The Housing Committee approved a bill from Rep. Paul Harris on Thursday that would allow the state to better assist those experiencing homelessness.
House Bill 2172 would require state agencies that own vacant properties within a qualifying city to lease those properties to the city for use during a declared emergency related to homelessness.
“This is one way we can help individuals who are struggling with homelessness,” said Rep. Harris, R-Vancouver. “I serve on two nonprofit agencies and I’m a strong advocate for the homeless, and those suffering mental health and substance abuse disorders. We must look at these issues in a different way to create real solutions.”
The legislation would mandate state agencies that own vacant property within a city with a population of 150,000 or more, must lease such properties to the cities in which they sit during a declared emergency related to homelessness.
“These locations would be able to serve roughly 125 to 150 people and offer them the care they need, including counseling and mental health treatment,” said Harris. “We would give them temporary housing, get them stabilized, and then move them into permanent housing. The bottom line is this would assist some individuals that really need help.”
A city would only be allowed to utilize the leased property for use as an emergency shelter, an emergency medical facility, or other uses directly related to the declared emergency.
The lease would last for one month after the end of the declared emergency, three months after the city last uses the property, or one month after the city provides notice to the state agency that they no longer need the property, whichever one occurs first.
The city must return the leased property to the state agency in substantially the same condition it was received in, and they may request assistance from the Attorney General in drafting the lease.
The 2024 legislative session began on Jan. 8 and is scheduled to end on March 7.
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