Thurston County to offer less rent assistance even with new WA state funding
A new stream of state dollars will allow Thurston County to offer rent assistance next year, but access will be limited.
The Washington state Department of Commerce added nearly $2.5 million for eviction prevention to its contract with Thurston County, bringing the total to almost $13.6 million. The Board of County Commissioners approved the amendment last Tuesday.
“This will be a permanent rent assistance program going forward and an ongoing revenue source as our current COVID funded rent assistance program comes to an end,” said Tom Webster, Manager for the county’s Office of Housing and Homeless Prevention.
With this funding, the county also approved new contracts with three different non-profits providers who will operate the program. This allows the county to continue offering rent assistance as it has for thousands of households during the pandemic.
However, the new program will be funded at a much lower level than the recent program, Webster explained in a statement to The Olympian. This means the county will serve less people and provide fewer months of rent assistance than it has during the past two years.
“Eligibility criteria for the program will also be more restrictive, meaning fewer household will qualify for the program,” Webster said. “The program will also require a case management component to help ensure that people are able to maintain their housing.”
This wouldn’t be the first time Thurston County’s rent assistance offerings have seen a significant change. The county’s program went through some starts and stops this year.
In February, the county abruptly suspended its contracts with a previous provider, citing fraud in its rent assistance payments. In the aftermath the county contracted LiveStories, a Seattle based company, to continue the program, but the transition left many renters in limbo.
Then in June, the county stopped accepting new applicants who were 25 and older due to a massive backlog and dwindling federal funding.
At the time, rent assistance payments were supported by the American Rescue Plan and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
From March 20 to Dec. 11, LiveStories has distributed at least $17.1 million in rent assistance to about 1,738 households, according to a county dashboard.
However, 169 applications remained in progress and 502 had been denied. Webster said most applications were denied because they were duplicates or incomplete.
The latest round of funding comes from a new state program created by House Bill 1277 in 2021. Under this bill, the state has begun to use state document recording fees to fund rental assistance and supportive services.
The county must spend its nearly $2.5 million share by June 30, 2023, according to county documents. Eligible households include those at risk of homelessness, those with income at or below 80 percent area median income and those who meet targeted prevention prioritization criteria.
On Aug. 15, the county issued a request for proposals for agencies willing to implement this new program. The Regional Housing Council, an advisory group of regional leaders, approved recommending three proposals to the Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 28.
Last Tuesday, the board approved the following contracts:
- Partners in Prevention Education (PiPE) will get almost $1.2 million to help single adults.
- Family Support Center of South Sound will get $875,000 to help families and survivors of domestic and interpersonal violence.
- Community Youth Services will get $300,000 to help youth and young adults.
Contracts with the three providers were still being finalized this week, Webster said. He expects the contracts to be in place by early 2023, but until then the county will continue to spend down funding for its current program.
Notably, the county began accepting new applications last week but this opportunity ended on Monday. Even if someone managed to apply in time, the county cautioned that funding would not be guaranteed.
“Applications will be processed in the order they are received until funding runs out,” the county said in a tweet. “Once funding runs out, applications will be denied for a lack of funds.”
Webster said the county only reopened applications so it could receive a “modest” number of additional applications. He added the county aims to spend most of its remaining funds under the current program by a Dec. 29 deadline.
Last month, the county received about $2.2 million in additional funds for its current rent assistance program from the state Department of Commerce, according to county documents. This brought its contract total to almost $15 million.
This state re-allocated funding to Thurston County after reclaiming it from jurisdictions that could not spend their shares by the Dec. 29 deadline.
“We are doing our best to spend the funds in a very short spending timeframe,” Webster said.
Webster said the county will still have some leftover state funding, totaling less than $500,000, that it can spend in the new year. But he expects that funding to be expended in January or early February.
Reflecting on the past two years, Webster said the county’s program has helped many people keep their housing during trying times.
“It has also highlighted how many households are unstably housed and vulnerable to losing their housing due to lost income and/or rising rents, Webster said. “This challenge has not gone away with the end of the COVID-related rent assistance funding.”
Information and updates on the county’s rent assistance offerings can be found on its Public Health and Social Services website. However, it has not been updated with information on the new permanent program prior to publication.
