WAC 365-120-030   Definitions.  (1) "Applicant" means a public or private nonprofit organization or agency, including local government entities, or a combination thereof, which applies for state emergency shelter or transitional housing program funds.

     (2) "Congregate care facility" means a licensed boarding home or a licensed private establishment which has entered into a congregate care contract with the department of social and health services.

     (3) "Contractor" means an applicant who has been awarded state funds under the emergency shelter or transitional housing, operating and rent program and which has entered into a contract with the department to provide emergency shelter or transitional housing services.

     (4) "Crisis residential center" means an agency operated under contract with the department of social and health services to provide temporary protective care to children in a semi-secure residential facility in the performance of duties specified and in a manner provided in RCW 13.32A.010 through 13.32A.200 and74.13.032 through 74.13.036.

     (5) "Current or continuous provider" means an agency or organization that currently provides or has provided emergency shelter assistance for some period during the most recent fiscal year.

     (6) "Department" means the department of community, trade, and economic development.

     (7) "Detoxification center" means a public or private agency or program of an agency that is operated for the purpose of providing residential detoxification services for those suffering from acute alcoholism.

     (8) "Director" means the director of the department of community, trade, and economic development.

     (9) "Emergency shelter assistance program" means the statewide administrative activities carried out within the department of community, trade, and economic development to allocate, award, and monitor state funds appropriated to assist local emergency shelter and homelessness prevention programs.

     (10) "Emergency shelter program" means a program within a local agency or organization that provides emergency shelter assistance.

     (11) "Families" means pregnant women or one or more adults with dependent children under eighteen, including pregnant and parenting teens.

     (12) "Group care facility" means an agency maintained and operated for the care of a group of children on a twenty-four-hour basis.

     (13) "Homeless" means persons, including families, who, on one particular day or night, do not have a decent and safe shelter or sufficient funds to purchase a place to stay.

     (14) "Homelessness prevention" means the following activities or programs designed to prevent the incidence of homelessness:

     (a) Subsidies to help defray rent or mortgage arrearages for individuals or families faced with eviction or foreclosure.

     (b) Security and damage deposits to enable a homeless individual or family to move into their own housing.

     (c) Initial rent costs to enable a homeless individual or family to move into his or her own housing.

     (d) Case management to assist individuals and families to remain in their housing or to look for permanent housing.

     (e) Landlord-tenant mediation, conciliation or other forms of dispute resolution or negotiation which will keep people in housing or help people with housing barriers to obtain a lease.

     (15) "Housing stability plan" means a set of goals and course of action set by the assisted family and housing support staff, to aid the family in transitioning to stable housing and the highest attainable level of self-sufficiency.

     (16) "Participating agency" means a local public or private nonprofit organization, which enters into a subcontract with a lead agency contractor to provide emergency shelter assistance.

     (17) "Religious service" means any sectarian or nondenominational service, rite, or meeting that involves worship of a higher being.

     (18) "Rental assistance" means no less than ninety-one days and no more than twenty-four months of assistance to help homeless families with children pay the cost of rent and utilities for amounts that are consistent with local practices.

     (19) "Safe home" means a private home where short-term emergency shelter is provided primarily to victims of domestic violence.

     (20) "Short-term" means one to ninety days.

     (21) "Transitional housing" means housing provided for no less than ninety-one days and no more than twenty-four months.

     (22) "Transitional housing, operating and rent program" or "transitional housing program" means the statewide administrative activities carried out within the department to allocate, award and monitor state funds appropriated to local communities to provide operating assistance for transitional housing units and partial rental assistance to homeless families with children.

     (23) "Voucher system" means a method of purchasing emergency shelter assistance by the night using a notification coupon.



[Statutory Authority: Chapter 43.63A RCW, RCW [43.]63A.650, and 1999 c 267. 00-05-020, § 365-120-030, filed 2/8/00, effective 3/10/00. Statutory Authority: RCW 43.63A.060. 87-19-112 (Order 87-12), § 365-120-030, filed 9/18/87; 86-20-011 (Order 86-15), § 365-120-030, filed 9/22/86; 86-03-008 (Order 85-19), § 365-120-030, filed 1/6/86.]