BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 388| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: AB 388 Author: Chang (R), et al. Amended: 7/1/15 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 7/7/15 AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva, McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/28/15 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Housing: veterans: supportive and transitional housing: reports SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs (CDVA), to include specified information in an annual report relating to the effectiveness of the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention (VHHP) program. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1) Establishes the VHHP program, also known as Proposition 41, which authorized the issuance of $600 million in general obligation bonds to provide multifamily housing to veterans AB 388 Page 2 pursuant to the VHHP. 2) Requires the California Housing Finance Agency, HCD, and CDVA to establish and implement a program that focuses on veterans at risk of homelessness or experiencing temporary or chronic homelessness. This program will fund the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable multifamily supportive housing, affordable transitional housing, affordable rental housing, or related facilities for veterans and their families to allow veterans to access and maintain housing stability. 3) Requires HCD to submit an annual report to the Governor and both houses of the Legislature on the operations and accomplishments, during the previous year, of the housing programs administered by HCD. 4) Requires HCD's annual report to include, among other things, an evaluation, in collaboration with CDVA, of any program established by HCD pursuant to the VHHP Act. This bill requires HCD, in collaboration with CDVA, to include an evaluation of the VHHP in an annual report to the Governor and the Legislature, including information relating to the effectiveness of assisted projects in helping veterans occupying any supportive housing or transitional housing development that was issued funds pursuant to the VHHP. The evaluation shall include, but is not limited to, the following: 1)Performance outcome data including, but not limited to, housing stability, housing exit information, and tenant satisfaction, which may be measured by a survey; and changes in income, benefits, and education. a) "Housing stability" includes, but is not limited to, how many tenants exit transitional housing to permanent housing or maintain permanent housing, and the length of time those tenants spent in assisted units. b) "Housing exit information" includes, but is not limited to, the following: AB 388 Page 3 How many tenants left assisted units; The length of tenancy in assisted units; The reason those tenants left assisted units, when such information is readily obtainable; The housing status of a tenant exiting an assisted unit upon exit when such information is readily obtainable. 1)Client data, which may include, but is not limited to, demographic characteristics of the veteran and his or her family, educational and employment status of the veteran, and veteran-specific information including, but not limited to, disability ratings, type of discharge, branch, era of service, and Veterans Affairs (VA) health care eligibility. Comments Purpose of the bill. According to the author, this bill will require sponsors of veterans' housing established through Proposition 41 funds to report on specific data to demonstrate the level of effectiveness for their programs. This bill specifically requires information currently suggested in the VHHP guidelines and expands on that information. The current content of those reports is permissive, and therefore leaves room for these reports to leave out information measuring the success level of these programs. VHHP Program. The VHHP requires HCD to administer the new funding program in collaboration with CDVA and restricts the use of bond proceeds to housing units designated for veterans and their families. The program focuses on housing for veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and in need of service such as mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, job training, and physical therapy to address injuries. On February 18, 2015, HCD adopted its initial program guidelines, which, among other things: 1) prioritize projects that combine housing and supportive services, and 2) establish application selection criteria that integrate prioritization AB 388 Page 4 criteria expressed through preference-point weighting. VHHP evaluation. The guidelines require recipients of funding that provide supportive housing and traditional housing to report annually on the sources of tenant referrals for the project and submit both client data and performance outcome data to HCD and CDVA. Client data may include demographic characteristics of the veteran and their family, educational and employment status, and veteran-specific information such as disability ratings, type of discharge, branch and era of service, and VA health care eligibility. Performance outcome data may include information on housing stability, housing exit information, tenant satisfaction as measured in a survey, and changes in income, benefits, and education. While performance outcome and client data are mandatory, there are no required criteria for what this data might include. This bill requires an evaluation of the effectiveness of the VHHP through specific information in HCD's annual report, which may be measured by a survey and changes in income, benefits, and education. Related Legislation AB 639 (Perez, Chapter 727, Statutes of 2013) created the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2014 and allowed for $600 million in bonds to be used for housing homeless and low-income veterans. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified8/17/15) American Legion - Department of California AMVETS - Department of California California Association of County Veteran Service Officers California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies League of California Cities AB 388 Page 5 Mental Health America of California Military Officers Association - California Council of Chapters Steinberg Institute Veterans of Foreign Wars - Department of California Vietnam Veterans of America - California State Council OPPOSITION: (Verified8/17/15) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/28/15 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Bloom, Dodd, Grove, Holden Prepared by:Alison Dinmore / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121 8/18/15 17:03:28 **** END ****