.22.178 and 2005 c 484 s 18 are each amended to
read as follows:
The surcharge provided for in this section shall be named the
affordable housing for all program surcharge.
(1) Except as provided in subsection (((2))) (3) of this section,
a surcharge of ten dollars per instrument shall be charged by the
county auditor for each document recorded, which will be in addition to
any other charge authorized by law. The county may retain up to five
percent of these funds collected solely for the collection,
administration, and local distribution of these funds. Of the
remaining funds, forty percent of the revenue generated through this
surcharge will be transmitted monthly to the state treasurer who will
deposit the funds into the ((Washington housing trust account. The
office of community development of the department of community, trade,
and economic development will develop guidelines for the use of these
funds to support)) affordable housing for all account created in
section 12 of this act. The department must use these funds to fund:
(a) Building operation and maintenance costs of housing projects or
units within housing projects that are affordable to extremely low-income ((persons)) households with incomes at or below thirty percent
of the area median income, and that require a supplement to rent income
to cover ongoing operating expenses;
(b) Department planning, evaluation, and reporting requirements
associated with or of the affordable housing for all program; and
(c) Technical assistance efforts to assist counties to meet
planning, reporting, evaluation, and quality management requirements of
the affordable housing for all program.
(2) All of the remaining funds generated by this surcharge will be
retained by the county and be deposited into a fund that must be used
by the county and its cities and towns for housing projects or units
within housing projects that are affordable to very low-income
((persons)) households with incomes at or below fifty percent of the
area median income. The portion of the surcharge retained by a county
shall be allocated to very low-income housing projects or units within
such housing projects in the county and the cities within a county
((according to an interlocal agreement between the county and the
cities within the county)), or for programs and services to serve
extremely low or very low-income households, consistent with countywide
and local housing needs and policies. ((The funds generated with this
surcharge shall not be used for construction of new housing if at any
time the vacancy rate for available low-income housing within the
county rises above ten percent. The vacancy rate for each county shall
be developed using the state low-income vacancy rate standard developed
under subsection (3) of this section.)) A priority must be given to
projects or units within projects, or programs and services that are
affordable to extremely low-income households with incomes at or below
thirty percent of the area median income. For counties participating
in the affordable housing for all program, all programs and projects
funded must be consistent with strategies outlined in the county
affordable housing for all plan. Uses of these ((local)) county funds
are limited to:
(a) Acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of housing
projects or units within housing projects that are affordable to very
low-income ((persons)) households with incomes at or below fifty
percent of the area median income, including units for homeownership,
rental units, seasonal and permanent farm worker housing units, and
single room occupancy units;
(b) Supporting building operation and maintenance costs of housing
projects or units within housing projects eligible to receive housing
trust funds, that are affordable to very low-income ((persons))
households with incomes at or below fifty percent of the area median
income, and that require a supplement to rent income to cover ongoing
operating expenses;
(c) Rental assistance vouchers for housing ((projects or)) units
((within housing projects)) that are affordable to very low-income
((persons)) households with incomes at or below fifty percent of the
area median income, to be administered by a local public housing
authority or other local organization that has an existing rental
assistance voucher program((, consistent with the United States
department of housing and urban development's section 8 rental
assistance voucher program standards)). The department shall develop
statewide guidelines for a rental assistance program by 2008; ((and))
(d) Operating costs for emergency shelters and licensed overnight
youth shelters;
(e) Housing programs and projects or housing services specifically
referenced in the county affordable housing for all plan; and
(f) Activities eligible under chapter 43.185C RCW.
(((2))) (3) The surcharge imposed in this section does not apply to
assignments or substitutions of previously recorded deeds of trust.
(((3) The real estate research center at Washington State
University shall develop a vacancy rate standard for low-income housing
in the state as described in RCW 18.85.540(1)(i)))
(4) All counties shall report at least annually upon receipts and
expenditures of the affordable housing for all program surcharge funds
created in this section to the department. The department may require
more frequent reports. The report must include the amount of funding
generated by the surcharge, the total amount of funding distributed to
date, the amount of funding allocated to each project, a description of
each project funded, including information on the income or wage level
and numbers of extremely low and low-income households the project will
serve, and the outcome or anticipated outcome of each project.
