Document Recording Fee HB2048/SB 5952:

Summary:  The document recording fee supports state and county approaches to preventing and ending homelessness ncluding housing vouchers, eviction prevention services, short-term housing assistance, and emergency shelter.  The DRF bills extend the sunset of a $20 real estate document recording fee set to expire in 2013. The $20 fee will be extended for four years and a new temporary $10 fee (set to expire in 2015) will be added to compensate for fewer documents during the recession.

Status: This bill died in the final hours of the last session as the Senate ran out of time.  The bill was reintroduced this session in the House and Senate, passed out of Senate Committee on Financial Institutions and Housing & Insurance and sent to Senate Ways and Means.

Housing Trust Fund:

Summary: The Housing Trust Fund is a capital fund that creates and preserves affordable housing in all communities across Washington State.  The HTF leverages more than four times its funding from other sources and acts as a stimulus to the local economy by providing jobs. More than seventy percent of people served by Housing Trust Fund units make less than $17,540 per year, making it a vital resource in the fight to end homelessness.

Status: Thought before session to be an impossibility, the HTF is now part of a larger jobs bill package rolled out in a Wednesday press conference.  Funding for Housing Trust would be $100 million.

Housing and Essential Needs (HEN):

Summary:  Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) is a new program created last session and enacted in November 2011 in place of the Disability Lifeline cash assistance program.  Instead of providing $197/month in cash  assistance to all eligible clients who were disabled (physically and/or mentally) and temporarily unable to work, the HEN program supports housing costs for
some former DL-U clients who are eligible for Medical Care Services (MCS) because of their disability and are homeless or at risk of being homeless. The state allocation for HEN was less than half the allocation for DL-U cash assistance. Clients receiving medical care services are referred to HEN for evaluation and could be eligible to receive up to $400 in housing support as well as essential needs including bus passes.

Status: The program operates in all counties but with HEN being a relatively new program and not an automatic part of MCS, referrals are taking a while to build.  With only a few months experience in running the program and smaller than anticipated expenditures, the budget for next year may be at risk.

In the budget that has been approved by Congress, and is expected to be signed by President Obama, we are pleased to share that the majority of programs that United Way has prioritized have stayed intact or even increased in funding. Given the conomic and political landscape, this is good news. Please see below for highlights of FY2012 program funding in our building block areas. Note: There is an additional 0.189 percent across the board cut to all programs not reflected in these numbers.

INCOME

• Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP): $120 million – the same as FY2011. (A special thank you to the nearly 700 advocates who spoke up for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program in the past couple of weeks. Given the 40% cut xperienced last year, we consider it a win that the EFSP maintained funding).
• Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) matching grants: $12 million – the same as FY2011
• Workforce Investment Act (WIA) adult training, youth training and dislocated worker grants: $2.61 billion – down $55 million (2.07%) from FY2011
• Workforce Innovation Fund (created last year with the input from several United Ways and written testimony from United Way Worldwide): $50 million – down $75 million from FY2011
• Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): $3.48 billion – down $1.22 billion from FY2011
• Individual Development Account Initiative: $19.91 million – down $4.07 million from FY 2011
• Child Care and Development Block Grant: $2.28 billion – up $60 million from FY2011
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): $80.4 billion – up $15.19 billion from FY2011 (Passed November 18, 2011 in H.R. 2112)
• Section 8 Housing Vouchers: $17.24 billion – up $474.6 million from FY 2011  (Passed November 18, 2011 in H.R. 2112)
• Community Development Block Grant: $3.3 billion – down $192.9 million from FY2011 (Passed November 18, 2011 in H.R. 2112)

HEALTH

• Healthy Start: $104.78 million – up $415 million from FY2011
• Medicaid total grants to states: $184.28 billion – up $11.14 billion from FY2011
• Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: $760.7 million – down $53.29 million from FY2011
• Women, Infants and Children (WIC): $6.6 billion – down $130 million from FY2011 (Passed November 18, 2011 in H.R. 2112)
• Child Nutrition Programs: $18.15 billion – up $830 million from FY2011 (Passed November 18, 2011 in H.R. 2112)
• Community Health Centers: $1.58 billion – the same as FY2011
• Maternal and Child Health Block Grant: $646.32 million – down $10 million from FY2011

