BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     AB 870


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          Date of Hearing:  May 20, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          AB  
          870 (Cooley) - As Amended April 30, 2015


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          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  








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            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  








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            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.










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            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