BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
Senator Jim Nielsen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 384 Hearing Date: 4/14/15
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Leyva |
|-----------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|Version: |2/24/15 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant:|Wade Teasdale |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Veteran housing: multifamily units: underserved
veterans
DESCRIPTION
Summary:
To help meet the specific housing needs of underserved veterans,
this bill sets aside a percentage of any state funds being used
to acquire, construct, rehabilitate or preserve multifamily
housing units for veterans, in general.
Existing law:
1. Provides for various programs and bond issuances to
provide housing for veterans.
2. Includes the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention
Act of 2014, (VHHP), which provides for 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.
This bill:
1. For all multifamily housing units acquired, constructed,
rehabilitated, or preserved on or after January 1, 2016,
for the purpose of housing veterans, a percentage of the
state funds to be used shall be reserved to provide housing
for underserved veterans.
2. Requires the California Department of Veterans Affairs
SB 384 (Leyva) Page 2
of ?
(CalVet) to determine the functional definition of
"underserved veterans" based on the needs of veterans at
the time funding is awarded.
3. Requires CalVet, in consultation with the appropriate
local agencies, to determine the percentage of housing
funds set aside for underserved veterans.
BACKGROUND
State Housing Programs - General
Housing Programs - General
In most years, about 150,000 houses and apartments are built in
California. Most of these housing units are built entirely with
private dollars. Some, however, receive financial help from
federal, state, or local governments. For example, the state
provides local governments, nonprofits, and private developers
with low-cost loans to fund a portion of the housing units'
construction costs. Typically, housing built with these funds
must be sold or rented to Californians with low incomes. A
portion of housing units built with state funds is set aside for
homeless Californians. These include homeless shelters,
short-term housing, and supportive housing. A January 2013
federal government survey identified 137,000 homeless
Californians, including about 15,000 veterans. (Source: LAO
Analysis, Proposition 41, June 2014 statewide ballot pamphlet).
Supportive housing is permanent rental housing linked to a range
of onsite or offsite support services, including mental and
physical health care, drug and alcohol abuse counseling, and job
training programs, designed to enable residents to maintain
stable lives. There is no limit on length of stay.
Transitional housing is a type of supportive housing used to
facilitate the movement of homeless individuals and families to
permanent housing. A homeless person may live in a transitional
apartment for a specified period of time, while receiving
supportive services that enable independent living. These are
buildings configured and operated as rental housing
developments, but are operated under program requirements that
call for the termination of assistance and recirculation of the
SB 384 (Leyva) Page 3
of ?
housing unit to another eligible program participant at some
predetermined future point in time - which shall be no less than
six months and often capped at two years. The intent is to
provide extended shelter and supportive services for homeless
individuals and/or families with the goal of helping them live
independently and transition into permanent housing.
A relatively recent innovation in serving homeless populations,
"Housing First" provides an alternative to progressive systems
based on the emergency shelter/transitional housing model.
Rather than moving homeless individuals or households through
different "levels" of housing and eventually to "independent
housing," the Housing First approach immediately moves the
homeless from the streets or shelters into their own apartments.
Veterans' nontraditional housing needs
According to a federal agency report to the Congress:
A veteran is 50 percent more likely to be homeless than
a non-veteran. Although only eight percent of adults in the
United States are veterans, federal surveys suggest that
veterans represent up to 16 percent of America's homeless
population.
Rates of homelessness among veterans living in poverty
are particularly high for veterans identifying as
Hispanic/Latino (1:4) or African-American (1:4).
Two groups of homeless veterans - women and people
between ages 18 and 30 - are small in number. However,
female veterans and young veterans are at high risk of
becoming homeless, and both groups are growing within the
overall veteran population.
According to major point-in-time survey, nearly half of
homeless veterans on a given night were located in four
states: California, Florida, Texas, and New York. Only 28
percent of all veterans were located in those same four
states.
(Source: "Veteran Homelessness: A Supplemental Report to
the 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress,"
U.S. Dept of Housing and Urban Development/U.S. Department
SB 384 (Leyva) Page 4
of ?
of Veterans Affairs.)
In reviewing AB 639 (J. Pérez, 2013), the Assembly Committee on
Housing and Development observed:
Despite California's high number of homeless veterans, the
state does not have any programs that are directly targeted
at serving this population, or at serving lower-income
veterans who are at risk of homelessness. HCD offers
various programs that support the development of
multifamily rental housing for low income Californians,
including supportive and transitional housing, but none are
veteran-specific.
AB 639 (J. Pérez, 2013) became Proposition 41 on the June 2014
statewide ballot and received voter approval. In enacting the
VHHP, the measure authorizes issuance of $600 million in general
obligation bonds to fund the acquisition, construction,
rehabilitation, and preservation of multifamily supportive
housing, affordable transitional housing, affordable rental
housing, and related facilities for veterans and their families.
