BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 873
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: chau
VERSION: 7/2/13
Analysis by: Mark Stivers FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: July 9, 2013
SUBJECT:
Emergency Housing Assistance Program
DESCRIPTION:
This bill establishes new eligible uses and priorities for the
Emergency Housing Assistance Program.
ANALYSIS:
Administered by the Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD), the Emergency Housing Assistance Program
(EHAP) supports the development and operation of emergency
shelters, transitional housing facilities, and safe havens, each
of which has a limited term of tenancy. EHAP has two
components, the EHAP capital development component (EHAP-CD),
which funds capital needs, and the EHAP operating facility grant
component (EHAP-OFG), which funds operating costs.
Historically, EHAP-CD has received bond funds which may only be
spent on capital expenditures, and EHAP-OFG has received General
Fund support.
HCD makes EHAP-OFG funds available in the form of grants, with
each county allocated a share of available funding based on
poverty and unemployment rates and 20% of funds reserved for
non-urban counties. HCD awards EHAP-CD funds through a
statewide competition and makes the awards available in the form
of forgivable loans with terms of five years for projects
involving rehabilitation, seven years for substantial
rehabilitation, or ten years for acquisition and rehabilitation
or new construction. HCD defers payments on these loans as long
as applicants use the facilities as emergency shelters or
transitional housing, and HCD forgives the loans at the
completion of the specified terms.
Current law allows counties to apply for HCD designation as a
designated local board (DLB). Once designated, a DLB awards
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EHAP-OFG funds within its county subject to an HCD-approved
local emergency shelter strategy. A DLB also prioritizes
EHAP-CD applications from its county, which HCD uses in its
competition. In the last round of EHAP-OFG funding, DLBs
represented 22 counties.
In addition to EHAP, HCD administers the Supportive Housing
Program, which funds the development of permanent rental homes
(i.e., housing that has no time limit on tenancy) with support
services for persons who have a disability and are homeless or
at imminent risk of becoming homeless.
This bill :
Allows HCD to award EHAP-CD funds in the form of a 20-year
forgivable loan for the conversion of emergency shelters or
transitional housing to permanent supportive housing for
homeless families or individuals.
Allows HCD to award EHAP-OFG funds for the rapid rehousing of
homeless clients.
With respect to EHAP award rounds that HCD initiates between
January 1 and June 30, 2015, allows HCD to award funds
pursuant to guidelines exempt from the Administrative
Procedures Act and requires HCD to:
Make funding available on a competitive basis statewide
(i.e., not allocate funding by county and not delegate
funds or prioritization to the DLBs).
In addition to traditional applicants, accept
applications from public housing authorities, tribal
governments, and continuum of care entities.
Give priority for EHAP-CD funds to applicants proposing
to convert emergency shelters or transitional housing to
permanent supportive housing for homeless families or
individuals.
Give priority for EHAP-OFG funds to applicants that
propose rapid rehousing activities that leverage additional
funding sources or focus on high-cost users of more than
one system of care.
Requires HCD to transfer any EHAP-CD funds derived from the
Proposition 46 or 1C housing bonds that remain as of June 30,
2015, to the Supportive Housing Program.
COMMENTS:
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1.Purpose of the bill . According to the author, the federal
government has adopted a new approach to combating
homelessness that focuses funding priority on permanent
housing, rather than transitional housing, and on rapidly
rehousing homeless individuals and families, rather than
shelters. This bill aligns the state's emergency housing
program, EHAP, with these evidence-based strategies in order
both to improve outcomes and increase the competitiveness of
California applicants for federal funding opportunities.
2.Adjusting to a small amount of money . The EHAP-CD component
currently has roughly $7 million available, and the EHAP-OFG
component has roughly $1 million available. Given these
relatively minimal amounts, the bill seeks to streamline the
award process by allowing HCD to make the bill's changes to
the program via guidelines and by temporarily foregoing the
DLB prioritization process in favor of a statewide
competition. In addition, to the extent that any EHAP-CD
funds remain after one more round of awards, the bill requires
HCD to transfer the small amount to the Supportive Housing
Program.
3.Chaptering conflict . This bill has a chaptering conflict with
AB 1109 (Bonilla). The author will need to resolve this
conflict.
Assembly Votes:
Previous votes not relevant.
RELATED LEGISLATION:
AB 1109 (Bonilla) deems an EHAP-CD award recipient that converts
the emergency shelter or transitional housing development to
permanent housing that serves people who are homeless or at risk
of homelessness to be in compliance with the program's loan
deferral and forgiveness conditions. In the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday,
July 3, 2013.)
SUPPORT: None received.
AB 873 (CHAU) Page 4
OPPOSED: None received.