AB 1109, as amended, Bonilla. Emergency housing and assistance.
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 terminate the grant and require the repayment of the deferred loan in full, if a transfer or conveyance of the project property that results in the property no longer being used as an emergency shelter or transitional housing occurs before the term of the loan expires.
This bill would provide that when property is transitioned from an emergency shelter or transitional housing to permanent affordable housing, as specified, and serves people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, an existing loan may be deferred and forgiven, as if the property had remained an emergency shelter or transitional housing. By authorizing the use of continuously appropriated funds for a new purpose, 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,
P3 1if possible, with an estimate by the Department of Finance,
2compared to the total of the urban counties.
3(2) The relative number of persons unemployed within each
4region, based on the most recent one-year period for which data
5is available, compared to the total of the urban counties.
6(c) Grant funds shall be disbursed as expeditiously as possible
7by the department.
8(d) The department shall use not more than 5 percent of the
9amount available for funds pursuant to this chapter to defray the
10department’s administrative costs pursuant to this chapter.
11(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the
12department shall distribute funds appropriated for purposes of the
13activities specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section
1450803 as grants in the form of forgivable deferred loans, subject
15to all of the following:
16(1) (A) Funding shall be made available to each project as a
17loan with a term of five years for rehabilitation, seven years for
18substantial rehabilitation, or 10 years for acquisition and
19rehabilitation or new construction. Each deferred loan shall be
20secured by a deed of trust and
promissory note. Repayment of the
21loan shall be deferred as long as the project is used as an emergency
22shelter or transitional housing. At the completion of the specified
23year term, the loan shall be forgiven. If a transfer or conveyance
24of the project property, however, occurs prior to that time that
25results in the property no longer being used as an emergency shelter
26or transitional housing, the department shall terminate the grant
27and require the repayment of the deferred loan in full.
28(B) If the property is transitioned from an emergency shelter or
29transitional housing to permanent affordable housing, including,
30but not limited to, permanent supportive housingbegin delete and rapid , and serves people who are homeless or at risk of
31rehousingend delete
32homelessness, the loan may
also be deferred and forgiven according
33to subparagraph (A), as if it had remained an emergency shelter
34or transitional housing.
35(i) For purposes of this subparagraph, “permanent supportive
36housing” has the same meaning as the term “supportive housing,”
37as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 50675.14.
38(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph, “rapid rehousing” means
39housing that focuses on moving homeless individuals and families
40into appropriate housing as quickly as possible.
P4 1(iii)
end delete
2begin insert(ii)end insert For purposes of this subparagraph, “people who are
3homeless” includes individuals described in Section 11302 of Title
442 of the United States Code, and paragraph (2) of subdivision (e)
5of Section 11139.3 of the Government Code.
6(2) Applications for funding shall be made pursuant to
7department-issued statewide “Notices of Funding Availability”
8without the need for additional regulations.
9(3) The department shall set forth the criteria for evaluating
10applications in the “Notices of Funding Availability” and shall
11make deferred loans based on those applications that best meet the
12criteria.
13(4) The department shall specify in the “Notice of Funding
14Availability” both maximum and minimum grant amounts that
15may
be varied for urban and nonurban counties.
16(5) Contracts for projects that have not begun construction
17within the initial 12-month period shall be terminated and funds
18reallocated. The department, however, may extend this period by
19a period not to exceed 12 months.
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