BILL ANALYSIS Ó
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 483|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
CONSENT
Bill No: AB 483
Author: Torres (D)
Amended: 6/23/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM : 7-0, 06/21/11
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Huff, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Rubio,
Simitian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman, Pavley
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 05/23/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Supportive Housing Program
SOURCE : Corporation for Supportive Housing
DIGEST : 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,
CONTINUED
AB 483
Page
2
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 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:
1.Redefines the target population that may occupy
supportive housing units as persons, including persons
with disabilities, and families that meet the federal
definition of "homeless" or the state definition of
"homeless youth."
2.Requires each development receiving Supportive Housing
Program funds to set aside at least 40 percent 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.
3.Allows HCD to reduce the 40 percent setaside if it
CONTINUED
AB 483
Page
3
determines that the program is undersubscribed after
issuing at least one Notice of Funding Availability.
4.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.
5.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.
6.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.
Definitions
This bill uses the following definitions when describing
eligible residents and the 40 percent 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.
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
CONTINUED
AB 483
Page
4
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.
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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/23/11)
Corporation for Supportive Housing (source)
California Communities United Institute
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
EveryOne Home (Alameda County Continuum of Care)
Housing California
Western Center on Law and Poverty
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
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, 81 percent of supportive housing
residents remain stably housed after one year. These
individuals decreased their jail days by 76 percent, their
emergency room visits by 58 percent, and their inpatient
days by 57 percent. 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
CONTINUED
AB 483
Page
5
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 percent 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 percent and 30 percent 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 percent 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.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 05/23/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove,
Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor,
Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gorell
JJA:nl 6/23/11 Senate Floor Analyses
CONTINUED
AB 483
Page
6
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED