This bill creates a temporary tenant assistance grant program administered by the Washington State Department of Commerce and adds a new tenant assistance program account in the state treasury. The program provides grants to public housing authorities to make monthly tenant assistance payments for eligible renters who meet income and housing-cost criteria (household income at or below 80% of HUD county median, spending over 30% of income on housing, and a rent reduction of $400 or less would reduce housing costs to 30% of income). Payments may not exceed the lesser of $400 or the amount needed to reach 30% of income, are limited to one renter per household, and may be provided for up to 12 consecutive months. Applicants must submit monthly documentation; false documentation requires repayment and disqualifies the renter. Public housing authorities must prioritize renters with income at or below 60% of county median or those receiving Supplemental Security Income. The Department may adopt rules, must report to the legislature by July 30, 2026 and annually thereafter, and the tenant assistance program section expires June 30, 2032 while the tenant assistance program account expires December 31, 2032. A joint legislative committee review and report on the program is required by December 1, 2031. The bill amends RCW 36.22.250 to impose a $183 surcharge per recorded instrument (with specified exemptions) and specifies how surcharge revenue is distributed: 1% to county auditors for fee collection, 30% retained by counties for local homeless housing uses, 54.1% to the home security fund (reduced to 39.1% from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2032), 13.1% to the affordable housing for all account (reduced to 8.1% during that same period), and 1.8% to the landlord mitigation program account. From July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2032, 20% of funds are transmitted to the tenant assistance program account. County uses of their 30% include up to 10% for county administration, at least 75% for the county homeless housing plan, and at least 15% for eligible activities serving extremely low and very low income households, with specific allowable activities listed. The Department of Commerce must give counties a right of first refusal for certain home security fund grants, with an exception that funding through the office of homeless youth prevention and protection programs is exempt from that county first refusal requirement. Legally, the act creates new statutory sections (adding a tenant assistance program and account and a joint committee review requirement) and amends existing law governing recording surcharges. The changes are procedural and funding changes establishing a new grant program, creating and allocating a new revenue stream, setting eligibility and administrative procedures for assistance payments, and imposing a repayment/disqualification penalty for false documentation. Some referenced provisions are not fully present in the extracted text: the full text of section 4 as referenced in one chunk, the complete language of subsection (4) of RCW 36.22.250, and the full text of section 2 in one chunk are missing, so any additional specifics in those parts are uncertain from the provided material.

If enacted, the law would create a time-limited tenant assistance grant program run by the Department of Commerce that channels money to public housing authorities to reduce eligible renters’ monthly housing costs by up to $400 for as long as 12 consecutive months, provided renters meet income and rent-burden tests and submit monthly proof of income and housing costs; renters who falsify documents must repay funds and are barred from the program, and landlords are barred from refusing tenants for using the assistance. The program is funded largely by a new $183 county recording surcharge that shifts portions of recording fee revenue to counties, the state home security fund, an affordable housing account, a landlord mitigation account, and specifically directs 20% of surcharge revenues to the tenant assistance account during July 1, 2025–June 30, 2032; counties, county auditors, cities, and homelessness programs will see new revenue flows but must follow prescribed allocation rules and may incur administrative responsibilities to distribute or pass through funds. The groups most affected are the Department of Commerce (new rulemaking, grant administration, and annual reporting duties), public housing authorities (new front-line role verifying monthly eligibility, prioritizing recipients, and issuing payments), lowand moderate-income renters who meet the program thresholds (likely to see short-term rent relief but limited to $400/month and up to one year), and county and city governments (new restricted revenues and modest administrative costs). Some implementation details are unclear from the provided text—portions of the department’s fund-use rules and parts of subsection (4) are missing—and the statute contains differing expiration dates for program sections, which could affect the timing and duration of available funding.