BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 384 (Leyva) - Veteran housing: multifamily units:
underserved veterans
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|Version: January 6, 2016 |Policy Vote: V.A. 5 - 0, T. & |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: January 19, 2016 |Consultant: Mark McKenzie |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 384 would require that a percentage of state bond
funds allocated annually for purposes of the Veterans Housing
and Homeless Prevention (VHHP) Act of 2014 be reserved for
housing underserved veterans. The Department of Veterans
Affairs (CalVet) to annually determine the percentage of
reserved funds in consultation with appropriate local agencies,
beginning July 1, 2017.
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Fiscal
Impact:
Estimated CalVet costs of approximately $206,000 annually for
two PY of staff to establish the program, annually determine
the underserved veteran population, consult with local
agencies, and determine the percentage to reserve for these
purposes. (Housing for Veterans Fund)
Unknown costs to the Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD) and the California Housing Finance Agency
(CalHFA), likely less than $50,000, to revise existing VHHP
guidelines. (Housing for Veterans Fund)
Potential delays in the allocation of VHHP bond revenues for
projects that qualify for funding under the current program
guidelines. This would occur when there are insufficient
applicants to fully allocate reserved funds, in which case the
funds would revert back to the Housing for Veterans Fund for
other authorized VHHP purposes.
Background: Existing law, the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention
Bond Act of 2014 (approved by the voters at Proposition 41 in
June of 2014), authorizes the issuance of $600 million in
general obligation bonds to provide multifamily housing to
veterans. The VHHP requires CalHFA, HCD, and CalVet to
establish and implement a program that focuses on veterans at
risk of homelessness or experiencing temporary or chronic
homelessness. The program funds 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 to allow veterans to access and maintain housing
stability. The VHHP Act specifies that up to five percent of
bond funds may be used for administrative purposes.
Existing law requires the administering departments to establish
and implement programs that focus on veterans at risk of
homelessness or experiencing temporary or chronic homelessness,
and do the following:
Leverage public, private, and nonprofit funding sources.
Prioritize projects that combine housing and supportive
services, as specified.
Promote public and private partnerships.
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Foster innovative financing opportunities
Ensure that program guidelines and terms provide requirements
or scoring criteria to advance applicants that combine
permanent and/or transitional housing with supportive services
for veterans, or for partnering with developers or service
providers with experience offering housing or services to
veterans.
The administering departments must also ensure that at least 50
percent of funds awarded for capital development be used to
provide housing to veteran households with extremely low
incomes. The VHHP Act provides flexibility for the
administering departments to review, adopt, amend, and repeal
guidelines or terms related to the program.
HCD adopted initial VHHP program guidelines in February 2015,
and has issued two rounds of funding to date.
Proposed Law:
SB 384 would require that a percentage of VHHP funds be
reserved each year for housing "underserved veterans."
Specifically, this bill would:
Define "underserved veterans" as those veterans either
experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness at a
disproportionate rate to their veteran or nonveteran
counterparts, as determined by the most recent federal Annual
Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) that includes an assessment
of veteran homelessness.
Require a percentage of state funds used for housing veterans
in multifamily housing units pursuant to the VHHP to be
reserved for housing underserved veterans.
Require CalVet to determine the percentage of funds to be
reserved annually, beginning July 1, 2017, in consultation
with appropriate local agencies using the most recently
released AHAR, or other similar source CalVet deems
appropriate.
Require reserved funding to revert to the Housing for Veterans
Fund if there are insufficient applications for proposed
housing projects intended for underserved veterans. The funds
would then be made available for other VHHP purposes.
Related
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Legislation:
AB 639 (Perez), Chap 727/2013, established the VHHP and
authorizes the issuance of $600 million in general obligation
bonds to be used for housing homeless and low-income veterans,
upon approval by the voters.
SB 689 (Huff), which is currently in the Senate Transportation
and Housing Committee, requires state agencies to prioritize
projects under the VHHP that, for the purposes of providing
mental health and drug services, either: 1) accept only
residents that are prequalified to receive services from the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), or 2) if they accept
residents who receive services from agencies other than the VA,
employ on staff or contract for a qualified mental health
professional with at least two years' full-time relevant
experience providing services to veterans.
AB 253 (Hernandez), which is currently in the Senate
Transportation and Housing Committee, requires state agencies to
give a preference to applicants for funding under the VHHP that
demonstrate a multiyear commitment of Mental Health Services Act
Funding for the applicant's project funding plan.
Staff
Comments: SB 384 is intended to ensure that sufficient funding
is set aside each year to address the needs of underserved
vulnerable populations of veterans. The bill provides broad
discretion to CalVet to determine the amount of funding needed
each year, based upon a specified federal report or any similar
document it deems appropriate. Staff notes that there does not
appear to be provisions of the current VHHP law that would
preclude a project specifically designed to assist underserved
veterans from receiving an allocation of funding. In addition,
the administering entities have not received any applications
for such a project in the initial rounds of funding.
CalVet indicates that it would require an additional two
positions of staff, at an annual cost of approximately $206,000,
to set up the program specific to underserved veterans, conduct
annual outreach and coordination to determine the underserved
populations, and establish a percentage of reserved funding each
year. Current law allows up to five percent of bond revenues to
be used for administrative purposes. Staff assumes these new
positions could be funded from bond proceeds.
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