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