AB 873, as amended, Chau. Housing: emergency housing and assistance funding.
Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to administer the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program. Under the program, moneys from the continuously appropriated Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund are available for the purposes of providing shelter, as specified, to homeless persons at as low a cost and as quickly as possible, without compromising the health and safety of shelter occupants, to encourage the move of homeless persons from shelters to a self-supporting environment as soon as possible, to encourage provision of services for as many persons at risk of homelessness as possible, to encourage compatible and effective funding of homeless services, and to encourage coordination among public agencies that fund or provide services to homeless individuals, as well as agencies that discharge people from their institutions.
Existing law requires the department to distribute funds appropriated for activities providing for capital development programs, including acquisition, leasing, construction, and rehabilitation of sites for emergency shelter and transitional housing for homeless persons, as grants in the form of forgivable deferred loans, as prescribed. Existing law requires the department to make funding available to each project as a loan with a term of 5 years for rehabilitation, 7 years for substantial rehabilitation, or 10 years for acquisition and rehabilitation or new construction.
This bill would authorize the department to also make funding available as a loan with a term of 20 years for conversion to permanent supportive housing for homeless families and individuals.
Existing law requires that grants awarded by the department pursuant to these provisions be used by a grant recipient to defray costs of eligible activities defined in department regulations.
This bill would provide that these grants may also be awarded pursuant to department guidelines and would authorize the department to adopt guidelines that are not subject to review by the Office of Administrative Law, as specified. The bill would also expand eligible activities to include capital development loans for the conversion of emergency shelter or transitional housing to permanent supportive housing for homeless families or individuals, and the provision of effective approaches to rapidly rehouse homeless clients, including homeless system assessments, street outreach and housing and services engagement efforts, coordinated care services, housing location and stabilization services, and rental assistance costs, including deposits and costs necessary for occupancy. The bill would require the department to give priority for capital development funds to applicants proposing capital development loans for the conversion of emergency shelter or transitional housing to permanent supportive housing for homeless families or individuals and to give priority for noncapital development funds to applicants that propose effective approaches to rapidly rehouse homeless clients and that leverage additional funding sources or focus on high-cost users of more than one system of care.
The bill would require that the department, no later than June 30, 2015, transfer anybegin delete capital development fundsend deletebegin insert end insertbegin insertunobligated Proposition 46 and Proposition 1C bond fundsend insert derived from bonds remaining in the Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund to the Housing Rehabilitation Loanbegin delete Fundend deletebegin insert
Fund,end insertbegin insert less any funds needed for state operations to support outstanding awards as determined by the Department of Housing and Community Development,end insert to be expended for the Multifamily Housing Program for supportive housing for a specified target population.
By authorizing the use of continuously appropriated funds for new purposes, this bill would make an appropriation.
Vote: 2⁄3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 50802 of the Health and Safety Code is
2amended to read:
(a) The department shall ensure that not less than 20
4percent of the moneys in the Emergency Housing and Assistance
5Fund shall be allocated to nonurban counties during any given
6fiscal year. If the funds designated for facilities operation that are
7allocated to nonurban counties are not awarded by the end of that
8fiscal year, then those unencumbered funds shall be allocated in
9the next fiscal year to urban counties. Funds for capital
10development that are not awarded by the end of the second fiscal
11year shall be awarded in the subsequent fiscal year to urban
12counties.
13(b) The amount of funds that the department allocates from the
14Emergency Housing
and Assistance Fund to each region, excluding
15funds allocated pursuant to subdivision (a), shall be based upon a
16formula that accords at least 20 percent weight to each of the
17following factors:
18(1) The relative number of persons in the region below the
19poverty line according to the most recent federal census, updated,
20if possible, with an estimate by the Department of Finance,
21compared to the total of the urban counties.
22(2) The relative number of persons unemployed within each
23region, based on the most recent one-year period for which data
24is available, compared to the total of the urban counties.
25(c) Grant funds shall be disbursed as expeditiously as possible
26by the department.
27(d) The department shall use not more than 5 percent of the
28amount available for funds pursuant to this chapter to defray the
29department’s administrative costs pursuant to this chapter.
P4 1(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the
2department shall distribute funds appropriated for purposes of the
3activities specified in paragraphs (2) and (7) of subdivision (a) of
4Section 50803 as grants in the form of forgivable deferred loans,
5subject to all of the following:
6(1) Funding shall be made available to each project as a loan
7with a term of five years for rehabilitation, seven years for
8substantial rehabilitation, 10 years for acquisition and rehabilitation
9or new construction, or 20 years for conversion to permanent
10
supportive housing for homeless families and individuals. Each
11deferred loan shall be secured by a deed of trust and promissory
12note. Repayment of the loan shall be deferred as long as the project
13is used as an emergency shelter or transitional housing. At the
14completion of the specified year term, the loan shall be forgiven.
