Permanent Supportive Housing Advisory Committee Annual Report Pursuant to RCW 43.330.425, January 2025
Summary
This January 2025 report to the Legislature comes from the Permanent Supportive Housing Advisory Committee, an annual report under RCW 43.330.425 prepared with the Washington State Department of Commerce. It states that Chapter 266, Laws of 2022 (SHB 1724) created the Committee to give guidance on permanent supportive housing programs that Commerce manages. The Committee met on November 9, 2023, January 18, April 11, and July 11, 2024, and developed 18 recommendations, including a toolkit to educate communities about permanent supportive housing and Mental Health First Aid training for providers. It also recommended six members for appointment in 2024 and elected a Chair after the previous Chair left.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
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Permanent Supportive
Housing Advisory Committee
Annual report pursuant to RCW 43.330.425
January 2025
Report to the Legislature
OFFICE OF APPLE HEALTH AND
HOMES - PERMANENT
SUPPORTIVE HOUSING Director Joe Nguyễn
v3.5.1
Acknowledgments
Washington State Department of Commerce
Melodie Pazolt, Managing Director
Office of Apple Health and Homes — Permanent
Supportive Housing
Jeff Spring, Deputy Managing Director
Office of Apple Health and Homes — Permanent
Supportive Housing
Grace Lee, Commerce Specialist 1
Office of Apple Health and Homes — Permanent
Supportive Housing
Uncommon Bridges (formerly BDS Planning &
Urban Design)
Ishmael Nuñez, Partner
Natalia Koss Vallejo, Project Manager
1011 Plum St. SE
P.O. Box 42525
Olympia, WA 98504-2525
www.commerce.wa.gov
For people with disabilities, this report is available on
request in other formats. To submit a request, please
call 7-1-1 and ask to be connected to 360-725-4000.
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 2
Table of contents
Executive summary .........................................................................................................................................4
Committee membership ..................................................................................................................................6
Recommendations ..........................................................................................................................................8
Appendix A: Glossary of terms ......................................................................................................................10
Appendix B: Committee meeting summaries .................................................................................................12
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 3
Executive summary
Overview
In Chapter 266, Laws of 2022 (SHB 1724), the Legislature created the Permanent Supportive Housing Advisory
Committee (Committee) to provide guidance and recommendations on the administration of permanent
supportive housing (PSH) programs managed by the Department of Commerce (Commerce). This report
satisfies the reporting requirements in Section 2:
(3)The advisory committee shall:
(a) Select a chair from among its membership;
(b) Meet quarterly;
(c) Provide guidance and recommendations on the administration of permanent supportive housing resources
managed by the department, including recommendations to ensure alignment of capital, services, and operating
investments and fidelity with the provision of permanent supportive housing as defined in RCW 36.70A.030
(d) Until December 31, 2027, report its recommendations to enhance the coordination and availability of permanent
supportive housing to the appropriate Committees of the Legislature and the governor by December 1st of each year.
This report also describes the Committee recommendations and activities, including the selection of members
and a Chair, to ensure alignment of capital, services and operating investments and fidelity of the provision of
permanent supportive housing from the four quarterly meetings held between November 2023 and July 2024.
Highlights:
The Committee focused its second year of operation on a thorough analysis of strategies to expand,
sustain and improve the quality of PSH. This report will summarize the 18 recommendations from the
Committee and the actions Commerce is taking to move them forward.
The Committee recommended six members for appointment in 2024, including for a position that was
vacant since the Committee's start. The Committee also elected a Chair after the previous Chair left.
The Committee refined and adopted its bylaws.
The Committee held quarterly meetings on Nov. 9, 2023, January 18, April 11, and July 11, 2024.
