BILL NUMBER: AB 826	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Atkins

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2011

   An act to amend Section 50802 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to emergency housing.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 826, as introduced, Atkins. Emergency Housing and Assistance
Fund.
   Existing law establishes the Emergency Housing and Assistance
Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the Department of Housing
and Community Development, to carry out the purposes of the
Emergency Housing and Assistance Program. The department is required
to ensure that not less than 20% of the moneys in the fund be
allocated to nonurban counties and provides for the allocation of
funds in the event funds allocated to nonurban counties are not
awarded, as prescribed.
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these
provisions of law.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 50802 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   50802.  (a) The department shall  ensure  
make certain  that not less than 20 percent of the moneys in the
Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund shall be allocated to nonurban
counties during any given fiscal year. If the funds designated for
facilities operation that are allocated to nonurban counties are not
awarded by the end of that fiscal year, then those unencumbered funds
shall be allocated in the  next   subsequent
 fiscal year to urban counties. Funds for capital development
that are not awarded by the end of the second fiscal year shall be
awarded in the  subsequent   next  fiscal
year to urban counties.
   (b) The amount of funds that the department allocates from the
Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund to each region, excluding funds
allocated pursuant to subdivision (a), shall be based upon a formula
that accords at least 20 percent weight to each of the following
factors:
   (1) The relative number of persons in the region below the poverty
line according to the most recent federal census, updated, if
possible, with an estimate by the Department of Finance, compared to
the total of the urban counties.
   (2) The relative number of persons unemployed within each region,
based on the most recent one-year period for which data is available,
compared to the total of the urban counties.
   (c) Grant funds shall be disbursed as expeditiously as possible by
the department.
   (d) The department shall use not more than 5 percent of the amount
available for funds pursuant to this chapter to defray the
department's administrative costs pursuant to this chapter.
   (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the
department shall distribute funds appropriated for purposes of the
activities specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section
50803 as grants in the form of forgivable deferred loans, subject to
all of the following:
   (1) Funding shall be made available to each project as a loan with
a term of five years for rehabilitation, seven years for substantial
rehabilitation, or 10 years for acquisition and rehabilitation or
new construction. Each deferred loan shall be secured by a deed of
trust and promissory note. Repayment of the loan shall be deferred as
long as the project is used as an emergency shelter or transitional
housing. At the completion of the specified year term, the loan shall
be forgiven. If a transfer or conveyance of the project property,
however, occurs prior to that time that results in the property no
longer being used as an emergency shelter or transitional housing,
the department shall terminate the grant and require the repayment of
the deferred loan in full.
   (2) Applications for funding shall be made pursuant to
department-issued statewide "Notices of Funding Availability" without
the need for additional regulations.
   (3) The department shall set forth the criteria for evaluating
applications in the "Notices of Funding Availability" and shall make
deferred loans based on those applications that best meet the
criteria.
   (4) The department shall specify in the "Notice of Funding
Availability" both maximum and minimum grant amounts that may be
varied for urban and nonurban counties.
   (5) Contracts for projects that have not begun construction within
the initial 12-month period shall be terminated and funds
reallocated. The department, however, may extend this period by a
period not to exceed 12 months.