EDUCATION

• Head Start: Funded at $8 billion – $424 million above FY 2011
• Title I Grants: Funded at $14.5 billion – $60 million above FY 2011
• Special Education programs: Funded at $11.6 billion – an increase of $100 million above FY 2011
• School Improvement Grants (SIG): Funded at $534.6 million
• Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Program: Funded at $160 million – this is a restoration from FY 2011
• Investing in Innovation Fund (i3): Funded at $149.7 million
• Race to the Top: Funded at $550 million, and continues to allow those funds to be used for the Early Learning Challenge competition
• 21^st Century Community Learning Centers: Funded at $1.151 billion
• Promise Neighborhoods Initiative: Funded at $60 million – $30 million above FY 2011

• $1.901 billion for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants (equal to FY 2011 funding level);
• $18.91 billion for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance, including $75 million for new HUD-VASH (HUD – VA Supportive Housing) vouchers;
• $2.95 billion for Community Development Block Grants ($388 million less than in FY 2011);
• $1 billion for the HOME program (approximately $600 million less than in FY 2011)
• $1.88 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund (approximately $165 million less than in FY 2011); and
• $3.96 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund (approximately $655 million less than in FY 2011).

Congress is expected to pass the legislation this week and send it to the President on Friday for signature.  Go here to read the complete text of the legislation and here for a summary.

Veterans Day is a bit of an anomaly of a holiday. Unlike its fellow Federal Holidays, Presidents Day and Columbus Day, that recognize people who have made important contributions to our country, Veterans Day is unique in that many of those being honored are still alive, and virtually all of us have some connection to them. That’s pretty neat if you think about it. Maybe it’s your uncle who served in Vietnam, or your little sister stationed overseas, or a parent of a child in your kid’s class.  On Veterans Day, we actually have the opportunity to personally thank those being honored. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never gotten to personally tell a past president how much I appreciate what they’ve done for our country.

With over 600,000 veterans in Washington State alone, there is plenty of opportunity to thank, honor, and support the men and women who have served our country. Below are just some of the ways you can honor our vets - on Veterans Day, and throughout the year:

• Volunteer – Support veterans in our community through service. Volunteer to help disabled vets with chores and housework or transport them to appointments, or help a recently returned veteran transition into the workforce. You can find a variety of volunteer opportunities supporting veterans at www.uwkc.org/volunteer
• Run a Supply-Drive – Collect items for Care Packages that will go to homeless veterans in our community. More info at http://www.uwkc.org/ways-to-volunteer/cre/
• Support military families – There are numerous opportunities to support military families, and veterans, during the holiday season by donating holiday meals and gifts. For a list of holiday opportunities, click here.
• Write a letter – Through programs like Operation Honor Cards and Operation Appreciation, you can easily tell active duty military, and military families, that you appreciate the sacrifices they’ve made, and even pledge to volunteer in their honor.
• For even more ideas on how to honor veterans, check out this great post on the HandsOn Network blog – Six Ways to Celebrate Veterans Day with Service

This recession is unique among recent recessions in the overall loss of jobs and revenue as well as the depth of the loss making the recovery not a swift recovery back to “normal”  but an extended period of high unemployment, rising costs of goods, high foreclosure rate and  overall lack of consumer confidence.  To illustrate, Washington has lost 195,000 jobs since the beginning of the recession and regained only 62,000.

The combination of deficits in anticipated revenue collections, caseload growth (reflecting greater needs) and higher than average inflationary costs have resulted in reductions totaling over $10 billion in state general fund dollars in the last three years.  The November 16 caseload forecast and the November 17  revenue forecast are expected to result in more shortfalls in
state revenue.

At an October 10 Senate Ways and Means budget briefing, the budget shortfall problem was described in these terms:  a $2 billion shortfall could be resolved if everyone in the state donated $3-400 or if all higher education and state employee salaries and benefits were reduced by half for 18 months.  Ending support for all higher education or closing the Department of Corrections did not generate enough savings to close the shortfall.

