BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 346
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Date of Hearing: April 2, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 346 (Stone) - As Amended: April 1, 2013
SUBJECT : Emergency Youth Shelter Facilities
SUMMARY : Provides the California Department of Social Services
(DSS) the authority to license emergency youth shelter
facilities (EYSF). Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires DSS to license all EYSFs as a sub-category of group
homes and defines an EYSF as a facility that provides
voluntary, short-term, emergency shelter and personal services
to youth who are homeless.
2)Authorizes EYSFs to provide short-term 24-hour nonmedical
care, supervision and personal services to youth who
voluntarily enter the facility.
3)Defines short-term as 21 consecutive days from the date of
admission to the facility.
4)Permits EYSFs to serve youth who are between the ages of 12
and 17 who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless as
defined under Section 725 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Section 11434(a)(2) and (6)).
5)Allows facilities to operate up to a capacity of 25 youths and
requires the staff to youth ratio to be one staff person for
every eight youths.
6)Allows volunteers to be counted as staff for purposes of the
staff-to-youth ratio, as specified.
7)Requires all staff and volunteers to undergo criminal
background checks and have their names checked on the Child
Abuse Index.
8)Requires staff to assess all youth prior to admission to the
facility to determine whether the youth presents a threat to
himself or herself or others in the facility, and provides
that a youth shall not be admitted to the facility if he or
she poses such a threat.
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9)Prohibits an EYSF from being used as a placement facility for
foster youth and from receiving a group home funding rate.
10)Requires each EYSF to collect and maintain information in a
monthly report to be provided to DSS upon request, which shall
include the:
a) Total number of youth served per month;
b) Name of each youth served;
c) Age of each youth served;
d) Length of stay of each youth served; and
e) Number of times a youth accesses its services.
11)Exempts an EYSF from conducting a "needs and services plan"
as required of regular group homes, as specified under Title
22 of the California Code of Regulations.
12)Requires DSS to adopt regulations necessary to implement this
measure by December 1, 2014.
13)Defines a "group home" as a residential facility that
provides 24-hour care and supervision to minors and maintains
a structured environment with services, as specified, in the
Health and Safety Code.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the California Community Care Facilities Act
(CCFA) to provide a comprehensive statewide service system of
quality community care for people who have a mental illness, a
developmental or physical disability, and children and adults
who require care or services by a facility or organization.
1)Authorizes DSS to license facilities or organizations that
provide services under the jurisdiction of the CCFA.
2)Defines a "community care facility" as a facility, place, or
building maintained and operated to provide nonmedical
residential care, day treatment, adult day care, or foster
family agency services for children, adults, or children and
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adults, including, but not limited to, the physically
handicapped, mentally impaired, incompetent persons, and
abused or neglected children.
3)Provides for the exemption of certain types of facilities from
the CCFA, as specified, including any house, institution,
hotel, homeless shelter, or other similar place that supplied
board and room only, or room only, or board only, provided
that no resident thereof requires any element of care as
determined by the Director of DSS.
4)Provides that any person who violates the CCFA shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined no more
than $1,000, imprisoned in county jail for up to one year, or
both.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RYHA)
In response to concerns emerging during the early 1970s that
little if any federal and state services were available to youth
who were either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless,
Congress established the RHYA in 1974. The Family Youth
Services Bureau (FYSB), under the United States Department of
Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children and
Families, oversees the issuance of Basic Center Program grants.
The purpose of these grants, according to the FYSB, is to
"establish or strengthen community-based programs that meet the
immediate needs of runaway and homeless youth and their
families." Under these grants, recipient organizations and
agencies provide youth up to age 18 with emergency shelter,
food, clothing, counseling and referrals to youth services.
Although the intent is to help reunite youth with their families
through counseling and supportive services whenever possible,
they also help to locate appropriate alternative placements that
can help keep youth off the streets and avoid becoming
chronically homeless.
Funding for these programs is extremely limited due to the
nation's ongoing budget deficit. In federal fiscal year 2012,
321 programs received a total of $48.2 million.
Homeless Youth
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Established by the California Research Bureau (CRB) in 2006 in
collaboration with the Council on Youth Relations (CYR), the
Homeless Youth Project (HYP) is a multi-year research and policy
initiative tasked with highlighting and raising awareness about
the homeless youth population and its challenges, and presenting
solutions to help address California's homeless youth
population.
According to the HYP, based upon national survey estimates and
California's youth population, it is estimated that there are
200,000 youth under the age of 18 and potentially thousands of
persons aged 18 - 24 who are homeless. While this is an
approximation of the number of homeless youth in California, the
number is likely to be greater given the challenges involved in
the identification of homeless youth. For purpose of this
population, "homeless youth" typically describes minors under
the age of 18, and 18 - 24-year-olds who are economically and/or
emotionally detached from their families and have an unstable
and inadequate living environment, or are periodically homeless
or homeless.