Committee recommendations
Building on the eight strategic priorities (see the Recommendations section) developed previously, the
Committee developed 18 recommendations:
1. Create a toolkit to educate communities on the benefits of PSH to address not in my back yard (NIMBY)
issues
2. Explore workforce issues for the sustainability of capital projects:
• Identify pipelines
• Promote living wage/funding for sustainability
• Promote training and professional development opportunities
3. Study how to convert unused office space/land for PSH
4. Provide training and technical assistance to by-and-for organizations
5. Provide capital pre-development resources (pending funding availability)
6. Improve alignment between sustainable funding sources and new PSH development
7. Clarify or pursue agency Agency request legislation to include transitioning from medical respite as an
eligibility risk factor for the Apple Health and Homes Initiative
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 4
8. Implement a strategic workgroup between PSH providers and managed care organizations/behavioral
health administrative service organizations to discuss the implementation of crisis interventions to support
PSH providers:
• Status of the housing crisis intervention teams
• Mobile crisis teams
• Policies that allow individuals to return to their homes after short-term hospitalizations
9. Provide Mental Health First Aid training to PSH providers
10. Create a learning collaborative between the Health Care Authority (HCA), the Aging and Long-Term Support
Administration (ALTSA), Commerce and housing owners and operators to strengthen partnerships and
opportunities for Program for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT)/Governor's Opportunity for
Supportive Housing (GOSH)/global leasing dedicated PSH units.
11. Work closely with HCA as they develop the initiative to turn Medicaid “on” before someone’s release from
incarceration (1115 Medicaid Waiver 2.0). Increase discharge planning and awareness of Foundational
Community Supports and Apple Health and Homes.
12. Increase referrals from long-term civil commitment sites to PSH through Commerce participation in
discharge planning workgroups and learning collaborative meetings.
13. Increase the sustainability of PSH capital projects by aligning project-based rent assistance and service
resources, and evaluate the outcomes and provide a public dashboard and other information about AHAH
rent assistance and operations, maintenance and services (OMS) fund sources.
14. Evaluate outcomes and provide a public dashboard on PSH rent assistance and capital resources for
individuals enrolled in AHAH.
15. Provide a static public information document on the types of rental assistance available through a matrix
that details eligibility, funding sources and how to access them.
16. Continue to pursue additional funding for tenant-based, project-based, global leasing and the sustainability
of PSH through decision packages, grants and other sources:
• Encourage alignment with other strategies, such as discharging from inpatient/institutional settings
• Alignment with capital development
• Provide technical assistance
17. Explore a publicly available platform that will describe public rent assistance resources (Rent Assistance
Connector) and how to access them in a manner that educates and empowers individuals to make
informed decisions about available resources.
18. Provide public information to PSH operators on the types of repair funds, maintenance and operations
funds, and emergency repair and preservation funds available through a matrix that details eligibility,
funding sources, and how to access them.
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 5
Committee membership
Background
Commerce selected Uncommon Bridges (formerly BDS Planning and Design) to assist with creating the PSH
Advisory Committee (Committee), organizing and facilitating quarterly meetings and drafting the Committee
bylaws. The work also included marketing, distribution and recruitment of Committee members. The
Committee has 26 members in accordance with the governing statute.
Current membership
Since November 2022, Commerce and Uncommon Bridges have recruited 26 members using a regional
approach based on the Apple Health Integrated Managed Care regions to identify applicants and ensure
geographic distribution of the membership. In 18 months, the Committee had a turnover of seven positions as
members vacated or left. One position has been vacant since the inception of the Committee. Bylaws
established turnover, recruitment processes and final recommendations for the Commerce Director to make
final appointments.
Bylaws
The Committee approved bylaws in August 2023 and the bylaws state: "In the case of Committee positions
vacated by a resigned or removed member, the Committee shall solicit new members using the following
methods, in order:
1. A resigning member may submit a nomination for their replacement to the Chair or the department. The
Chair may present the nomination to the Committee. The Committee may then vote to accept the
nomination OR
2. A current member can submit a nomination to fill the vacancy created by the resignation to the Chair or the
department. The Chair then may present the nomination to the Committee. The Committee may then vote
to accept the nomination OR
3. A nomination by a membership subcommittee consisting of the Chair, a department representative, and
Committee members appointed by the Chair, with the nomination resulting from an open, public
application process. The Chair will present the nomination to the Committee. The Committee must accept
the nomination."