Counties participating in the affordable housing for all program shall
also report annually on performance measures, including performance
measures outlined in section 6 of this act and others to be determined
by the department, related to uses of the affordable housing for all
program surcharge funds.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 12 The affordable housing for all account is
created in the custody of the state treasurer. The state's portion of
the surcharge established in RCW 36.22.178 (as recodified by this act)
shall be deposited in the account, as well as all other sources
directed to the affordable housing for all program. Expenditures from
the account may only be used for the affordable housing for all program
as described in this chapter. Only the director or the director's
designee may authorize expenditures from the account. The account is
subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an
appropriation is not required for expenditures.
Sec. 13 RCW 36.18.010 and 2005 c 484 s 19 and 2005 c 374 s 1 are
each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
County auditors or recording officers shall collect the following
fees for their official services:
(1) For recording instruments, for the first page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, five dollars; for each additional page
eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar. The fee for
recording multiple transactions contained in one instrument will be
calculated for each transaction requiring separate indexing as required
under RCW 65.04.050 as follows: The fee for each title or transaction
is the same fee as the first page of any additional recorded document;
the fee for additional pages is the same fee as for any additional
pages for any recorded document; the fee for the additional pages may
be collected only once and may not be collected for each title or
transaction;
(2) For preparing and certifying copies, for the first page eight
and one-half by fourteen inches or less, three dollars; for each
additional page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one
dollar;
(3) For preparing noncertified copies, for each page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar;
(4) For administering an oath or taking an affidavit, with or
without seal, two dollars;
(5) For issuing a marriage license, eight dollars, (this fee
includes taking necessary affidavits, filing returns, indexing, and
transmittal of a record of the marriage to the state registrar of vital
statistics) plus an additional five-dollar fee for use and support of
the prevention of child abuse and neglect activities to be transmitted
monthly to the state treasurer and deposited in the state general fund
plus an additional ten-dollar fee to be transmitted monthly to the
state treasurer and deposited in the state general fund. The
legislature intends to appropriate an amount at least equal to the
revenue generated by this fee for the purposes of the displaced
homemaker act, chapter 28B.04 RCW;
(6) For searching records per hour, eight dollars;
(7) For recording plats, fifty cents for each lot except cemetery
plats for which the charge shall be twenty-five cents per lot; also one
dollar for each acknowledgment, dedication, and description: PROVIDED,
That there shall be a minimum fee of twenty-five dollars per plat;
(8) For recording of miscellaneous records not listed above, for
the first page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, five
dollars; for each additional page eight and one-half by fourteen inches
or less, one dollar;
(9) For modernization and improvement of the recording and indexing
system, a surcharge as provided in RCW 36.22.170;
(10) For recording an emergency nonstandard document as provided in
RCW 65.04.047, fifty dollars, in addition to all other applicable
recording fees;
(11) For recording instruments, a surcharge as provided in RCW
36.22.178 (as recodified by this act); and
(([(12)])) (12) For recording instruments, except for documents
recording a birth, marriage, divorce, or death or any documents
otherwise exempted from a recording fee under state law, a surcharge as
provided in RCW 36.22.179.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 14 This chapter does not require either the
department or any local government to expend any funds to accomplish
the goals of this chapter other than the revenues authorized in this
act and other revenue that may be appropriated by the legislature for
these purposes. However, neither the department nor any local
government may use any funds authorized in this act to supplant or
reduce any existing expenditures of public money to address the
affordable housing shortage.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 15 The joint legislative audit and review
committee shall conduct a performance audit of the state affordable
housing for all program every four years. The audit must include an
analysis of the department's expenditures of funds from sources
established by RCW 36.22.178 (as recodified by this act) and all other
sources directed to the affordable housing for all program. The first
audit must be conducted on or before December 31, 2010. Each audit
must take no longer than six months or fifty thousand dollars to
complete.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 16 (1)(a) The department of community, trade,
and economic development shall conduct a study to evaluate the
potential development of a voluntary statewide, low-income household
housing waiting list database that would include information on all
low-income households requesting housing assistance for the purpose of
connecting such households with appropriate housing opportunities. The
study shall investigate and evaluate the following:
(i) The anticipated benefits of a statewide waiting list database
for low-income households and low-income housing providers;
(ii) The cost of implementing and maintaining the database; and
(iii) Best practices from other states or from counties in other
states that currently have a similar database.
