Homelessness and housing bills are still in play

The bills related to our housing and homelessness priority have been bottled-up for what seems like an eternity at this point. Early in session they were deemed “necessary to implement the budget,” which is a special designation that exempts a bill from the normal deadlines facing other bills. Once that happened, pressure to move the bills waned and we have been in a holding pattern ever since.

That holding pattern began to break up finally on May 25 when the House came back to pass bills to start the second special session. The two AWC priority bills finally found their way to the active agenda. HB 1570, which provides a county level optional recording fee of up to $50 and eliminates the sunset of the state fee, passed the House on a party line vote.

We have been told that HB 1797, which provides a suite of new affordable housing revenue options for local governments, is set for passage the next time the House is in town. The hope and expectation is that this proposal will garner more bi-partisan support as there have been positive discussions between the parties to craft a set of tools that addresses the unique needs of different areas of the state.