The Committee recommended six members for appointment in 2024, including the position that has been
vacant since the Committee's inception. Currently, there are two open positions on the Committee (a
representative from the behavioral health sector and a single adult living in PSH). Commerce and Uncommon
Bridges are keeping the application open for continual recruitment, as future turnover of members occurs to
maintain a pool of interested applicants.
Table 1: Demographics of the 24 current Committee members as of August 2024
Demographics Percent (number)
Identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community 21%
Identify as people of color 33%
Identify as having experienced homelessness and/or behavioral health conditions 63%
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 6
Table 2: Geographic distribution of the 24 current Committee members by region as
of August 2024
Region Percent (number)
Great Rivers 8%
King County 21%
North Sound 8%
Salish 4%
Spokane County 8%
Greater Columbia 4%
North Central 4%
Pierce County 13%
Southwest 4%
Thurston and Mason counties 4%
Statewide representatives 21%
The Committee elected a Chair at the July 2024 Committee meeting after the previous Chair left. The
Committee refined and adopted the bylaws, which are posted on the PSH Advisory Committee webpage.
Meetings
The Committee held quarterly meetings on November 9, 2023, January 18, April 11, and July 11, 2024.
Uncommon Bridges met individually with Committee members between meetings to offer support, debrief,
provide additional context and address any unanswered questions or issues not addressed in the Committee
meetings. As the Committee members are in different stages of understanding the challenges of PSH, each
meeting included an educational component on the issues, resources and challenges. During the February
meeting in 2023, the Committee started a strategic planning process to envision an ideal state of PSH in
Washington 20 years in the future.
Summaries of the meetings are in Appendix B: Committee meeting summaries.
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 7
Recommendations
The Committee focused its second year of operation on the priorities to expand, sustain and improve the
quality of PSH managed by Commerce. Each meeting took one of the top priorities and provided education,
data and discussion. Conversations were facilitated with specific questions, prompting robust discussions
from the group, which resulted in strategies that could be recommendations.
Each quarterly meeting consisted of data presentations on the issue, presenters sharing experiences, asking
questions and identifying barriers, challenges and successes with the topic. In addition, Uncommon Bridges
conducted one-on-one discussions to clarify and gather additional information and perspectives from
Committee members. A recording and accompanying meeting material are available to the public on the
Committee website.
Through the process described in the previous report and the utilization of the eight strategic priorities (see
numbered list below), the Committee developed 18 strategies and recommendations for enhancing the quality
and availability of PSH in Washington. Over the course of the four Committee meetings, members created,
developed and adopted the strategies in Table 3 (see Appendix A: Glossary of terms for definitions).
The eight priorities that guided the development of the recommendations:
1. Regional investments
2. Capacity grants
3. Quality assessment
4. Increase rent assistance
5. Inpatient discharge improvement
6. Communication toolkit
7. Feedback loop
8. New program start-up
Table 3: Committee recommendations to Commerce
Committee meeting where Adopted by
Number Strategy/recommendation
strategy was developed Committee
Create a toolkit to educate communities on the benefits of PSH – address
1 8/17/23 11/19/23
NIMBY issues
Explore workforce issues for the sustainability of capital projects:
Identify pipelines
2 8/17/23 11/19/23
Promote living wage/funding for sustainability
Promote training and professional development opportunities
3 Study how to convert unused office space and land for PSH 8/17/23 11/19/23
4 Provide training and technical assistance to by-and-for organizations 8/17/23 11/19/23
5 Provide capital pre-development resources (pending funding availability) 8/17/23 11/19/23
Improve alignment between sustainable funding sources and new PSH
6 8/17/23 11/19/23
development
Clarify or pursue agency request legislation to include transitioning from
7 medical respite as an eligibility risk factor for the Apple Health and Homes 11/9/23 01/18/24
Initiative
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 8
Committee meeting where Adopted by
Number Strategy/recommendation
strategy was developed Committee
Implement a strategic workgroup between PSH providers to discuss
managed care organizations and Behavioral Health Administrative Service
Organizations to discuss the implementation of crisis interventions in
support of PSH providers:
8 11/9/23 01/18/24
Status of the housing crisis intervention teams
Mobile crisis teams
Policies that allow individuals to return to their homes after short-term
hospitalizations
9 Provide Mental Health First Aid training to PSH providers 11/9/23 01/18/24
Create a learning collaborative between the Healthcare Authority (HCA),
ALTSA, Commerce and Housing Owner/Operators to create stronger
10 11/9/23 01/18/24
partnerships and opportunities for PACT/GOSH/Global Leasing dedicated
PSH units.
