BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 870 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 20, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 870 (Cooley) - As Amended April 30, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Housing and Community |Vote:|5 - 1 | |Committee: |Development | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill 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)Requires HCD to select four counties to participate in the AB 870 Page 2 pilot program. 2)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. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)Continuously appropriates $1 million from the General Fund to HCD for the pilot program, and requires HCD to distribute $250,000 each year to each of the four counties selected for the pilot program. 2)One-time costs of approximately $50,000 (GF) to HCD for developing regulations and drafting the initial Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). 3)Ongoing costs to HCD of approximately $30,000 (GF) for NOFA development, contract monitoring and administration of the pilot program. Staff notes that the bill does not authorize HCD to use a portion of the $1 million for administrative purposes. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. 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 AB 870 Page 3 estimated there are over 15,000 homeless 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 four counties to support "rapid re-housing" principles." 2)Background. 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. In 2009, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act was 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, among other services. AB 870 Page 4 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. Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081