(b) The department shall report the results of this study to the
appropriate committees of the legislature by December 31, 2008.
(2) This section expires December 31, 2008.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 17 (1) The department shall create or
purchase, and implement by December 31, 2009, a master affordable
housing database that includes specific information about existing
affordable rental housing stock in the state of Washington. The
database must be maintained and continually updated by the department,
and the department may cross-reference and exchange information between
this database and other existing state housing databases.
(2) The database must include information on all rental units that
meet the affordable housing definition and have received or continue to
receive funding from the federal, state, any local government, or other
nonprofit organization, or financing through the Washington state
housing finance commission. The department shall encourage landlords
of private rental units that are affordable for low-income households
to voluntarily submit information about these units to be included in
the database.
(3) The database must include information about rental units as
determined by the department. However, the database must include, at
a minimum, measures for location, cost, and size.
(4) Other state agencies, local governments, local public agencies,
including water and sewer districts, housing authorities, and other
housing organizations shall cooperate with the department to create and
update the affordable housing database by providing to the department
any requested existing information about rental housing units within
the jurisdiction.
(5) The database must be searchable by the department, local
governments, community housing organizations, including housing
authorities, and the public according to housing characteristics
determined by the department including, at a minimum, location, cost,
and size. The database will be utilized for data collection about
Washington's affordable rental housing stock and will also serve as a
low-income housing referral system to connect low-income households
seeking housing with appropriate and available units.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 18 (1) The department shall create a statewide
affordable homeownership database by December 31, 2009, to collect and
disseminate information related to available homeownership programs,
resources, and affordable housing throughout the state for low and
moderate-income persons, which are persons making at or below eighty
percent of the area median income.
(2) The department shall contract with a state agency or nonprofit
organization with experience in providing statewide information and
referral services to first-time, low-income home buyers to oversee
development, provide technical assistance, and administer the database.
(3) The state agency or nonprofit organization chosen by the
department shall oversee the development of and administer an online
database of information and referrals related to first-time
homeownership in the state for persons with low and moderate income.
The agency or organization will help develop the project's
functionality and scope after receiving input from a cross-section of
affordable homeownership stakeholders throughout the state.
(4) The affordable homeownership database must be developed to
allow partner government agencies and nonprofit organizations
throughout the state to access the database online and update the
information in the database in order to better serve their local
clients. The database will be accessible to clients through a
simplified, client-oriented interface that will be linked to all
partner agencies and stakeholders that have access to the database.
The database will include, but not be limited to, all available local,
statewide, and federal government and nonprofit programs developed to
serve first-time home buyers with low or moderate income, and new and
existing housing properties that could be afforded by many of those
individuals or households with an income of eighty percent or less of
the local median income.
(5) The database may encourage users and potential first-time home
buyers to follow a home buying process that encourages home buyer
education, financial education, resolution of credit issues, budgeting,
and researching available assistance programs that they may qualify for
before obtaining a loan preapproval or searching for a home.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 19 (1) The Washington state institute for
public policy shall conduct a study to investigate and recommend
appropriate criteria that the state and local governments can use to
determine whether or not to allocate funding to rental voucher
programs, and at what level existing or future voucher programs shall
be funded. Criteria may include factors such as vacancy rates,
affordability rates, and the percent of the population considered low-income, very low-income, and extremely low-income. The study shall
also analyze the effectiveness of existing rental voucher programs, in
relation to the cost of vouchers and program administration, and
compare the costs and benefits of voucher programs to other low-income
housing programs and projects that are eligible under RCW 36.22.178 (as
recodified by this act) or eligible for financial assistance from the
housing trust fund, such as new construction and rehabilitation of
housing units. The Washington state institute for public policy shall
research and include findings, where they exist, of a similar nature
from other areas of the country. Representatives from the affordable
housing advisory board, the department of community, trade, and
economic development, and the housing finance commission shall
participate in the study, as well as other housing stakeholders,
including representatives from the private rental housing industry,
housing authorities that operate rental voucher programs, county and
city governments, nonprofit and for-profit housing developers, and
others that express an interest in participating. The Washington state
institute for public policy shall present the results of this study to
the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 31, 2008.
The department shall negotiate the terms and conditions for payment of
this study and may use funds from the affordable housing for all
account to pay for this study as long as the cost does not exceed fifty
thousand dollars.
(2) This section expires December 31, 2008.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 20 (1) The department, the Washington state
housing finance commission, the affordable housing advisory board, and
all participating county governments, housing authorities, and other
nonprofit organizations receiving state funds, county affordable
housing for all surcharge funds, or financing through the housing
finance commission, shall, by December 31, 2007, and annually
thereafter, review current housing reporting requirements related to
housing programs and services and give recommendations to the
legislature to streamline and simplify all planning and reporting
requirements. The entities listed in this section shall also give
recommendations for additional legislative actions that could promote
the affordable housing for all goal.
(2) The department shall collaborate with the Washington state
housing finance commission and representatives from statewide
organizations representing counties, cities, housing authorities,
nonprofit groups involved in affordable housing, and other interested
parties, to create a strategy to streamline and, when possible,
consolidate state and local government reporting requirements to
address the inefficiencies associated with multiple reporting
requirements. The department shall present the strategy to the
appropriate committees of the legislature by December 31, 2007.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 21 The sum of fifty thousand dollars, or as
much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 2008, from the general fund to the affordable housing
for all account to be distributed by the department to five housing
authorities, using a selection method and distribution formula to be
determined by the department, to implement a quality management program
and prepare and submit an application to the Washington quality awards
program by December 31, 2009.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 22 The sum of fifty thousand dollars, or as
much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 2008, from the general fund to the affordable housing
for all account to be distributed by the department of community,
trade, and economic development to five community action agencies,
using a selection method and distribution formula to be determined by
the department, to implement a quality management program and prepare
and submit an application to the Washington quality awards program by
December 31, 2009.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 23 The sum of seven million dollars, or as
much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 2008, from the general fund to the affordable housing
for all account created in section 12 of this act to be distributed by
the department to the participating counties, using a formula as
determined by the department, to be used for county planning, data
system creation, data collection, program implementation purposes, and
housing programs eligible under RCW 36.22.178 (as recodified by this
act).
Sec. 24 RCW 43.63A.650 and 1999 c 267 s 3 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) The department shall be the principal state department
responsible for coordinating federal and state resources and activities
in housing, except for programs administered by the Washington state
housing finance commission under chapter 43.180 RCW, and for evaluating
the operations and accomplishments of other state departments and
agencies as they affect housing. The department shall conduct annual
performance evaluations of all state departments and agencies regarding
their housing programs and activities. The department shall provide
copies of the evaluation reports to the appropriate committees of the
legislature and the affordable housing advisory board by December 31st
of each year.
(2) The department shall work with local governments, tribal
organizations, local housing authorities, nonprofit community or
neighborhood-based organizations, and regional or statewide nonprofit
housing assistance organizations, for the purpose of coordinating
federal and state resources with local resources for housing.
(3) The department shall be the principal state department
responsible for providing shelter and housing services to homeless
families with children. The department shall have the principal
responsibility to coordinate, plan, and oversee the state's activities
for developing a coordinated and comprehensive plan to serve homeless
families with children. The plan shall be developed collaboratively
with the department of social and health services. The department
shall include community organizations involved in the delivery of
services to homeless families with children, and experts in the
development and ongoing evaluation of the plan. The department shall
follow professionally recognized standards and procedures. The plan
shall be implemented within amounts appropriated by the legislature for
that specific purpose in the operating and capital budgets. The
department shall submit the plan to the appropriate committees of the
senate and house of representatives no later than September 1, 1999,
and shall update the plan and submit it to the appropriate committees
of the legislature by January 1st of every odd-numbered year through
2007. The plan shall address at least the following: (a) The need for
prevention assistance; (b) the need for emergency shelter; (c) the need
for transitional assistance to aid families into permanent housing; (d)
the need for linking services with shelter or housing; and (e) the need
for ongoing monitoring of the efficiency and effectiveness of the
plan's design and implementation.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 25 RCW 36.22.178, 43.185B.020, and 43.185B.040
are each recodified as sections in chapter 43.--- RCW (created in
section 26 of this act).
NEW SECTION. Sec. 26 Sections 1 through 4, 6 through 10, 12, 14,
15, 17, and 18 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title