Work closely with HCA as they develop the initiative to turn Medicaid “on”
prior to someone’s release from jail/prison (1115 Medicaid Waiver 2.0).
11 11/9/23 01/18/24
Increase discharge planning/awareness of FCS/Apple Health and Homes –
July 2025
Increase referrals from Long-term Civil Commitment sites to PSH through
12 Commerce participation in discharge planning workgroups/learning 11/9/23 01/18/24
collaborative meetings
Increase alignment and transparency of the PSH capital projects, aligning
project-based rent assistance and services – evaluate the outcomes and
13 1/18/24 04/11/24
provide public dashboard and information (AHAH rent assistance and OMS
fund sources)
Evaluate the outcomes and provide public dashboard and information
14 1/18/24 04/11/24
(AHAH rent assistance and OMS fund sources)
Provide public information on the types of rental assistance available
15 1/18/24 04/11/24
through a matrix that details eligibility, funding sources, how to access
Continue to pursue additional funding for tenant-based, project-based,
global leasing and sustainability of PSH through decision packages, grants
and other sources:
16 Encourage alignment with other strategies, such as discharging from 1/18/24 04/11/24
inpatient/institutional settings
Alignment with capital development
Provide technical assistance
Explore a public matrix/platform that will describe the public funding
17 sources available in a logic model format with current, open funding 1/18/24 04/11/24
sources
Provide public information on the types of repair funds, maintenance and
operations funds, emergency repair and preservation funds available
18 1/18/24 04/11/24
through a matrix that details eligibility, funding sources, and how to access
them
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 9
Appendix A: Glossary of terms
Agency request legislation
A request for legislation proposed by an agency of the executive branch of government
Behavioral Health Administrative Service Organization (BHASO)
An organization that provides services to help clients navigate through mental health or substance use
disorder (SUD) treatment services when needed. BHASOs are funded through state and federal block grant
funding.
By-and-for
By-and-for Organizations are operated by and for the communities they serve. Their primary mission and
history is serving a specific community. They are culturally based, directed, and substantially controlled by
individuals from the population they serve. At the core of their programs, these organizations embody the
community’s central cultural values. In the affordable housing context, these communities must have
demonstrated disproportionate representation in homelessness, housing instability, and housing affordability.
Black, Native American or other people of color, including people identified as socially disadvantaged as
defined in 13 CFR Sec. 124.103
People with disabilities
People who identify as part of the d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing community
People with behavioral health conditions, including substance use disorder
People who identify as LGBTQIA+
Survivors of family violence and/or intimate partner violence
Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals
Undocumented individuals, immigrants and refugees, and mixed-immigration-status families and
communities
Decision package
A submission for a state budget request. The documents in the package organize and describe proposed cost
changes in a way that highlights the budget policy decisions. The DP consolidates financial information,
supporting justification and statements of impact for a specific action or policy proposed in the budget.
Disability
A person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life
activities.
A person with a record of a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life
activities.
A person who is regarded as having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more
major life activities. This may include but is not limited to, people with physical disabilities, people with
chronic health conditions, and/or people who are neurodivergent.
Foundational Community Supports (FCS)
A program offering benefits for supportive housing and supported employment for Apple Health-eligible
beneficiaries with complex needs.
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 10
Global leasing
Global leasing, also known as master leasing, is a strategy that allows local governments, behavioral health
agencies, and nonprofits to lease units from an owner and sublease individual units or properties to previously
unhoused tenants.