Since two-thirds of the state budget is constitutionally or legally protected (debt service, pensions, K-12 education), the $2 billion plus budget shortfall needs to be taken from $8.7 billion of the state budget resulting in a 23% cut.

Governor’s response

In anticipation of the September 15 revenue forecast, the governor had asked her state departments to submit 10% reductions in 5% increments.  Using that information, the Governor unveiled a Roadmap of $2 billion and $4 billion cuts on October 27.   The Roadmap is a picture of the cuts necessary to balance the budget without any new revenue sources.  This  picture shows how the deep cuts will decimate many of the state’s model safety net programs and includes such egregious reductions as:

Eliminating state support for domestic violence programs (affecting 16,700 people)
Eliminating Disability Lifeline medical (affecting 21,000 people), chemical dependency treatment (affecting 15,000 people), and cash assistance (affecting 15,000 people)
Potentially eliminating in home care for 25,000 developmentally disabled and elderly people
Suspending adult Medicaid pharmacy benefits (affecting 277,000 people)
Eliminating Basic Health Plan (affecting 35,000 people; reducing or eliminating Maternity Support Services (affecting 55,000 pregnant women)
Eliminating State Food Assistance Program (affecting 13,000 people)
Reducing state funding for subsidized child care (affecting between 4-6,000 children)

Susan Dreyfus reminded those attending the Seattle DSHS budget briefing in October that cutting state general fund also results in loss of federal dollars.  DSHS draws down 50 cents in federal money for every state dollar invested.

The governor will be presenting her FY2012-13 budget during the week of November 21 in anticipation of having the legislature back in special session beginning November 28. The Governor has said that her budget could include new revenue to balance the budget if she feels relatively confident that the revenue would be adopted by a two-thirds vote of the legislature.

Advocates meeting with the Governor

A group of human services advocates met with the Governor on Oct 31 to discuss the reductions, priorities and potential revenue responses.  The governor clearly conveyed several themes including: had Congress done its job in August, all states would be in a better financial position buoyed by stronger consumer confidence; she hopes the focus of the special session will be on the budget and the focus of regular session on how to get people back to work; advocates and policy makers need to focus on what services they would most like to save and how those investments/cuts would look 10 years down the road; and she would entertain all viable suggestions about revenue enhancements.  The advocates presented some revenue options and asked to maintain flexibility in use of reduced funding i.e. do not dictate how services would be delivered to vulnerable populations by program type.

This is the reality that many homeless individuals and families face as the winter months come closer. With a little effort from the community we can help to bring hope to the homeless. Spearhead a supply drive, and bring some hope to our community that needs it the most.

Help spearhead a supply drive for the Community Resource Exchange at your company, church, school or within your neighborhood—and make a world of difference in the lives of the many who so desperately need it. Simply choose an item from the list below and register here.

Supply Drive Items Needed:

• New Socks
• Hats and Gloves
• Hygiene Items (deodorant, soap,
  comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, and razor)
• Books

On or around July 29^th, you will receive your 2011 Primary Ballot in your mail. That’s just one week away, and the renewal of the King County Veterans & Human Services Levy is Proposition 1 on that ballot.  

The current Veterans & Human Services Levy was passed by nearly 58% of the voters in 2005, but it is set to expire at the end of this year.  Over the past 5 years, the current levy has helped more than 82,000 veterans, their families and others all across King County.  The proposed measure would continue the existing levy for six years at the current tax rate.  This is not a tax increase! The average homeowner would invest $17 annually. Half of the proceeds would be dedicated exclusively for programs to assist veterans and their families. The other half would support general human service programs available to all King County residents.

