BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 870
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Ed Chau, Chair
AB 870
(Cooley) - As Amended March 26, 2015
SUBJECT: Homelessness: rapid re-housing
SUMMARY: Establishes a pilot program within the Department of
Housing and Community Development (HCD) to award grants to four
counties that operate rapid re-housing programs. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Includes legislative findings.
2)Defines "chronically homeless" to mean 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 has had at least two episodes of homelessness in the past
three years.
3)Defines "homeless" as the same meaning under 91.5 of Title 24
of the Code of Federal Regulations.
4)Defines "pilot program" to mean the program established
pursuant to this chapter for distributing funds to counties.
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5)Requires HCD to select four counties to participate in the
pilot program.
6)Requires HCD, when selecting the counties, to give priority to
those counties with existing rapid re-housing programs that
have demonstrated effectiveness in providing supporting
housing for homeless individuals and veterans experiencing
homelessness.
7)Continuously appropriates $1 million, without regard to the
fiscal year, from the General Fund for the pilot program.
8)Requires HCD to distribute $250,000 of the money each year to
each of the four counties selected for the pilot program.
EXISTING LAW:
Federal law defines homeless as an individual or family who
lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence,
meaning:
(1)(i) An individual or family with a primary nighttime
residence that is a public or private place not designed for
or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for
human beings, including a car, park, abandoned building, bus
or train station, airport, or camping ground;
(ii) An individual or family living in a supervised publicly
or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary
living arrangements (including congregate shelters,
transitional housing, and hotels and motels paid for by
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charitable organizations or by federal, state, or local
government programs for low-income individuals); or
(iii) An individual who is exiting an institution where he or
she resided for 90 days or less and who resided in an
emergency shelter or place not meant for human habitation
immediately before entering that institution;
(2) An individual or family who will imminently lose their
primary nighttime residence, provided that:
(i) The primary nighttime residence will be lost within 14
days of the date of application for homeless assistance;
(ii) No subsequent residence has been identified; and
(iii) The individual or family lacks the resources or support
networks, e.g., family, friends, faith-based or other social
networks needed to obtain other permanent housing;
(3) Unaccompanied youth under 25 years of age, or families with
children and youth, who do not otherwise qualify as homeless
under this definition, but who:
(i) Are defined as homeless under section 387 of the Runaway
and Homeless Youth Act (42 U.S.C. 5732a), section 637 of the
Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9832), section 41403 of the Violence
Against Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14043e-2), section 330(h)
of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b(h)), section
3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012),
section 17(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C.
1786(b)), or section 725 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless
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Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a);
(ii) Have not had a lease, ownership interest, or occupancy
agreement in permanent housing at any time during the 60 days
immediately preceding the date of application for homeless
assistance;
(iii) Have experienced persistent instability as measured by
two moves or more during the 60-day period immediately
preceding the date of applying for homeless assistance; and
(iv) Can be expected to continue in such status for an
extended period of time because of chronic disabilities,
chronic physical health or mental health conditions, substance
addiction, histories of domestic violence or childhood abuse
(including neglect), the presence of a child or youth with a
disability, or two or more barriers to employment, which
include the lack of a high school degree or General Education
Development (GED), illiteracy, low English proficiency, a
history of incarceration or detention for criminal activity,
and a history of unstable employment; or
(4) Any individual or family who:
(i) Is fleeing, or is attempting to flee, domestic violence,
dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or other dangerous
or life-threatening conditions that relate to violence against
the individual or a family member, including a child, that has
either taken place within the individual's or family's primary
nighttime residence or has made the individual or family
afraid to return to their primary nighttime residence;
(ii) Has no other residence; and
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(iii) Lacks the resources or support networks, e.g., family,
friends, faith-based or other social networks, to obtain other
permanent housing.
(91.5 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal
Regulations)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
Rapid re-housing model : The rapid re-housing model has been
developed over several decades and is intended to quickly move
people from homelessness back into housing. As part of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, HUD received a
one-time allocation of $1.5 billion for the Homelessness
Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), to respond to
the increase in homelessness among families and individuals who
traditionally did not have a history of homelessness but faced
with job loss, foreclosure, and other financial crises were now
homeless. HPRP provides financial assistance and services to
prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless and
helps those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly
re-housed and stabilized. The program is intended to target
individuals and families who would be homeless but for this
assistance. HPRP funds can be used for short-term or medium-term
rental assistance and housing relocation and stabilization
services, including such activities as mediation, credit
counseling, security or utility deposits, utility payments,
moving cost assistance, and case management. Unlike the
supportive housing model which is intended to provide
chronically homeless individuals with services and housing
assistance, without a limit on the duration of a person's stay,
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rapid re-housing limits the term of assistance provided to an
individual.
In 2009, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act was amended
and re-authorized as the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid
Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act which in addition to other
changes increased homeless prevention resources. The HEARTH Act
modifies the existing Emergency Shelter Grants and renames it
the Emergency Solutions Grants Program (ESG). It expands the
homelessness prevention activities possible under ESG to include
homelessness prevention and re-housing activities, short or
medium term housing assistance, housing relocation or
stabilization services, housing search, mediation or outreach to
property owners, legal services, credit repair, security or
utility deposits, utility payments, and assistance with moving
costs for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Various counties in the state receive ESG funds and have
expertise providing rapid re-housing and homeless prevention
services and would be equipped to receive state funding were it
made available.
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|Purpose of this bill: According to the author, "in 2013 HUD |
|reported that California had 136,000 homeless persons, |
|accounting for 22% of the nation's total homeless population. |
|The same HUD report estimated there are over 15,000 homeless |
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|veterans in California. Several studies have demonstrated it is |
|more effective to provide homeless persons with immediate |
|housing ("rapid re-housing"), as opposed to more traditional |
|approaches (transitional housing, for instance). AB 870 creates |
|a pilot program in 4 counties to support "rapid re-housing" |
|principles. The counties are to be selected by HCD who shall |
|prioritize counties that have demonstrated success in utilizing |
|rapid re-housing to serve homeless persons and homeless |
|veterans. HCD shall allocate $250,000 to each of the four |
|selected counties for this pilot program." |
| |
| |
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Staff Comments : This bill would require HCD to select counties
that have existing rapid re-housing programs with a track
recorded of effectiveness. Selecting counties with existing
programs will make the limited funding available for this
program go further because it will eliminate the need for funds
to be spent on creating new programs. With limited funding,
however, it may be appropriate to also consider the rates of
homelessness in a county when deciding which counties to fund.
Committee amendments :
1) The bill includes a definition of "chronically homeless"
but does not use the term anywhere in the bill. The
definition should be deleted.
2) On page 2, delete lines 24 to 27
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3) On page 3, line 14, delete "supporting" and replace with
"supportive"
4) On page 3, line 15, after "housing" insert "and homeless
prevention"
5) On page 3, line 15, delete "homeless"
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Catholic Conference of Bishops
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Lisa Engel / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085
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