BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
Senator Jim Nielsen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 689 Hearing Date: 4/14/15
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|Author: |Huff |
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|Version: |2/27/15 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant:|Wade Teasdale |
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Subject: Veterans: housing
DESCRIPTION
Summary:
Regarding the Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention
(VHHP) Act, this bill requires prioritization that given to
applications for proposed housing projects that would maintain a
qualified mental health professional, as defined, on staff or on
contract for services.
Existing law:
Requires specified state departments to establish and implement
housing programs that focus on veterans at risk for homelessness
or experiencing temporary or chronic homelessness.
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:
Grants priority consideration for applications for VHHP projects
that include supportive services if the projects would maintain
any specified mental health professionals on staff or contract
for services from such professionals:
Licensed psychologist.
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Licensed professional clinical counselor.
Licensed social worker.
Licensed marriage and family therapist.
Licensed physician and surgeon who is board certified in
psychiatry.
BACKGROUND
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
housing unit to another eligible program participant at some
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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.
Housing First programs share critical elements:
A focus on helping individuals and families access and
sustain permanent rental housing as quickly as possible
without time limits.
A variety of services delivered to promote housing
stability and individual well-being on an as-needed basis.
A standard lease agreement to housing - as opposed to
mandated therapy or services compliance.
While all Housing First programs share these critical elements,
specific models vary significantly depending upon the population
served.
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
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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
of Veterans Affairs.)
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
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.
Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Act
AB 639 (J. Pérez, 2013) became Proposition 41 on the June 2014
statewide ballot and received voter approval. The measure
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
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facilities for veterans and their families.
The law requires the California Department of Veterans Affairs
(CalVet), 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,
which, among other things, (a) adopt Housing First principles
and practices and (b) establish "application selection criteria"
that integrate prioritization criteria expressed through
preference-point weighting.
Under the guidelines, applications are rated with a maximum
total score of 133 for projects including Supportive Housing
and/or Transitional Housing, and 105 for other projects. Those
totals include points awarded to an application's supportive
services plan (up to 20 points for projects that include
supportive housing or transitional housing, and up to 10 points
for other projects). Applications for projects that include
supportive housing or transitional housing (which may also
include other units) will be scored on those components as
indicated in the following excerpt from the HCD guidelines:
(A) Quality and Quantity of Services (12 points maximum).
(i) The quality and quantity of services provided,
including staffing patterns and experience, and the
degree to which services are specific to veterans.
(ii) The appropriateness of the service delivery model,
including the extent to which evidence-based or best
practices (Critical Time Intervention, Peer Support,
Trauma-Informed Care, SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and
Recovery (SOAR), Motivational Interviewing, voluntary
moving-on strategies, etc.) will be employed.
(iii) The accessibility of federal VA and other
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services, whether they are on-site or in close proximity
to the project, including the hours they are available,
and the frequency, travel time and cost of
transportation required to access them, including both
public transportation and private transportation
services (e.g. van owned by the provider).
(iv) Adherence to Housing First principles in provision
of services, including provision of flexible services
that facilitate permanent housing access and housing
stability.
(v) The degree to which the physical building space
supports social interaction and supports the provision
of services.
(vi) The levels of linkages with local systems for
ending homelessness and serving veterans, including:
a) Participation, verified by the local
Continuum of Care, in a local coordinated access
system that is fully established.
b) The degree of coordination with VA
Medical Centers, VA Homeless Program Coordinators,
SSVF, Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program and
other VA programs.
c) The degree of coordination on benefit
education and advocacy, discharge upgrade advocacy
and other advocacy efforts on behalf of veteran
tenants with County Veteran Services Offices
(CVSOs), legal services and others, and
participation in local Continuum of Care, Veterans
Stand Down, and other community ending homelessness
efforts.
COMMENT
1.Author's Statement :
Providing the option of mental health treatment to our
veterans is of the utmost importance. The impact of their
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service has lifelong effects and for some veterans the impacts
can manifest into mental health problems and homelessness.
While it is great to have this housing bond, which I
wholeheartedly support, I think we owe it to the veteran and
the taxpayer to maximize this opportunity by opening a gateway
for those who may need mental health services. This measure
certainly will not preclude other worthy projects, but will
simply give more points to projects with a serious mental
health plan. Knowing we will have access to homeless veterans
who may be the most in need of mental health services (those
that are homeless), should give us moment to pause and think
outside of the box on how to effectively offer mental health
services to them. It makes sense to incorporate voluntary
mental health services with a veterans housing facility.
2.Committee Staff Comments :
Suggested amendments for consideration : The author's office
has emphasized that the intent is to guarantee a high quality
of mental health care and drug treatment services to veterans
residing in VHHP housing, especially when those services are
delivered by providers other than the USDVA. The author should
consider amending the bill to require that services provided
by non-USDVA providers be augmented by having - either
on-staff or on-contract - mental health professionals who have
prior veteran-specific experience, at least the equivalent of
two years of full-time experience.
3.Related Legislation
SB 384 (Leyva, pending Senate Vet Affairs, 2015 ): 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.
AB 639 (J. Pérez, Ch. 727, Stats. 2013 ): The VHHP Act of 2014
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%.)
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POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support:
CarePossible
CA Council of Community Mental Health Agencies (CCMHA)
Mental Health America of CA
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
Oppose: None on file
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