15If a transfer or conveyance of the project property, however, occurs
16prior to that time that results in the property no longer being used
17as an emergency shelter or transitional housing, the department
18shall terminate the grant and require the repayment of the deferred
19loan in full.
20(2) Applications for funding shall be made pursuant to
21department-issued statewide “Notices of Funding Availability”
22without the need for additional regulations.
23(3) The
department shall set forth the criteria for evaluating
24applications in the “Notices of Funding Availability” and shall
25make deferred loans based on those applications that best meet the
26criteria.
27(4) The department shall specify in the “Notice of Funding
28Availability” both maximum and minimum grant amounts that
29may be varied for urban and nonurban counties.
30(5) Contracts for projects that have not begun construction
31within the initial 12-month period shall be terminated and funds
32reallocated. The department, however, may extend this period by
33a period not to exceed 12 months.
Section 50803 of the Health and Safety Code is
35amended to read:
(a) Grants awarded by the department pursuant to this
37chapter shall be used by a grant recipient to defray costs of eligible
38activities defined in department regulations or guidelines,
39including, but not limited to, any of the following activities:
P5 1(1) Operating facilities, including, but not limited to, operations
2staff salaries, maintenance, repair, utilities, equipment, and debt
3reduction.
4(2) Providing for capital development programs, such as
5
acquisition, leasing, construction, and rehabilitation of sites for
6emergency shelter and transitional housing for homeless persons.
7(3) Administrative costs.
8(4) Operating expenses relating to supervising and counseling
9clients.
10(5) Providing residential rental assistance.
11(6) Leasing or renting rooms for provision of temporary shelter.
12(7) Capital development loans for the conversion of emergency
13shelter or transitional housing to permanent supportive housing
14for homeless families or individuals. The department shall establish
15the maximum loan limits for the loans in the notice of funding
16availability.
17(8) Providing effective approaches to rapidly rehouse homeless
18clients. Eligible activities include, but are not limited to, homeless
19system assessments, street outreach and housing and services
20engagement efforts, coordinated care services, housing location
21and stabilization services, and rental assistance costs, including
22deposits and costs necessary for occupancy.
23(b) Funds allocated to a nonurban county pursuant to subdivision
24(a) of Section 50802 may be used to pay the cost of leasing or
25renting individual units, hotel rooms, or motel rooms for use as
26emergency shelters. No more than 15 percent of the funds allocated
27to a region other than a nonurban county shall be expended for
28this purpose.
29(c) By regulation,
the department shall establish a level, not to
30exceed 5 percent of a grant award, which any eligible recipient
31may use to defray administrative costs.
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of Chapter 11.5
33(commencing with Section 50800) of Part 2 of Division 31 of the
34Health and Safety Code, the Department of Housing and
35Community Development shall do all of the following with respect
36to notices of funding availability issued on or after the effective
37date of this act and prior to July 1, 2015:
38(1) Make funding available on a competitive basis statewide.
P6 1(2) Give priority for capital development funds to applicants
2proposing activities described in paragraph (7) of subdivision (a)
3of Section 50803 of the Health and Safety
Code.
4(3) Give priority for noncapital development funds to applicants
5that propose activities described in paragraph (8) of subdivision
6(a) of Section 50803 and that leverage additional funding sources
7or focus on high-cost users of more than one system of care.
8(4) Accept applications from eligible organizations, public
9housing authorities, tribal governments, and continuum of care
10entities.
11(b) The Department of Housing and Community Development
12may award funds under the notices of funding available described
13in subdivision (a) pursuant to adopted guidelines that are not
14subject to the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
15Section 11340) of Part 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
16(c) No later than June 30, 2015, the Department of Housing and
17Community Development shall transfer anybegin delete capital development begin insert unobligated Proposition 46 and
18funds derived from bondsend delete
19Proposition 1C bond fundsend insert remaining in the Emergency Housing
20and Assistance Fund to the Housing Rehabilitation Loanbegin delete Fundend delete
21begin insert Fund, less any funds needed for state operations to support
22outstanding awards as determined by the Department of Housing
23and Community Development,end insert to be expended for the Multifamily
24Housing Program authorized by
Chapter 6.7 (commencing with
25Section 50675) of Part 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety
26Code, to be used for supportive housing for the target population
27identified in Section 50675.14.
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