The law requires CalVet, the Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD), and California Housing Finance Agency (CHFA)
to jointly design the program, which then will be implemented by
HCD. Affordable housing developers then partner with veterans
service providers to build affordable housing dwellings,
including supportive housing, which will provide housing and
services to veterans who are homeless or who have extremely low
income to assist the veterans to achieve housing stability and
improve self-sufficiency. In February 2015, HCD adopted its
initial program guidelines and issued a notice of funds
available.
Per the Legislative Analyst, Proposition 41 provides:
Housing for Low-Income Veterans :
- Funds construction, renovation, and acquisition of
affordable multifamily housing, such as apartment
complexes.
- Provides local governments, nonprofit organizations,
SB 384 (Leyva) Page 5
of ?
and private developers with financial assistance, such as
low-interest loans, to fund part of a project's costs.
- Housing built with these funds would be rented to
low-income veterans and their families -those who earn
less than 80 percent of average family income, as
adjusted by family size and county. (For example, the
average statewide amount for a single person to be
considered low-income for this program is about $38,000.
State law requires these units to be affordable, meaning
rent payments made by veterans cannot exceed 30 percent
of the income limit for the program.)
Housing for Homeless Veterans :
- Gives funding priority to projects that would house
homeless veterans and veterans who are at risk of
becoming homeless.
- In particular, at least one-half of the funds would
be used to construct housing for extremely low-income
veterans. These veterans earn less than 30 percent of the
amount earned by the average family in the county where
they live. (The average statewide amount for a single
person to be considered extremely low-income is about
$14,000.) A portion of the funding for extremely
low-income veterans would be used to build supportive
housing for homeless veterans.
Federal Housing Assistance/Supportive Services for Veterans
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
partners with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' (USDVA)
Supportive Housing Program to manage the HUD-VASH program, which
serves the most vulnerable veterans, and provides special
services for women veterans, those recently returning from
combat zones, and veterans with disabilities.
As of September 30, 2013, HUD had allocated more than 58,000
Housing Choice vouchers across the country, which allows
veterans and their families to live in market-rate rental
housing, while receiving USDVA-provided case management for
clinical and supportive services. A housing subsidy is paid to
the landlord directly by the local public housing authority on
SB 384 (Leyva) Page 6
of ?
behalf of the participating veteran. The veteran then pays the
difference between the actual rent charged by the landlord and
the amount subsidized by the program.
COMMENT
1.Committee Staff Comments :
a) This bill adds §980.7 to the Military and Veterans Code
(MVC) and would apply to "all multifamily housing units
acquired, constructed, rehabilitated, or preserved on or
after January 1, 2016, for the purpose of housing
veterans." The scope of this proposed language would
include, but likely extend beyond the VHHP Act enacted via
Proposition 41 (2014).
b) The Prop 41 program is still in its infancy. In
mid-February 2015, HCD adopted implementing regulations,
including the application process and selection criteria.
Shortly thereafter, HCD published a Notice of Funding
Availability announcing that $75 million was available for
applications to be filed by April 27, 2015.
c) Although Proposition 41 and the HCD regulations address
the needs of low-income and homeless veterans, neither
mentions "underserved veterans" nor provides any language
helpful to program analysts in determining which
demographic cohorts of veterans may be underserved.
d) Suggested Amendments for Consideration
1) Per the author's office, the intent is that
CalVet and local agencies collaborate in identifying
the inadequately met needs of discrete populations of
"underserved veterans" as they vary by community. The
author might consider amending subdivision (b) of the
proposed MVC §980.7 to make it consistent with the
collaboration requirement contained in subdivision
(a):
(b) For purposes of this section, "underserved
veterans" shall have the meaning determined by
the department, in consultation with the
SB 384 (Leyva) Page 7
of ?
appropriate local agencies, based on the needs of
veterans at the time funding is awarded.
2) In addition, the term "underserved" should be
defined more functionally so that it includes one or
more criteria, which may be applied by CalVet and
local agencies in analyzing a given community's
veteran demographics and the unique, unmet housing
needs of local veterans.
1.Related Legislation
SB 689 (Huff, pending Senate Vet Affairs, 2015 ): Regarding the
Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Act, this bill
requires prioritization given to applications for proposed
housing projects that would maintain a qualified mental health
professional, as defined, on staff or on contract for
services.
AB 639 (J. Pérez, Ch. 727, Stats. 2013 ): Establishes the
Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act of 2014,
which authorizes issuance of $600 million in general
obligation (GO) bonds to fund the acquisition, construction,
rehabilitation, and preservation of multifamily supportive
housing, affordable transitional housing, affordable rental
housing, and related facilities for veterans and their
families, if approved by the voters at the June, 2014,
statewide election. (As Proposition 41, the measure was
approved by the voters 65.4% to 34.6%.)
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support:
American Legion - Department of CA
AMVETS - Department of CA
CA Association of County Veterans Service Officers (CACVSO)
CA State Commanders Veteran Council
Military Officers Association of America - CA Council of
Chapters
Veterans of Foreign Wars - Department of CA
Vietnam Veterans of American - CA State Council
SB 384 (Leyva) Page 8
of ?
Oppose: None on file
-- END --