Governor's Opportunity for Supportive Housing (GOSH)
A state service that supports in-home transitions for those discharging/diverting from Eastern or Western
State Hospital by connecting them with a Supportive Housing Provider (SHP).
LGBTQIA+
LGBTQIA+ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other identities,
including but not limited to two-spirit, non-binary, pansexual, agender, etc.
Long-term civil commitment sites
Locations for involuntary, court-mandated commitment for periods of more than 90-180 days.
Managed Care Organization (MCO)
Integrated entities in the healthcare system that aim to reduce healthcare costs.
NIMBY
An acronym for the phrase "not in my backyard," signifying one’s opposition to the locating of something
considered undesirable in one’s neighborhood.
Program for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT)
A program for people with severe mental health disorders who frequently need care in a psychiatric hospital or
other crisis service
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 11
Appendix B: Committee meeting summaries
Nov. 9, 2023, PSH Advisory Committee meeting
The PSH Advisory Committee held its fifth meeting on Nov 9, 2023. The Committee reviewed the PSH priority
area #1 - focusing on regional investments in rural and urban areas recommendations developed after the
August Committee meeting. The Committee formally adopted six strategies, as identified in Table 3, which will
promote the development of PSH in rural and urban areas. In addition, the Committee learned about capacity
grants (PSH Priority Area #2) that assist organizations (including by-and-for organizations) in increasing the
quality of PSH, adding Foundational Community Supports (supportive housing services) to their book of
business as well as other enhancement opportunities. These capacity grants are related to Commerce's Apple
Health and Homes initiative.
Education
PSH Priority Area #3 included education efforts focused on data associated with behavioral health inpatient
and long-term civil commitment discharges and an overview of the Health Care Authority's Discharge Planners
Toolkit. Taylor Danielson from the Department of Social and Health Services - Research and Data Analysis
Division (Committee member in the position of PSH researcher) provided data on people who exit inpatient
settings and transition into emergency or transitional housing, permanent housing, or homelessness. This
overview included data about people exiting inpatient mental health facilities, inpatient substance use
treatment, and long-term civil commitments such as state psychiatric facilities.
Melodie Pazolt presented an overview of the Health Care Authority's Discharge Planner’s Toolkit. Committee
member Kimberly Castle, who could not be present, originally prepared this presentation and materials. The
presentation provided an overview of the discharge planner's toolkit, explaining how it addresses the housing
gaps outlined in Taylor's presentation. The overall goal is to reduce the number of people becoming chronically
homeless after exiting inpatient settings. The culmination of existing information available – both presented in
the meeting and referenced in resources sent before the meeting – sets a foundation for the following
observed issues with improving inpatient discharge:
Tension with federal definitions of homelessness and the corresponding funding sources are contrary to
each other
Many state housing and related support services, yet:
• Low service availability
• Not enough behavioral supports
• Some state-managed programs are more successful than others
• Large gap in the overlap between health services and housing (just 2% of PSH clients recently
discharged from long-term civil commitment)
Geographic disparities
Attempts to address inconsistent data and documentation
Discussion
Following the two presentations, the Committee participated in a facilitated discussion prompted by the
following guiding questions.
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 12
Regarding inpatient discharge issues:
What are the Committee members’ experiences of these issues?
What are the implications of these issues?
Where are the biggest breakdowns?
Regarding possible solutions:
What is the best of current programs?
What are the greatest opportunities?
What gaps need to be filled?
Key takeaways are included in Table 3: Committee recommendations to Commerce.
Jan. 18, 2024, PSH Advisory Committee meeting
The sixth Committee meeting began with a facilitated discussion on the recommendations extracted from the
conversations and discussions from the 1-1 and November 2023 meetings. Table 3 lists recommendations
that were voted on and approved.
Education
The next priority (Table 3) identified in the Committee's strategic planning framework is increased rental
assistance for individuals who need PSH and PSH sites that need rent assistance to sustain operations.
