2019 Update to Kitsap Homeless Crisis Response and Housing Plan – Released for Public Comment
In the 2018 legislative session, Washington lawmakers passed new legislation that directed the Department of Commerce to issue specific guidelines to counties for updates to each county’s homeless housing plan. County plans that respond to these guidelines must be approved by their legislative body no later than December 1, 2019. Kitsap County updated this plan in 2018 with extensive community input. It is already substantially in compliance with the Commerce Guidelines. Because of these factors and the short timeframe to complete an update, the decision was made to make only minor updates to the existing Plan in the Action Plan – Detail Matrix, and to add Appendix D and Appendix E which directly respond to Commerce’s required elements.
The
2019 Update to the Kitsap Homeless Crisis Response and Housing Plan is open for public comment through Wednesday, November 13, 2019. Written public comment can be submitted to:
Housing and Homelessness Division
Kitsap County Human Services
345 6th Street, Suite 400
Bremerton, WA 98337
kjewell@co.kitsap.wa.us
There will be an opportunity to comment at the regularly scheduled Kitsap Board of County Commissioners meeting on Monday, November 25, 2019, 5:30pm, at the Commissioners Chambers, Kitsap County Administrative Building, 614 Division Street, Port Orchard, WA 98366. The Board is anticipated to take action on approving this updated plan following the Public Hearing.
2020 Coordinated Grant Cycle
Following a public comment period and public hearing the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners approved the 2020 funding recommendations at their regular meeting on October 28, 2019. Visit the
Coordinated Grant Application Process page for more information.
Recently Released and Updated Reports Available
The 2018 Annual Report has been released. This report details how the Housing & Homelessness Division works to make homelessness rare, brief, and one-time, accomplishments for the year, how funds are invested, and an overview of the Homeless Crisis Response System performance.
Additionally the following reports have been recently released or updated.
New 2018 Washington State Landlord Laws
Effective September 30th, 2018 Washington State makes it illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants based on their sources of income to pay the rent. Sources of income include any state, federal, and local benefits such as social security, TANF, veterans benefits, rental subsidies such as section 8, HEN, or ABD, and short-term rental assistance.
In addition to the new Source of Income Discrimination law there has been a Landlord Mitigation Program introduced to provide landlords with incentives and additional security to work with tenants receiving rental assistance.
Learn more about the new law and the mitigation fund in the
Source of Income Discrimination and Landlord Mitigation Program brochure.
Youth Housing Stability Model
Over the past nine months, the Housing and Homelessness Division and the Kitsap County Juvenile and Family Court Services Department have jointly convened a work group on Youth Homelessness, with an initial focus on justice-involved youth.
As part of this work, the group participated in a research project by the University of Washington’s Study and Advancement of Justice Effectiveness Center (SAJE Center), funded through grants from the Raikes Foundation and the Block-Leavitt Foundation. The project focused on identifying a court-based strategy for preventing and addressing youth homelessness for juvenile courts. Kitsap was one of two counties selected for the research project; Snohomish County was the other one.
Select the link to download the report:
Report of a Research to Practice Partnership to Develop the Youth Housing Stability Model for Juvenile Courts
The next steps for the work group include submitting an application for funding to begin implementing the model that was developed in collaboration with the SAJE Center.
The Kitsap Youth Homelessness Work Group consists of representatives from various organizations and agencies that work with youth experiencing homelessness. Any additional interested organizations are welcome to participate.
