This bill creates a new state program by adding sections to chapters 74.13 and 13.34 RCW to establish an "extended foster care housing program" that provides rental assistance and related housing fees to eligible youth in extended foster care who are homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness. It requires the department (not specifically identified in the extracted text) to conduct a competitive procurement to contract with entity or entities to operate the program, and authorizes the department to operate the program or parts of it if no contractor is available. The bill sets benefit and procedural rules: rental assistance may be provided for up to 36 months but not beyond the youth's 21st birthday; assistance amounts are based on fair market rent in the youth's location; eligible youth must pay no more than 30 percent of their adjusted gross income toward rent (including the extended foster care subsidy), except that if rent plus utilities exceed fair market rent the youth's contribution may be up to 40 percent of monthly adjusted gross income (including the subsidy). The department must ensure access for all eligible youth, collect annual data on housing status for youth in extended foster care, and implement a transition planning process beginning at least three months before a youth's 21st birthday that includes housing and financial stability assessments, support to apply for federal housing vouchers where applicable, and referrals to housing assistance and other services. The bill references federal programs (the federal "foster youth to independence" program and federally funded housing voucher programs) and ties eligibility to existing state law (youth receiving extended foster care services under RCW 13.34.267 and the homelessness/imminent risk definitions in RCW 13.34.030). Important details are not provided in the extracted facts: the specific department responsible, funding or appropriation language, exact definitions of "fair market rent" and "adjusted gross income" within the bill text, procurement timelines and contract terms, and whether other implementation or effective-date provisions appear elsewhere. The bill was read for the first time on 01/20/25.

If enacted, the bill would create a new housing assistance program that gives young people in extended foster care who are homeless or nearly homeless rental help for up to three years or until they turn 21, limits how much of their income they must pay for rent (generally no more than 30%, or up to 40% if rent plus utilities exceed fair market rent), ties assistance amounts to local fair market rent, requires transition planning starting at least three months before a youth’s 21st birthday (including help applying for federal vouchers and referrals), and requires the responsible state department to run a competitive procurement for program operators (or run the program itself) and collect annual housing-status data on participants. The people most affected are the eligible youth, who would likely face lower rent burdens and get focused transition help and referrals; the unnamed state department, which would take on new procurement, program administration, outreach and data-collection duties and therefore new costs and responsibilities; and potential contractor organizations that could win state contracts to operate the program. Important details needed to judge scope and timing are missing from the extracted text—most notably which department will run it, where the money will come from, and how “fair market rent” and “adjusted gross income” are defined—so actual rollout, budget impact, and timing remain uncertain.