The group received three presentations:
1. Project-Based Rental Assistance and Tenant-Based Rental Assistance – Marquis Jenkins, Committee
Housing Authority Representative
2. Global Leasing – Whitney Joy Howard, Committee Aging and Long-Term Support Administration (ALTSA)
Representative
3. Operations, Maintenance, and Services (OMS) Funding - Melodie Pazolt
Discussion
Following the presentations, the facilitation team prompted the group to consider:
What planning is needed in your communities to help bring balance to these needs?
The facilitation team recorded in-real-time and visible notes using a virtual whiteboard platform.
A summarized discussion of themes, as well as a broader committee discussion, is as follows:
Key takeaways
Private sector involvement: The private sector is buying up vacant property and letting it sit empty.
• These units may be empty but are not equipped to house people. The development needed to make
these spaces livable is expensive and requires a lot of regulation navigation.
• Capital funders are hard to convince to undertake these kinds of efforts.
There needs to be more transparency about how and where funds will support PSH in local communities.
Point-in-Time Count for data collection is inaccurate for understanding how many unhoused people exist in
a space annually. A more productive and effective way to measure and collect this data is needed.
COVID-related funds provided a false understanding of the resources available in the PSH sector. Now that
these funds are gone, the community must return to more limited resources.
There is a need to allocate rental assistance tools.
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 13
April 11, 2024, PSH Advisory Committee meeting
The seventh PSH Advisory Committee meeting began with the Committee's structural and administrative
business. The Committee discussed and established ground rules for interpersonal expectations, amending
the review of suggested bylaw edits based on feedback and process updates. The amendments included
shared definitions, discussions of trauma, self-care, and trauma-informed service delivery. The Committee was
encouraged to review the bylaws and make any recommended changes or suggestions in preparation for the
July 2024 meeting.
The remainder of the meeting focused on continuing the strategic planning process. The Committee
established the quarterly cadence of 2024 meetings with clear and advance notice to committee members of
each meeting’s topic for discussion. Meeting topics will be based on the Priority Issues that Committee
members identified and prioritized in the fall of 2023 (see Table 3). Priority Area #3b is focused on expanding
long-term tenant-based and project-based rental assistance programs. Discussion around the Community
Behavioral Health Rent Assistance (CBRA) program, including strategies such as master leasing for individuals
in both mental health and substance use treatment facilities. Table 3 lists recommendations that were voted
on and approved.
Education
The group held a robust discussion about how to better use existing resources and how to share information
and assistance. Likewise, the group elevated the need to look ahead to increased demand for PSH from people
moving through continuums of care. Other ideas included using mobile transitional housing hubs that can be
maintained by centralized repairs.
Priority Area #4 is developing Communications Toolkit(s) to provide information to advocates, non-profits, By
and For organizations, and local governments on PSH, what it is and isn't, and other PSH info. This priority area
also includes utilizing this Committee’s collective experience to inform and improve other communication
toolkits regarding housing and homelessness that Commerce may work on.
Discussion
Uncommon Bridges facilitated a discussion with the Committee, framing the conversation with the following
questions:
What key information/voices need to be represented in the development of toolkits?
How do we balance different audiences? (advocates, non-profits, challengers, local government leaders)
How can agencies and lawmakers gather personal narratives safely and authentically?
How can personal narratives/stories best be used and shared by others?
What are the best ways to use online/digital communication channels?
What are the best ways to use in-person opportunities for communication?
Key themes and 'takeaways' included:
The importance of sharing success stories vs. those about needs/deficits.
Create a ‘live’ toolkit that includes stories from folks in that specific community rather than abstract stories
from distant areas.
Highlight differences in individuals’ PSH journeys to show the varying circumstances that people
experience and the diversity of types of PSH.
Meet people where they are and bring lawmakers, politicians and other influential audiences to spaces
where folks can share personal lived experiences.
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 14
Connect the benefits to both PSH residents and the broader community.
Target audiences (residents/business owners) can also join in a supportive story-sharing effort; avoid
binary thinking separating “us vs. them.”
Balance the use of quantitative and qualitative data to tell stories.