The causes of youth homelessness are varied and complex. They
range from runaway youth to emancipated foster youth to
disengaged youth due to the lack of an adult figure in their
life or a lack of access to appropriate services. Due to their
unique circumstances, research has shown that homeless youth are
at a greater risk of physical and sexual abuse, sexual
exploitation, alcohol and drug abuse, mental health
disabilities, and death. Additionally, the social, emotional,
medical, economic and personal challenges homeless youth face,
when coupled with the lack of effective, coordinated services to
help them find and keep stable housing and reach
self-sufficiency, can lead to ongoing and chronic cycles of
homelessness throughout their lifetime.
In a 2010 survey of local, state and federal programs, the HYP
was able to identify 53 programs that offered just over 1,000
beds for homeless youth throughout the state. Given that the
current estimate of homeless youth amounts to more than 200,000
individuals, this demonstrates a significant gap between the
size of California's homeless youth population and the number of
programs and services available to meet their needs.
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RHYA grant eligibility and state licensing requirements
The exact number of homeless youth shelters operating in
California is unknown, as the state does not currently have a
uniform licensing policy. However, according to the California
Coalition for Youth (CCY), it is generally estimated that there
are about 60 homeless youth shelters currently operating in
California. Of that number, 33 currently receive grant funding
through the RHYA. For these shelters, this is the primary
source of funding they receive, which makes them heavily
dependent upon the RHYA to continue to provide needed and
important services for homeless and runaway youth.
Over the past five years the federal RHYA grant requirements
have required recipients to be in compliance with their
particular state's shelter licensing requirements. However,
while California's CCFA requires most types of facilities that
serve youth to be licensed, it exempts homeless shelters from
licensure. This is further complicated by the fact that
homeless youth shelters can be considered both a homeless
shelter and a facility that serves youth. Additionally, state
law does not provide clear requirements nor guidance that
delineates what is considered a homeless shelter versus a youth
homeless shelter under state law.
Federal guidance issued by the FYSB in a letter dated June 28,
2007 clearly stated that the:
"? FYSB expects all grantees to be in compliance with their
state and local requirements pertaining to background
checks and/or criminal history checks of the staff employed
along with shelter licensing requirements. FYSB staff will
ask for proof of compliance with such requirements during
monitoring visits."
Although it can be construed through this letter that all
grantees should be licensed, the FYSB does not explicitly state
that states must license a grantee's facility. Because
California does not have any licensing requirements for homeless
youth shelters, participating RHYA grantees have no requirements
with which to comply. California is not alone in this matter;
according to the Homeless Youth Capacity Building Project, a
joint collaboration between CCY and the John Burton Foundation
for Children Without Homes, less than half of all states in the
US have established a statutory licensure requirement for
emergency youth shelters.
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In recent years, DSS has attempted to license homeless youth
shelters under the group home licensing category, but it has
become clear that this is an inappropriate application of this
licensing definition. Whereas a homeless youth shelter provides
temporary and voluntary nonmedical emergency services to youth,
a group home must adhere to strict legal requirements and a
structured array of programmatic and support services to foster
youth who are considered to be dependents or wards of the court.
Need for the bill
According to the author:
This measure is intended to resolve the numerous conflicts
and ambiguities that exist in current law due to the
absence of a specific licensing requirement for emergency
youth shelters, including the lack of clarity with respect
to whether a homeless youth shelter should be considered a
group home or a homeless shelter. It will also help
address federal guidance that RHYA grant recipients comply
with local and state licensing and criminal background
check requirements. AB 346 builds upon the existing group
home licensing category through the establishment of a
sub-category dedicated to the unique and critical services
EYSFs provide. This will enable EYSFs to be treated
uniquely and distinctly under the law to help to ensure
that the state can continue to provide and support these
critical and important services for our unique and
vulnerable population of runaway, homeless and at-risk
youth.
Having a uniform licensing policy would allow the state to
ensure that youth who are homeless or are at risk of
becoming homeless have access to these important services.
It would also:
Help to provide a more accurate picture of how
many shelters exist;
Provide a better understanding of the number
and demographics of the youth they serve;
Improve the state's ability to identify where
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shelters are and should be located; and
Encourage greater sharing of best practices to
enhance and expand services to a vulnerable and at
risk population.
According to the CCY:
Findings from the California Homeless Youth Project showed
that only 20 out of 58 counties have services of any kind
for homeless youth, and only identified 53 programs of any
kind serving unaccompanied homeless youth throughout the
state from street outreach to transitional living programs.
Some of the existing emergency youth shelters are licensed
under the group home category, with either exemptions to
make their program fit into the group home category, or the
facility making numerous modifications to their program to
fit into this licensing category. Other emergency youth
shelters have been told that they do not need a license to
operate. Some of these shelters have been in operation for
over twenty years. This bill attempts to find a balance
and create consistency across the state to license these
shelters, and ensure that federal funds are not jeopardized
from a lack of consistency with licensing or a clear policy
directive from the state.
Past legislation
SB 119 (Lowenthal), of 2012 would have created a licensing
category for emergency youth shelter facilities and would have
directed the Department of Social Services (CDSS) to adopt
regulations for them by January 1, 2013. It was held in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Department of Social Services (CDSS) - Sponsor
California Coalition for Youth (CCY) - Co-Sponsor
California Communities United Institute (CalComUI)
County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA)
Opposition
None on file
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Analysis Prepared by : Chris Reefe / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089