Washington HB 1708: Helping local governments provide information about the impacts of homelessness.

Bill Text

AN ACT Relating to helping local governments provide information 1
about the impacts of homelessness; adding a new section to chapter 2
43.110 RCW; and creating a new section.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that there is a need 5
for housing units, drug addiction interventions, and pathways for 6
people to transition out of homelessness. Billions of dollars are 7
spent annually by the state and local governments for programs to 8
provide housing and services to people in need. This bill intends to 9
help local jurisdictions provide information about their communities 10
in a dashboard format. The legislature recognizes that the department 11
of commerce already collects and posts some information about 12
housing-related expenditures in a dashboard on its website, so this 13
tool is to be created for use on the local government's websites.14
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 43.110 15
RCW to read as follows:16
(1) The department of commerce shall contract for the provision 17
of a computer application that every city and county can use to 18
create a dashboard of information related to the jurisdiction's 19
efforts to address homelessness that can be posted on a website. 20
H-0786.1
HOUSE BILL 1708
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Stuebe, Connors, Low, Ley, Dent, Barkis, Engell,
Manjarrez, Marshall, Barnard, Schmidt, and Eslick
Read first time 01/29/25. Referred to Committee on Housing.
p. 1 HB 1708

Contracts for staff support may be made with state agencies or 1
private consulting firms that in the judgment of the department of 2
commerce are qualified to provide such support. The department of 3
commerce must coordinate with the municipal research and services 4
center, the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs, the 5
association of Washington cities, and the Washington state 6
association of counties in carrying out the activities in this 7
section.8
(2) The computer application must be able to show the following 9
information on an annual basis:10
(a) An estimate of the total needed housing units for the 11
jurisdiction, followed by the total new housing units that were 12
permitted to be built by the jurisdiction, and the difference between 13
the total needed housing and the new housing units permitted;14
(b) The total amount expended by the jurisdiction providing 15
housing assistance and government subsidized housing;16
(c) Total number of households that received housing assistance 17
or lived in government subsidized housing;18
(d) The names of the organizations receiving funding for 19
providing services to unsheltered people and the amounts provided;20
(e) The number of people that are homeless that needed medical 21
treatment for addictions followed by the number that were able to 22
enter an addiction treatment program followed by the number that 23
completed the programs;24
(f) The number of retail, residential, and car thefts near known 25
locations where people are living in unsheltered communities compared 26
to the jurisdiction's average;27
(g) The number of emergency calls to the area where people are 28
living in unsheltered communities compared to the jurisdiction's 29
average;30
(h) The number of arrests, followed by the number of convictions 31
of people for selling illegal narcotics in the jurisdiction;32
(i) The number of people that are transitioned from homelessness 33
to government subsidized housing or other permanent housing;34
(j) The total amount expended to clean up or remove garbage from 35
locations where unsheltered people are living within the 36
jurisdiction;37
(k) The number of homeless encampments near elementary or 38
secondary schools or child day care centers; and39
(l) The number of homeless encampments known in the jurisdiction.40
p. 2 HB 1708

(3) Using appropriations allocated for this purpose, the 1
municipal research and services center must annually assemble the 2
information displayed in the dashboard for all counties and cities 3
and make it available on its website.4
--- END ---
p. 3 HB 1708