Commerce, supported by BERK Consulting, is currently developing the first toolkit responsive to this priority
area, called the “PSH toolkit," to address issues of NIMBYism. NIMBY, short for "Not In My Back Yard," refers to
challengers who oppose community development projects in their area due to perceptions of undesirability,
even though they may not object to similar projects being located elsewhere. The toolkit’s goal is to help foster
productive conversations that inform and counteract NIMBYism toward the expansion of permanent
supportive housing in areas of need.
Commerce and BERK staff request Committee members review the factsheets and provide feedback during
the development stage and then help share the materials with the broader public when production is complete.
As a direct follow-up to the committee conversation, BERK will consider the following updates to the toolkit
immediately:
Factsheets need to include more stories as there are currently only a few placeholders.
Consider integrating resources from the national level specifically into the “Importance of Messaging”
factsheet. Also, link resources where possible.
Identify how to link factsheets on the Commerce website where they can serve as a living document type
of resource.
Add opportunities for location/community-specific stories to the “importance of Messaging” factsheet.
In addition, Laura Hodgson, Housing Planning and Data Manager from Growth Management Services,
presented an overview of the STEP Model Ordinance and Communications Toolkit. The Legislature directed
Commerce to identify housing needs for each county, including the future 20-year needs for PSH. Only about
65 out of about 220 cities have updated regulations to allow PSH where required, and most counties still need
to update regulations. Several of those that updated placed restrictions on PSH that were inconsistent with
federal or state law.
STEP housing types that governments need to take more of a role in developing include:
Emergency Shelters (S)
Transitional housing (T)
Emergency housing (E)
Permanent supportive housing (P)
The deliverables of this project include:
State of the Practice of federal and state regulations, with a summary of local work on Chapter 254, Laws
of 2021 (HB 1220) and an overview of the permitting process
Model ordinance for STEP housing types
A model ordinance user’s guidebook with best practices for developing regulations, including information
on fair housing laws, the Residential Landlord Tenant Act, how to regulate perceived impacts, etc.
A communications toolkit to support local governments in communicating with the public about STEP
housing and the planning process for it
Case studies of local implementation of STEP housing
Committee members were invited to participate in the public feedback opportunities for the PSH toolkit and
the STEP Model Ordinance.
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 15
July 11, 2024, PSH Advisory Committee meeting
The eighth meeting began with a welcome to two new members. Consistent with previous meetings, a land
acknowledgment and review of the ground rules for interpersonal interactions were reviewed. The meeting
also discussed the Legislative report review process and provided an overview of the recommendations
adopted thus far. Commerce staff provided an overview of a project management plan framework for
implementing the Committee recommendations. In addition, the recruitment subcommittee discussed the
vacant positions and their efforts to interview candidates for the open positions. The committee voted to
recommend three new members for the Commerce Director to appoint. The Committee also voted on the chair
position as an interim chair, which has been in place since November 2023. The Committee meeting also
included public attendees who shared feedback at the end of the meeting.
Education
Priority area #3 (See Table 3) is focused on supporting continuous quality improvement by assessing projects
across time through the PSH Operations, Maintenance, and Services (OMS) funding program. Commerce staff
and Committee member Kimberly Castle (representing the Health Care Authority) provided an overview of the
history of WA State's efforts to implement evidence-based practices adopting the Substance Abuse Mental
Health Service Administration's (SAMHSA) toolkit on PSH. The committee heard information on the seven
principles and HCA's efforts to create a learning collaborative approach to fidelity to the SAMHSA model.
Discussion
The Committee framed the discussion on the PSH continuous quality improvement approach around
consistency with the current SAMHSA model. Committee members questioned this approach, and
recommendations included using other frameworks, such as the United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness (USICH) All-In Strategic Plan. However, upon further research, the USICH All-In Plan also
references the SAMHSA principles. Recommendations for this priority will be presented at the October 24
meeting after additional information is collected.
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE 16
File and source
- File
- 2025_commercereports-2024-hd-permanent-supportive-housing-advisory-committe.pdf
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