 The Veterans and Human Services Levy funds essential services like:

• Employment training
• Veterans treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Housing with support services
• Behavioral health services
• Services for new mothers and infants

Specifically, the King County Veterans & Human Services Levy has provided $34 million in funding to programs that help end homelessness.  The Levy has funded initiatives that identify, engage, and house long-term homeless individuals, projects that increase permanent housing with support services, and programs that link education & employment to supportive housing. At the end of 2010, the Levy had helped fund a total of 25 affordable housing projects, creating more than 1,200 new units with 177 reserved for veterans.

However this funding source, which works to help end homelessness, treat veterans with PTSD, and help veterans and others across the county find employment and get back to work, will end on December 31, 2011 if it is not approved.  If you would like more information or would like to support the levy please contact kelly@housingconsortium.org or visit: http:///www.vetsandhumanservices.org

 2011-2013 Budget Outcomes

Updated as of June 17, 2011

Information subject to revision as we further analyze a very complex set of budget provisions.  For more information contact UWKC Public Policy Director Carol Wood, cwood@uwkc.org 

Department of Social and Health Services Research: GA-U (DL was formerly known as General Assistance-Umemployable) clients overall have high medical expenses and frequently use inpatient hospital services. GA-U clients with mental illness or substance abuse problems frequently visit the ER. GA-U clients with substance abuse problems are arrested at high rates. However, mental health and/or substance abuse treatment has been shown to reduce medical expenses, ER visits and numbers of arrests for GA-U clients.

Nonprofit Housing Providers: We contacted ten non-profit permanent and transitional housing providers to get a sense of how they might be impacted if tenants lose cash assistance. Providers were most concerned about access to transitional housing for DL recipients, as ability to pay rent and maintain a savings account are required for most programs. Without cash assistance, these requirements will severely limit accessibility of housing for this population. Additionally, providers are concerned about long-term loss of rental income. Although some programs may be able to absorb minimal losses over a short period of time, many are doubtful that they will be able to continue operating with long-term reductions in income from tenants who are on DL.

Recipients of Disability Lifeline: We interviewed individuals who rely on cash assistance to learn more about what cuts will mean for them. We found that recipients most often use cash assistance to pay for basic needs, transportation, food and cell phone service. Many reported that transportation and a cell phone are necessary to use medical services, so medical coverage without cash assistance may result in less accessible medical care for recipients. There is concern that elimination of cash assistance will lead to increased homelessness and crime as people become increasingly desperate to meet their basic needs. For more about our interviews with DL recipients, click here.

Basic Needs and Housing:

Disability Lifeline – Eliminates Disability Lifeline Program effective October 1 and creates three new programs Aged, Blind, and Disabled Program, Pregnant Women Assistance Program and the Essential Needs and Housing Support Program.   Medical coverage for participants is preserved but monthly cash grants for Disability Lifeline-Unemployable recipients are eliminated and replaced with Department of Commerce grants to counties or community-based organizations for essential needs and housing support.  The $64 million funding designated for the later will not be sufficient to provide housing to all who need it. The administrative requirements for this change are still to be determined. Former DL-X recipients will continue to receive a monthly cash grant of $197, along with medical services under the new program name: Aged, Blind, and Disabled program. 

Housing Trust fund – Funded at $50 million for the biennium. 

Homeless services – Failure to extend and increase document recording fees supporting Home Security funds will result in cutting funding for existing community programs supporting homeless and formerly homeless persons in housing.  Immediate cuts will come from the existing shortfall in State Home Security Funds where there are $42 million obligations and $31 million in revenue to support projects statewide.

Mental health services – There will be a 4% cut for non-Medicaid and 3% cut in Medicaid mental health services.  Reductions in non-Medicaid reimbursement will result in less flexibility to serve non-Medicaid eligible residents in supportive housing, crisis and hospital diversion services, and outpatient services.  Reduction in Medicaid reimbursement rates may require reduction in rates paid to community mental health providers.

Substance abuse services – Reduction in outpatient and residential treatment services for non-Medicaid eligible individuals will make it more difficult for people to receive needed services.

Immigrant and Refugee services – Immigrants and refugees were affected by cuts in many human service areas including support for naturalization, employment services, medical interpretation and food assistance.  In terms of food assistance, $4.8 million was allocated to the State Food Assistance Program (half the current funding level) and the monthly benefit has decreased meaning fewer people will be receiving less in benefits.

