BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 1109
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: bonilla
VERSION: 5/2/13
Analysis by: Mark Stivers FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: July 2, 2013
SUBJECT:
Emergency Housing Assistance Program
DESCRIPTION:
This bill deems an Emergency Housing Assistance Program -
Capital Development 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.
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, which funds operating costs.
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 entirely at the completion of these terms.
This bill deems an EHAP-CD recipient that converts the emergency
shelter or transitional housing development to permanent housing
(i.e., housing that has no time limit on tenancy) that serves
people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to be in
compliance with the program's loan deferral and forgiveness
AB 1109 (BONILLA) Page 2
conditions.
COMMENTS:
Purpose of the bill . According to the author, the federal
government has adopted a new approach to combating homelessness
which focuses funding priority on 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 their jurisdiction as a whole
for new funding.
Unfortunately, EHAP-CD recipients 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. This is true even if modifying their service model would
allow them to better serve the target population or keep their
doors open. This bill allows EHAP-CD recipients to be more
competitive for federal housing funding by allowing them to
convert existing facilities to permanent housing without
requiring repayment of the EHAP loan.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 71-0
Appr: 16-0
H&CD: 7-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 26,
2013.)
SUPPORT: Housing California (sponsor)
Abode Services
American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Corporation for Supportive Housing
Everyone Home
Sacramento Housing Alliance
United Outreach of El Dorado County
Western Center on Law and Poverty
OPPOSED: None received.
AB 1109 (BONILLA) Page 3