The Senate Housing Stability and Affordability Committee passed a series of several bills on Friday morning, the last day to pass bills out of  policy committees this session. While not a comprehensive rundown of every bill passed in the committee’s executive session on Friday, these are a few the Wire is keeping its eye on. 

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Senate Bill 1754, which seeks to limit municipal governments from regulating religious organizations housing homeless individuals, was passed Friday morning in the Senate Housing Stability and Affordability Committee. The bill would also require these religious organizations to work with the city, county or town it is located in to protect public health and safety, as well as comply with certain regulations concerning sex offender checks and to conduct meetings with the neighborhood to hear neighbors’ concerns. Notice of these meetings must go up at least 96 hours before the meeting. 

House Bill 2110 would change the definition of affordable workforce housing in order to allow spending of lodging tax revenues on homeless youth facilities and services. The definition change would clarify that affordable workforce housing means housing for a single person, family or people not related to each other but living together. The household income would have to be at or below 80 percent of the area median income, adjusted for household size.

House Bill 2497 aims to add permanently affordable housing development to the list of allowable uses of community revitalization financing, as well as the local infrastructure financing tool and local revitalization financing. Money from these programs can be spent on construction, purchase or renovation of permanently affordable housing, among other uses. 

House Bill 2797 aims to extend the deadline for adopting a qualifying local tax to Dec. 31, 2021, requiring cities that plan to institute a qualifying local tax to adopt a resolution of intent to institute that tax by July 28 of this year. Cities that adopt this resolution would have to submit a copy of the resolution authorizing the tax to the Department of Revenue (DOR) within 45 days of adopting that resolution. Final cap amounts, to be calculated by the DOR, will be determined by June 30, 2022. 

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