BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 483
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: torres
VERSION: 6/15/11
Analysis by: Mark Stivers FISCAL: no
Hearing date: June 21, 2011
SUBJECT:
Supportive Housing Program
DESCRIPTION:
This bill redefines the target population that may occupy
supportive housing units funded through the Supportive Housing
Program.
ANALYSIS:
Under current law, the Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD) administers the Multifamily Housing Program
(MHP), which funds the new construction, rehabilitation, and
preservation of permanent and transitional rental homes for
lower-income households by providing loans to local government,
non-profit, and for-profit developers. MHP is HCD's omnibus
financing program for affordable rental housing development.
A subcomponent of MHP is the Supportive Housing Program, which
funds permanent housing linked to supportive services. Current
law defines the "target population" that is eligible to occupy
supportive housing units as lower-income households that include
a disabled adult. Current law also requires HCD to give
priority in selecting supportive housing projects to fund to the
following:
Projects that house persons with disabilities who would
otherwise be at high risk of homelessness, where the
application for funding demonstrates collaboration with
programs that meet the needs of the supportive housing
residents' disabilities;
Projects that include a focus on measurable outcomes and a
plan for evaluation.
Current law also requires project sponsors to report annually to
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HCD all of the following:
The length of occupancy by each supportive housing resident
for the period covered by the report;
Changes in each supportive housing resident's employment
status during the previous year;
Changes in each supportive housing resident's source and
amount of income during the previous year.
This bill alters the Supportive Housing Program for future
rounds of funding the HCD offers as follows:
Redefines the target population that may occupy supportive
housing units as households that meet the federal definition
of "homeless" or the state definition of "homeless youth."
Requires each development receiving Supportive Housing Program
funds to set aside at least 40% of units for chronically
homeless persons; homeless youth; and individuals exiting
institutional settings (e.g., jails, hospitals, prisons, and
institutes of mental disease), who were homeless when entering
the institutional setting, who have a disability, and who
resided in that setting for a period of not less than 15 days.
Allows HCD to reduce the 40% setaside if it determines that
the program is undersubscribed after issuing at least one
Notice of Funding Availability.
Deems residents who are no longer homeless because they live
in an existing supportive housing development qualified for
occupancy in a separate supportive housing development.
Replaces the priority for projects that demonstrate
collaboration with programs that meet the needs of the
supportive housing residents' disabilities with a threshold
requirement that projects provide, or demonstrate
collaboration with providers of, services meeting the needs of
the residents.
Requires project sponsors to report their residents' housing
status and term of homelessness prior to occupancy and the
reason for resident moves and the type of housing to which the
residents moved, if known.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose of the bill . According to the author, supportive
housing is a proven, cost-effective approach to reducing
chronic homelessness. It allows people suffering from severe
barriers to housing stability to remain stably housed. Among
homeless people with mental illness and substance addiction,
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81% of supportive housing residents remain stably housed after
one year. These individuals decreased their jail days by 76%,
their emergency room visits by 58%, and their inpatient days
by 57%. Because of the associated service costs, however,
supportive housing is not cost-effective for those who only
need an affordable place to live.
Under current law, the Supportive Housing Program statute
allows funded projects to serve any disabled individual who is
homeless or at risk of homelessness. Under HCD regulations, a
household is "at risk of homelessness" if household income is
at less than 20% of area median income or state median income
(AMI or SMI) and the household has no rental subsidy, or if
household income is between 20% and 30% of AMI or SMI and the
household is facing immediate eviction, release from an
institution, an overcrowded living situation, substandard
housing, or housing costs of over 50% of the household's
income.
Because of the broad definition of the Supportive Housing
Program target population, some projects have assisted people
who would never have become homeless without supportive
housing. Many among the eligible population needed a more
affordable home but not necessarily the supportive services to
remain housed.
This bill changes the definition of "target population" to
ensure that Supportive Housing Program funds are used most
effectively to serve individuals who need supportive services,
particularly the chronically homeless.
2.Definitions . This bill uses the following definitions when
describing eligible residents and the 40% setaside:
Homeless: As defined in federal statute, generally an
individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate
nighttime residence or who will imminently lose his or her
primary nighttime residence and has identified no subsequent
residence.
Homeless youth: As defined is state law, a homeless youth is
a person who 1) is not older than 24 years of age and is
homeless or at risk of becoming homeless; is no longer
eligible for foster care on the basis of age; or has run away
from home; or 2) an emancipated minor who is homeless or at
risk of becoming homeless.
AB 483 (TORRES) Page 4
Chronically homeless: As defined in the federal Department of
Housing and Urban Development's Super Notice of Funding
Availability for Continuum of Care or Collaborative Applicant
Program, a chronically homeless person is an unaccompanied
homeless individual with a disabling condition or a family
with at least one adult member who has a disabling condition
who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more
or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past
three years.
3.Status of Supportive Housing Program funding . The Housing and
Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006 (Proposition 1C)
allocated $195 million in funding to the Supportive Housing
Program. This month HCD intends to re-issue a Notice of
Funding Availability (NOFA) and to begin accepting
applications for the last $65 million of Proposition 1C funds
available for this program. Even if HCD does not award all of
these funds before this bill would take effect on January 1,
2012, the bill provides that it only applies to NOFAs issued
after that date. At this time, future funding for this
program has not yet been identified.
4.Technical amendments .
On page 4, lines 11-12, strike "Section 576.3 of Title
24 of the Code of Federal Regulations" and insert "42 USC
Section 11302"
On page 4, lines 17-18, strike "Section 576.3 of Title
24 of the Code of Federal Regulations" and insert "42 USC
Section 11302"
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 79-0
HCD: 7-0
RELATED LEGISLATION
AB 221 (Carter) allows HCD to expend Proposition 46 and 1C bond
funds earmarked for the Emergency Housing Assistance Program
(EHAP) either for EHAP or for the Supportive Housing Program.
This bill will be heard in the Senate Transportation and Housing
Committee on June 28.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 15,
AB 483 (TORRES) Page 5
2011)
SUPPORT: Corporation for Supportive Housing (sponsor)
California Communities United Institute
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
EveryOne Home (Alameda County Continuum of Care)
Housing California
Western Center on Law and Poverty
OPPOSED: None received.