Amended in Senate April 15, 2015

Senate Bill No. 689

Introduced by Senator Huff

February 27, 2015

An act to amend Section 987.005 of the Military and Veterans Code, relating to veterans housing.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 689, as amended, Huff. Veterans: housing.

Existing law requires the California Housing Finance Agency, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish and implement housing programs that focus on veterans at risk for homelessness or experiencing temporary or chronic homelessness. Existing law requires the departments, to the extent feasible, to prioritize projects that combine housing and supportive services, including, but not limited to, job training, mental health and drug treatment, case management, care coordination, or physical rehabilitation.

This bill would begin delete instruct the departments to also prioritize projects that keep a mental health professional on staff or contract for the services of a mental health professional. end delete begin insert require a project, in order to qualify for prioritization due to mental health and drug treatment services, to either accept only residents who are prequalified to receive mental health care and drug treatment services from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, or, if the project accepts residents who receive mental health care and drug treatment services from agencies or providers other than the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, the project to ensure it augments those services by either maintaining a qualified mental health professional on staff or by contracting for the services of a qualified mental health professional. end insert This bill would include psychologists, professional clinical counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and psychiatrists as mental health professionals for its purposes.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 987.005 of the Military and Veterans
Code is amended to read:

987.005.  

(a) The departments shall establish and implement
programs pursuant to the purposes of this article that focus on
veterans at risk for homelessness or experiencing temporary or
chronic homelessness. To the extent feasible, the departments shall
establish and implement programs that, among other things, do
the following:

(1) Leverage public (federal, state, and local), private, and
nonprofit program and fiscal resources.

(2) Prioritize projects that combine housing and supportive
services, including, but not limited to, job training, mental health
and drug treatment, case management, care coordination, or
physical rehabilitation. begin insert Notwithstanding any other program
requirements, to qualify for prioritization under this paragraph
for mental health and drug treatment services, a project’s mental
health and drug treatment component shall meet either of the
following standards: end insert

begin insert

(A) The project accepts only residents who are prequalified to
receive mental health care and drug treatment services from the
federal Department of Veterans Affairs and the project’s housing
location and transportation plan ensure that the federal
department’s services are available and accessible to the residents.

end insert begin insert

(B) If the project accepts residents who receive mental health
care and drug treatment services from agencies or providers other
than the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, the project shall
ensure that it augments those services either by maintaining a
qualified mental health professional on staff or by contracting for
the services of a qualified mental health professional. For the
purposes of this paragraph, a qualified mental health professional
shall have the equivalent of at least two years of full-time relevant
experience providing services to veterans and is any of the
following:

end insert begin delete

(3) Prioritize projects that keep a mental health professional on
staff or contract for the services of a mental health professional.
For the purposes of this paragraph a mental health professional
shall mean any of the following:

end delete begin delete

(A)

end delete

begin insert (i) end insert  A licensed psychologist as defined in Chapter 6.6
(commencing with Section 2900) of Division 2 of the Business
and Professions Code.

begin delete

(B)

end delete

begin insert (ii) end insert  A licensed professional clinical counselor as defined in
Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 4999.10) of Division 2 of
the Business and Professions Code.

begin delete

(C)

end delete

begin insert (iii) end insert  A licensed social worker as defined in Chapter 14
(commencing with Section 4991) of Division 2 of the Business
and Professions Code.

begin delete

(D)

end delete

begin insert (iv) end insert  A licensed marriage and family therapist as defined in
Chapter 13 (commencing with Section 4980) of Division 2 of the
Business and Professions Code.

begin delete

(E)

end delete

begin insert (v) end insert  A licensed physician and surgeon who is board certified in
psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

begin delete

(4)

end delete

begin insert (3) end insert  Promote public and private partnerships.

begin delete

(5)

end delete

begin insert (4) end insert  Foster innovative financing opportunities.

begin delete

(6)

end delete

begin insert (5) end insert  Ensure program guidelines and terms provide threshold
requirements or scoring criteria, or both, to advance applicants
with experience in combining permanent or transitional housing,
or both, with supportive services for veterans, or for partnering
with housing developers or service providers with experience
offering housing or services to veterans.

(b) The departments shall ensure at least 50 percent of funds
awarded for capital development under this article provide housing
to veteran households with extremely low incomes, as defined in
Section 50106 of the Health and Safety Code.

(1) In determining whether a potential tenant is eligible for
supportive, affordable, or transitional housing targeted to extremely
low income households under this provision, eligibility shall take
into consideration all of a household’s income sources upon initial
tenancy.

(2) At least 60 percent of units funded targeting extremely low
income households shall be supportive housing.

(3) This section shall not deter the departments from funding
projects serving mixed-income populations.

(c) The departments may review, adopt, amend, and repeal
guidelines or terms, or both, to implement this article. Any
guidelines or terms adopted to implement this article shall not be
subject to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part
1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(d) Nothing in this article permits the departments or the board
to purchase, operate, or manage properties except in the event of
a foreclosure on a borrower or grantee.