Amended in Assembly June 16, 2016

Amended in Senate March 14, 2016

Senate Bill No. 866

Introduced by Senator Roth

January 11, 2016

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

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 866, as amended, Roth. Veterans housing.

Existing law, the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act of 2014, authorizes the issuance of bonds in the amount of $600,000,000 for expenditure by the California Housing Finance Agency, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (the departments) to provide multifamily housing and services to veterans pursuant to the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2014. Existing law requires the departments to establish and implement programs pursuant to those purposes.

This bill would authorize a housing developer or service provider that begin delete receives bond moneys end delete begin insert provides housing or services end insert pursuant to those provisions to provide housing or services to veterans and their children in women-only facilities in limited instances, as specified.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

This act shall be known and may be cited as the
“Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2016:
Proposition 41 Expenditures: Military Sexual Trauma.”

SEC. 2.  

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.

(3) Promote public and private partnerships.

(4) Foster innovative financing opportunities.

(5) 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.

(e) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, a housing developer or
service provider that begin delete receives bond moneys end delete begin insert provides housing or
services end insert pursuant to this article may provide housing or services
to female veterans and their children in women-only facilities in
limited instances in which a female veteran (A) has suffered any
form of sexual abuse, trauma, or intimidation or harassment while
serving in the military and is seeking treatment for that sexual
abuse, trauma, or intimidation or harassment, or (B) is seeking the
housing or services as a result of being a victim of sexual abuse
or domestic violence.

(2) A housing developer or service provider that provides
housing or services to female veterans in women-only facilities
pursuant to paragraph (1) shall ensure that the housing or services
shall provide supportive housing or services with a focus on, among
others, treating the effects of military sexual abuse, trauma, or
intimidation in a gender-specific manner.

(3) For purposes of this subdivision, “women-only facilities”
means the facilities may house and provide services to female
veterans only and their children, and shall not house or provide
services to any adult who is not a dependent of a female veteran.

SEC. 3.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that the changes
made by this act to Section 987.005 of the Military and Veterans
Code are necessary in order to provide a safe environment to female
veterans who have been subject to, among others, sexual abuse,
harassment, or domestic violence. Providing a gender-specific
treatment and housing community to address the needs of at-risk
veterans who have been sexually abused or physically while in
service or thereafter is necessary for purposes of treatment and
recovery. It is, therefore, necessary that these facilities be focused
on “women-only” treatment and services with a focus on treatment
related to sexual abuse, harassment, or domestic violence, which
may be distinct from other treatment or services that other veterans
may be seeking under similar provisions, such as for nonmilitary
sexual trauma related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or job
placement.

(b) In that respect, the Legislature finds and declares that
providing gender-specific treatment and housing pursuant to this
act serves a compelling state interest, which interest is providing
the best possible treatment to female veterans who have served
our country and who now face additional hurdles that
disproportionately affect female veterans over male veterans. The
Legislature finds and declares that providing separate facilities
distinct from the norm of multifamily housing is substantially
related to the achievement of those objectives.

(c) The Legislature further finds and declares all of the
following:

(1) There are over 200,000 active duty women in the United
States Armed Forces making up approximately 15 percent of active
duty personnel. With most military occupations now open to
women, it is expected their ranks will continue to grow.

(2) With approximately two million female veterans nationwide,
women veterans make up only about 10 percent of the over 21
million veterans nationwide.

(3) California has the second highest female veteran population
in the country, with over 164,000 female veterans calling California
home.

(4) The United States Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA)
national screening program has reported that about one in four
women respond they have experienced Military Sexual Trauma
(MST) when screened by their VA provider, and the National
Center on Family Homelessness has found that female veterans
experience sexual assault after their military service at 12 times
the rate of the general civilian female population.

(5) Women who are assaulted, raped, or sexually harassed during
their military service suffer mental effects of their MST for years
after leaving the military, are at a higher risk of developing PTSD
than those who are not assaulted, and are disproportionately at risk
of becoming homeless after separating from military service.

(6) Ensuring that there is adequate housing for MST victims
should be a primary goal of the Department of Veterans Affairs,
the Department of Housing and Community Development, and
the California Housing Finance Agency as they administer the
Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Program enacted
by Proposition 41. Effectively housing and treating this population
will require acknowledging that victims of MST have unique needs
that cannot be adequately treated through the traditionally
male-centric housing and services that are available.

(7) Female veterans with PTSD have reported that
women-centered treatment is the most important factor contributing
to their comfort with VA services. Due to the great majority of
veterans being male, most veteran-only housing is occupied by
male veterans and most services are utilized by male veterans.
This situation deters many MST victims from seeking veteran-only
housing because the male dominated living environment triggers
the experience of being in the male dominated military where the
rape, assault, or harassment occurred. As such, female veterans
who are victims of MST do not, as a practical matter, have equal
access to veteran-only housing and services that treat MST.

(8) PTSD is a serious condition and classified as a disability
under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
According to the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights
Division, PTSD can also be recognized as a disability under the
federal Fair Housing Act. As California’s Fair Employment and
Housing Act is intended to conform to federal law, victims of
MST-related PTSD have a disability and should be afforded a
reasonable accommodation that allows them to enjoy veteran-only
housing under this act. Access to women’s only housing and
supportive services for victims of MST shall be considered a
reasonable accommodation under this act and is critical in this
narrow circumstance to address the needs of this small and
vulnerable population.