Amended in Assembly April 30, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 870

Introduced by Assembly Member Cooley

February 26, 2015

An act to add Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 15290) to Part 6.6 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, relating to housing, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 870, as amended, Cooley. Homelessness: rapid begin delete re-housing. end delete begin insert rehousing. end insert

Existing federal law, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, allocated, until September 30, 2011, $1.5 billion to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Homelessness Prevention Fund, to be used for homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing. Existing law, the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act, provides housing supports to individuals if the administering county determines that the individual or his or her family is experiencing homelessness or housing instability that would be a barrier to self-sufficiency or child well-being and declares that it is the intent of the Legislature that housing supports utilize evidence-based models, including those established in the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program.

This bill would establish a pilot program within the Department of Housing and Community Development for awarding grants to counties that operate a rapid rehousing program. The bill would require the department to select 4 counties to receive these grant funds, giving priority to counties with existing programs that have demonstrated effectiveness in providing supporting housing for homeless individuals and veterans. This bill would continuously appropriate $1 million begin insert each year end insert from the General Fund to the department and require the department to distribute $250,000 of this money to each of the 4 counties.

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 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) In 2013, the United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) reported that California has nearly 40,000
chronically homeless persons, which is 36 percent of the total
chronically homeless population of the United States. This is due
in large part to an insufficient amount of affordable housing in
California.

(b) HUD also reported that there are over 15,000 homeless
veterans in California.

(c) Several studies, including one by the Journal of the American
Medical Association, have demonstrated that it is far more cost
effective and efficient to provide the homeless with permanent,
supportive housing through “rapid rehousing” and “housing first”
initiatives. These measures also reduce the cost to governments
of funding shelters and emergency services.

SEC. 2.  

Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 15290) is added
to Part 6.6 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, to
read:

 

Chapter  1. Rapid Re-housing Pilot Program

 

15290.  

For the purposes of this chapter, the following
definitions shall apply:

begin delete

(a) “Chronically homeless” means a homeless individual with
a condition limiting his or her activities of daily living who has
been continuously homeless for a year or more, or had at least four
episodes of homelessness in the past three years.

end delete begin delete

(b)

end delete

begin insert (a) end insert  “Department” means the Department of Housing and
Community Development.

begin delete

(c)

end delete

begin insert (b) end insert  “Homeless” has the same meaning as defined in Section
91.5 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

begin delete

(d)

end delete

begin insert (c) end insert  “Pilot program” means the program established pursuant to
this chapter for distributing funds to counties.

15290.5.  

(a) There is hereby established a pilot program in
the department for awarding grants to counties that operate a rapid
rehousing program. The department shall administer the pilot
program.

(b) The department shall select four counties to participate in
the pilot program. The department shall select counties by giving
priority to those counties with existing rapid rehousing programs
that have demonstrated effectiveness in providing begin delete supporting end delete
begin insert supportive end insert housing begin insert and homelessness prevention end insert for begin delete homeless end delete
individuals and veterans of the United States military experiencing
homelessness.

15291.  

Notwithstanding Section 13340, the sum of one million
dollars ($1,000,000) is hereby continuously appropriated, without
regard to fiscal years, from the General Fund each year to the
department, exclusively to be distributed to the counties selected
pursuant to Section 15290.5. The department shall distribute two
hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) of the money received
pursuant to this section each year to each of the four counties.