BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1109
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Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Norma Torres, Chair
AB 1109 (Bonilla) - As Amended: March 21, 2013
SUBJECT : Emergency housing and assistance.
SUMMARY : Allows a loan recipient under the capital development
component of the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program
(EHAP-CD) to transition the property from an emergency shelter
or transitional housing to permanent affordable housing,
including permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing, that
serves people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows a loan recipient under the EHAP-CD program to
transition the property from an emergency shelter or
transitional housing to permanent affordable housing,
including permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing,
that serves people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness
and still have the loan deferred and forgiven at the end of
the loan term.
2)Defines "permanent supportive housing" as having the same
meaning as the term "supportive housing," as defined in
paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 50675.14.
3)Defines "rapid rehousing" as housing that focuses on moving
homeless individuals and families into appropriate housing as
quickly as possible.
4)Defines "people who are homeless" includes individuals
described in Section 11302 of Title 42 of the United States
Code, and paragraph (2) of subdivision (e) of Section 11139.3
of the Government Code.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program
(EHAP) to fund capital development activities for emergency
shelters, transitional housing, and safe havens that provide
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shelter and supportive services for homeless individuals and
families and to provide operating grants for emergency
shelters, transitional housing, and supportive services for
homeless individuals and families (Health and Safety Code
Section 50800, et seq.).
2)Pursuant to Proposition 46, the Housing and Emergency Shelter
Trust Fund Act of 2002, authorizes the issuance of $2.1
billion in general obligation bonds to finance various
affordable housing programs, including $195 million for EHAP
(Health and Safety Code Section 53500, et seq.).
3)Pursuant to Proposition 1C, the Housing and Emergency Shelter
Trust Fund Act of 2006, authorizes the issuance of $2.85
billion in GO bonds to finance various affordable housing
programs, including $50 million for EHAP (Health and Safety
Code Section 53540, et seq.).
4)Defines "emergency shelter" as housing with minimal supportive
services for homeless persons that is limited to occupancy of
six months or less by a homeless person (Health and Safety
Code Section 50801).
5)Defines "transitional housing" as housing with supportive
services for up to 24 months that is exclusively designated
and targeted for recently homeless person and that has the
ultimate goal of moving recently homeless persons to permanent
housing as quickly as possible (Health and Safety Code Section
50801).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
The Emergency Housing Assistance Program Capitol Development
(EHAP-CD) provides funding for the construction, rehabilitation,
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expansion, and site acquisition of emergency shelters and
transitional housing for homeless individuals and families. The
program offers deferred payment loans at 3% simple interest to
local government agencies and nonprofit corporations that
construct or operate emergency shelters and transitional
housing. Loan terms range from 5 to 10 years based on the type
of development activity and are forgiven when the loan term is
complete. During the term of the loan, use of the property for
anything other than an emergency shelter or transitional housing
triggers automatic loan repayment.
Under EHAP, emergency shelters can provide housing for homeless
individuals and families for up to six months, while
transitional housing may provide shelter for up to 24 months.
Transitional housing provides supportive services and is
designed to move recently homeless persons to permanent housing
as quickly as possible.
EHAP has been funded in recent years with funds from the last
two housing bonds, Proposition 46 of 2002 and Proposition 1C of
2006. Proposition 46 provided $195 million for EHAP and
Proposition 1C provided an additional $50 million. Most of these
funds have been expended. Currently there is just over $1
million remaining in the program.
In recent years, the focus of efforts to combat homelessness
have shifted from simply providing shelter to getting people
into permanent housing that does not limit their length of stay.
At the federal level, this "housing first" model is driving new
funding decisions for homeless assistance dollars. Federal
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants fund local, regional,
and state homeless assistance programs through the Continuum of
Care (CoC) process. A CoC is a geographical administrative unit
through which homeless assistance providers in a specific area
work together to apply for federal funding. HUD ranks
applications and provides funding based on the quality of the
application, the performance of the local homeless assistance
system, the need for homeless assistance, and the local rankings
of individual programs. Currently, all new funding is being
directed to permanent housing rather than transitional housing.
In general, transitional housing providers have been able to
renew their previous grants thus far, but they are not
competitive for new monies nor do they increase the
competitiveness of the CoC as a whole.
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Unfortunately, providers who accepted money under EHAP cannot
transition their service model to compete for these new funds
because state law locks them in to the emergency shelter and
transitional housing model until the term of their loan ends.
This is true even if modifying their service model would allow
them to better serve the target population or keep their doors
open.
AB 1109 addresses this issue by allowing California providers to
modernize their program models to stay in step with current
federal policy, and therefore access more federal money.
Providers would be allowed to transition facilities to provide
permanent affordable housing, including permanent supportive
housing, for those individuals and families who are homeless or
at risk of being homeless.
According to the author, if facilities that received awards
under EHAP-CD can continue to serve the same population, yet do
so under a permanent housing model, they should be allowed to
transition their facilities in order to access additional
federal funds.
Previous legislation: AB 221 (Carter), Chapter 546, Statutes of
2011, allowed HCD to use EHAP funds for supportive housing
projects. However, the bill only applied to new loans and did
not give existing loan recipients the ability to convert to
permanent supportive housing.
Proposed amendments :
1. On page 3, lines 34-35, delete "and rapid rehousing"
2. On page 4, delete lines 4-6.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Housing California (sponsor)
Corporation for Supportive Housing
Opposition
AB 1109
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None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / H. & C.D. / (916)
319-2085