House amendment shortens Department of Housing continuation to one year and adds reporting and eligibility requirements

Senate Bill 13‑57 would continue the Department of Housing, but the House Appropriations amendment modified the continuation and content. As passed by the Senate, the bill extended the department’s sunset for four years and included new requirements on funding and reporting metrics. The House Appropriations amendment shortened that continuation to one year and struck language that would have required the department to use funding primarily on emergency shelter or transitional housing.

The House amendment also included a provision requiring the Department of Housing to spend certain funding on people who have been determined to be seriously mentally ill and to be chronically resistant to treatment, and it outlined another Auditor General report on the department with topics to be included in that report, according to the caucus summary presented by Nicole (staff member). Nicole said the bill as amended “shortened the continuation to 1 year from 4” and “struck requirements to use funding primarily on emergency shelter or transitional housing.”

A caucus member urged the need to renew the Department of Housing and expressed concern about the one‑year continuation and the added provisions, saying the department’s renewal should not be limited to one year with the added provisions. The transcript records caucus discussion but shows no formal caucus vote on SB 13‑57 during this meeting.