Last month, Mercy Housing Northwest rallied alongside 600 housing advocates at the Capitol in Olympia to fight for affordable housing for all. As one of the sponsoring organizations of this annual Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day hosted by Washington Low Income Housing Alliance (WLIHA), MHNW stood united with the providers, formerly homeless individuals and other activists to ensure Legislators in session heard these priorities.

The 2018 legislative session recently wrapped up with some very positive steps to address Washington’s housing and homelessness crisis.  In addition to passing a $107 million Housing Trust Fund, the legislature approved seven housing-related bills, including:

• A ban on source of income discrimination (helping families, veterans and seniors with some form of rental subsidy)
• Increasing the document recording fee that is a primary source of funding for homeless services
• Promoting the use of surplus public property for affordable homes