BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                   AB 483|
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                                    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, 
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          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 

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            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 

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          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 

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          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 


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                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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