BILL REQ. #: H-2442.6
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
Read first time 04/04/11. Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.
AN ACT Relating to low-income and homeless housing assistance surcharges; amending RCW 36.22.179; adding a new section to chapter 43.185C RCW; and providing an expiration date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 36.22.179 and 2009 c 462 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) In addition to the surcharge authorized in RCW 36.22.178, and
except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, an additional
surcharge of ten dollars shall be charged by the county auditor for
each document recorded, which will be in addition to any other charge
allowed by law. ((During the 2009-11 and 2011-13 biennia)) From July
1, 2009, through July 31, 2011, and from July 1, 2015, through June 30,
2017, the surcharge shall be thirty dollars. From August 1, 2011,
through June 30, 2015, the surcharge shall be forty dollars. The funds
collected pursuant to this section are to be distributed and used as
follows:
(a) The auditor shall retain two percent for collection of the fee,
and of the remainder shall remit sixty percent to the county to be
deposited into a fund that must be used by the county and its cities
and towns to accomplish the purposes of chapter 484, Laws of 2005, six
percent of which may be used by the county for administrative costs
related to its homeless housing plan, and the remainder for programs
which directly accomplish the goals of the county's local homeless
housing plan, except that for each city in the county which elects as
authorized in RCW 43.185C.080 to operate its own local homeless housing
program, a percentage of the surcharge assessed under this section
equal to the percentage of the city's local portion of the real estate
excise tax collected by the county shall be transmitted at least
quarterly to the city treasurer, without any deduction for county
administrative costs, for use by the city for program costs which
directly contribute to the goals of the city's local homeless housing
plan; of the funds received by the city, it may use six percent for
administrative costs for its homeless housing program.
(b) The auditor shall remit the remaining funds to the state
treasurer for deposit in the home security fund account. The
department may use twelve and one-half percent of this amount for
administration of the program established in RCW 43.185C.020, including
the costs of creating the statewide homeless housing strategic plan,
measuring performance, providing technical assistance to local
governments, and managing the homeless housing grant program. The
remaining eighty-seven and one-half percent is to be used by the
department to:
(i) Provide housing and shelter for homeless people including, but
not limited to: Grants to operate, repair, and staff shelters; grants
to operate transitional housing; partial payments for rental
assistance; consolidated emergency assistance; overnight youth
shelters; and emergency shelter assistance; and
(ii) Fund the homeless housing grant program.
(2) The surcharge imposed in this section does not apply to (a)
assignments or substitutions of previously recorded deeds of trust, or
(b) documents recording a birth, marriage, divorce, or death or any
documents otherwise exempted from a recording fee under state law.
(3) If section 2, chapter . . ., Laws of 2011 (section 2 of this
act) is not enacted into law by July 31, 2011, section 1, chapter . .
., Laws of 2011 (section 1 of this act) is null and void.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 43.185C
RCW to read as follows:
(1) As a means of efficiently and cost-effectively providing
housing assistance to very-low income and homeless households:
(a) Any local government that has the authority to issue housing
vouchers, directly or through a contractor, using document recording
surcharge funds collected pursuant to RCW 36.22.178, 36.22.179, or
36.22.1791 must:
(i) Establish and implement a process for promoting the
availability of rental properties in buildings with fewer than fifty
units. The process must include providing interested landlords with
the opportunity to include relevant information on an interested
landlord list and distributing the list to individuals and households
receiving a housing voucher and agencies providing services to those
individuals and households. The local government must use reasonable
best efforts to communicate and interact with landlord and tenant
associations located within its jurisdiction to facilitate
implementation of this process;
(ii) Using cost-effective methods of communication, convene, on a
semiannual or more frequent basis, landlords represented on the
interested landlord list and agencies providing services to individuals
and households receiving housing vouchers to identify successes,
barriers, and process improvements. The local government is not
required to reimburse any participants for expenses related to
attendance;
(iii) Produce data, limited to document recording fee uses and
expenditures, on a calendar year basis in consultation with landlords
represented on the interested landlord list and agencies providing
services to individuals and households receiving housing vouchers, that
include the following: Total amount expended from document recording
fees; amount expended on, number of households that received, and
number of housing vouchers issued in each of the private, public, and
nonprofit markets; amount expended on, number of households that
received, and number of housing placement payments provided in each of
the private, public, and nonprofit markets; amount expended on and
number of eviction prevention services provided in the private market;
and amount expended on and number of other tenant-based rent assistance
services provided in the private market. If these data elements are
not readily available, the reporting government may request the
department to use the sampling methodology established pursuant to
(b)(iii) of this subsection to obtain the data; and
(iv) Annually submit the calendar year data to the department by
October 1st, with preliminary data submitted by October 1, 2012, and
full calendar year data submitted beginning October 1, 2013.
(b) The department must:
(i) Require contractors that provide housing vouchers to distribute
the interested landlord list created by the appropriate local
government to individuals and households receiving the housing
vouchers;
(ii) Using cost-effective methods of communication, annually
convene local governments issuing housing vouchers, landlord
association representatives, and agencies providing services to
individuals and households receiving housing vouchers to identify
successes, barriers, and process improvements. The department is not
required to reimburse any participants for expenses related to
attendance;
(iii) Develop a sampling methodology to obtain data required under
this section when a local government or contractor does not have such
information readily available. The process for developing the sampling
methodology must include providing notification to and the opportunity
for public comment by local governments issuing housing vouchers,
landlord association representatives, and agencies providing services
to individuals and households receiving housing vouchers;
(iv) Develop a report, limited to document recording fee uses and
expenditures, on a calendar year basis in consultation with local
governments, landlord association representatives, and agencies
providing services to individuals and households receiving housing
vouchers, that includes the following: Total amount expended from
document recording fees; amount expended on, number of households that
received, and number of housing vouchers issued in each of the private,
public, and nonprofit markets; amount expended on, number of households
that received, and number of housing placement payments provided in
each of the private, public, and nonprofit markets; amount expended on
and number of eviction prevention services provided in the private
market; and amount expended on and number of other tenant-based rent
assistance services provided in the private market. The information in
the report must include data submitted by local governments and data on
all additional document recording fee activities for which the
department contracted that were not otherwise reported; and
(v) Annually submit the calendar year report to the legislature by
December 15th, with a preliminary report submitted by December 15,
2012, and full calendar year reports submitted beginning December 15,
2013.
(2) For purposes of this section:
(a) "Housing placement payments" means one-time payments, such as
first and last month's rent and move-in costs, funded by document
recording surcharges collected pursuant to RCW 36.22.178, 36.22.179, or
36.22.1791 that are made to secure a unit on behalf of a tenant.
(b) "Housing vouchers" means payments funded by document recording
surcharges collected pursuant to RCW 36.22.178, 36.22.179, or
36.22.1791 that are made by a local government or contractor to secure:
(i) A rental unit on behalf of an individual tenant; or (ii) a block of
units on behalf of multiple tenants.
(c) "Interested landlord list" means a list of landlords who have
indicated to a local government or contractor interest in renting to
individuals or households receiving a housing voucher funded by
document recording surcharges.
(3) This section expires June 30, 2017.
(4) If section 1, chapter . . ., Laws of 2011 (section 1 of this
act) is not enacted into law by July 31, 2011, this section is null and
void.