BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 873|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 873
Author: Chau (D)
Amended: 9/6/13 in Senate
Vote: 27
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 10-0, 7/9/13
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Beall, Cannella, Galgiani, Hueso,
Liu, Pavley, Roth, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Lara
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/30/13
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/16/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Emergency Housing and Assistance Program
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill establishes new eligible uses and
priorities for the Emergency Housing Assistance Program.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/6/13 add double-jointing language
with AB 1109 (Bonilla), and make three non-substantive
corrections.
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
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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.
Existing law allows counties to apply for HCD designation as a
designated local board (DLB). Once designated, a DLB awards
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:
1.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.
2.Allows HCD to award EHAP-OFG funds for the rapid rehousing of
homeless clients.
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3.Allows HCD, with respect to EHAP award rounds that HCD
initiates between January 1 and June 30, 2015, to award funds
pursuant to requirements developed by HCD and included in the
notices of funding available exempt from the Administrative
Procedures Act and requires HCD to:
A. Make funding available on a competitive basis statewide
(i.e., not allocate funding by county and not delegate
funds or prioritization to the DLBs).
B. In addition to traditional applicants, accept
applications from public housing authorities, tribal
governments, and continuum of care entities.
C. 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.
D. 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.
1.Requires HCD to transfer any unobligated EHAP funds derived
from the Proposition 46 or 1C housing bonds that remain as of
June 30, 2015, to the Supportive Housing Program, less any
funds needed for state operations to support outstanding
awards as determined by HCD.
2.Contains double-jointing language with AB 1109 (Bonilla).
Comments
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.
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Minor and absorbable one-time costs to HCD to issue a new
notice of funding availability. (Emergency Housing and
Assistance Fund).
One-time diversion of approximately $500,000 in general
obligation bond funds in 2015 from the Emergency Housing and
Assistance Fund to the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund for
use in the Multifamily Housing Program.
Potential future cost pressures to provide more operational
funds for supportive services that are offered in conjunction
with supportive housing. HCD programs that may be subject to
future cost pressures are the EHAP-operating facility grant
program and the Supportive Housing Program, which are funded
from bond funds and the General Fund.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/16/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia,
Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Roger Hern�ndez, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue,
Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea,
V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,
Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,
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Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Buchanan, Eggman, Beth Gaines, Grove,
Holden, Melendez, Morrell, Stone, Vacancy
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