Early Learning:

Early Learning-Policymakers in the state have come to recognize the importance of early learning and its relationship to success in the K-12 system, higher education and later life.  Most state funded early learning programs received approximately maintenance level funding including $1.86 million/year for home visiting, $2.256 million for Early Childhood Education Assistance Program (ECEAP), $1.276 million for information and referral through Child Care Resource and Referral Network (CCRR), $300,00 for Reach Out and Read and $400,000 for  Parent and Caregiver Support including Family, Friend and Neighbor support; state funds for home visiting, however, are able to leverage federal funds and private dollars thereby increasing the total amount committed to home visiting.  About $900,000 in new state money was added in order that the Kindergarten assessment, WaKIDS, be administered, on a voluntary basis, to all kids in state-funded all day kindergarten. State funds were also redirected to support a public private initiative focused on preventing and reducing the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACES) and their long term effects. Sadly, the Career and Wage ladder was eliminated (including contracts with 55 child care centers statewide).  

Subsidized Child Care-Eligibility for state subsidized child care remains at 175% federal poverty level; however, prioritization of teen parents and TANF recipients along with capping the number of families covered at 32,500 has created a waiting list of low income, non-TANF families who need subsidized child care to continue working

Health:

Medicaid payments to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) –Payments to community health centers and Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) are reduced by approximately 10.6% ($86.3 million cut state wide).   Cash assistance used by clients to pay for care on a sliding fee scale has been eliminated or slashed. And, over the long term, budget proviso language has changed the inflation index used for FQHCs, so that reimbursement rates will increase at a lower rate from year to year.  Community Health Centers provide care for approximately 200,000 low income and medically vulnerable people throughout King County. Cuts to this system will result in less service to low income residents. 

Maternity Support Services (MSS) –MSS which serves low income women and children has been reduced 30% ( a $23.9 million cut state wide).  

Adult Dental –Adult dental coverage for Medicaid beneficiaries is eliminated for everyone except pregnant women, disabled adults and for emergency services.  This cut will shift care to emergency rooms.  Over 30,000 adults affected in King County.

Apple Health for Kids – This program of health services is preserved for children under 200% of Federal Poverty Level and the costs increased for those above 200% poverty. The Children’s Health Program, serving families with illegal immigrant children, was maintained, but families with incomes above 200% of the federal poverty level will pay higher premiums.  The overall reduction for CHP for the biennium was $1.6 million.

Basic Health Plan – Enrollment is frozen at the current level of enrollees.  This affects over 14,000 enrollees in King County.

Other health related reductions –

Reduces support for local WIC by $800,000 and family planning grants by over 11%

Eliminates Community Health Service Grants to Community Health Centers

Reduces General Fund support for Public Health Departments by 50%

Seniors:  

Services and programs important to older adults have all experienced cuts including: elimination of eyeglasses and hearing aids and restriction on dental coverage (except in emergency) for adults on Medicaid; changes in the adult day health program that may cause closure of some centers; a 10% cut in home health care hours needed to keep older adults in their own homes; loss of  co-pay funding for low income seniors enrolled in the Medicare part D Pharmacy program (this affects 50,000 seniors in Washington); and possible reductions to Meals on Wheels, Transportation and other senior services provided through the Area Agencies on Aging.

Information and Referral:

The WIN211 information and referral system will receive $1 million, half of the amount of state funding it received in the past biennium.  This will mean reductions in support for the statewide system as well as loss of grants to local call centers.  At a time when needs are rising, the system will have less capability to answer calls, update the referral data base and make appropriate referrals.

Education:

K-12: Two initiatives-I-728 and I-732- that address class size reduction and COLA increases for teachers were not funded.  Teacher pay was slated for a 1.9% reduction

Higher Ed: Support for state universities and technical colleges was dramatically cut at the same time that financial support for low income students was increased and well as the ability to raise tuition between 12 and 18%. State workers are taking a 3% pay cut.