BILL NUMBER: SB 1380 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 28, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Mitchell
(Coauthors: Senators Allen, Hertzberg, Liu, and Wieckowski)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Campos and Thurmond)
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to add Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8260) to
Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to
homelessness. homelessness, and making an
appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1380, as amended, Mitchell. Homelessness: coordinating
council. Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council.
Existing law establishes various programs, including, among
others, the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program, to provide
assistance to homeless persons.
This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to
enact legislation to establish a coordinating council on
homelessness. require a state agency or department
that funds, implements, or administers a state program that provides
housing or housing-related services to people experiencing
homelessness or at risk of homelessness, except as specified, to
revise or adopt guidelines and regulations to include enumerated
Housing First policies. The bill would also establish the Homeless
Coordinating and Financing Council to oversee the
implementation of the Housing First guidelines and regulations and,
among other things, to identify resources, benefits, and services
that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California.
The bill would establish the Homeless Trust Fund, a continuously
appropriated fund, to receive specified grant moneys and fund the
administrative costs of the council, as specified.
By authorizing the deposit of moneys into a continuously
appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no yes
. Fiscal committee: no yes .
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California leads the nation in the number of homeless
residents with 115,738 people experiencing homelessness at some
point, which is 21 percent of the nation's total. California also
leads the nation in the number and ratio of chronically homeless
residents with 29,178 chronically homeless residents at any point in
time, which is 31 percent of the nation's total.
(b) Homelessness is expensive to the state and local governments.
A homeless person receiving general assistance in Los Angeles County,
for example, incurs $2,897 per month in crisis response services.
(c) A chronically homeless Californian moving into "supportive
housing" is able to reduce costs he or she incurs by almost 80
percent. Moving an individual or family experiencing chronic
homelessness to housing stability costs less than the resulting
savings in public expenditures.
(c)
(d) Following the example of other states, as well as
jurisdictions within California, it is the intent of the Legislature
to adopt a housing first "Housing First"
model for all state programs funding housing for people
experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.
(d)
(e) Housing first First
is an evidence-based model of ending all types of homelessness and is
the most effective approach to ending chronic homelessness.
Housing first offers individuals and families experiencing
homelessness access to permanent affordable or supportive housing
with a low-threshold for entry, as it does not impose clinical
prerequisites like completion of a course of treatment or evidence of
sobriety. The federal government recognizes that
housing first Housing First yields high-housing
retention rates, low returns to homelessness, and significant
reductions in crisis or institutional care.
(e)
(f) Homelessness affects multiple systems in
California. Though almost every state with significant homeless
populations has established a council to coordinate a
housing first oriented Housing First-oriented
response to homelessness, California does not have an
any entity to manage the state's
response. response to homelessness.
(f)
(g) California participated in a federally
funded policy academy federally funded Policy Academy
to reduce chronic homelessness. That policy academy
Policy Academy succeeded in revising programs
administered by the California's
Department of Housing and Community Development,
Development (HCD) administers, and in attracting federal
funding opportunities requiring collaboration between the
Department of Housing and Community Development HCD
and the State Department of Health Care Services. To implement
additional successes, it is essential that California has
have a coordinating council on homelessness.
(g) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to establish a coordinating council on homelessness.
SEC. 2. Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8260)
is added to Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code , to read:
CHAPTER 7. HOUSING FIRST AND COORDINATING COUNCIL
8260. For purposes of this chapter:
(a) "Coordinating Council" means the Homeless Coordinating and
Financing Council established pursuant to Section 8262.
(b) "Core components of Housing First" means all of the following:
(1) Tenant screening and selection practices that promote
accepting applicants regardless of their sobriety or use of
substances, completion of treatment, or participation in services.
(2) Applicants are not rejected on the basis of poor credit or
financial history, poor or lack of rental history, criminal
convictions unrelated to tenancy, or behaviors that indicate a lack
of "housing readiness."
(3) Acceptance of referrals directly from shelters, street
outreach, drop-in centers, and other parts of crisis response systems
frequented by vulnerable people experiencing homelessness.
(4) Supportive services that emphasize engagement and
problem-solving over therapeutic goals and service plans that are
highly tenant-driven without predetermined goals.
(5) Participation in services or program compliance is not a
condition of permanent housing tenancy.
(6) Tenants have a lease and all the rights and responsibilities
of tenancy, as outlined in California's Civil, Health and Safety, and
Government codes.
(7) The use of alcohol or drugs in and of itself, without other
lease violations, is not a reason for eviction.
(8) In communities with coordinated assessment and entry systems,
incentives for funding promote tenant selection plans for supportive
housing that prioritize eligible tenants based on criteria other than
"first-come-first-serve," including, but not limited to, the
duration or chronicity of homelessness, vulnerability to early
mortality, or high utilization of crisis services. Prioritization may
include triage tools, developed through local data, to identify
high-cost, high-need homeless residents.
(9) Case managers and service coordinators who are trained in and
actively employ evidence-based practices for client engagement,
including, but not limited to, motivational interviewing and
client-centered counseling.
(10) Services are informed by a harm-reduction philosophy that
recognizes drug and alcohol use and addiction as a part of tenants'
lives, where tenants are engaged in nonjudgmental communication
regarding drug and alcohol use, and where tenants are offered
education regarding how to avoid risky behaviors and engage in safer
practices, as well as connected to evidence-based treatment if the
tenant so chooses.
(11) The project and specific apartment may include special
physical features that accommodate disabilities, reduce harm, and
promote health and community and independence among tenants.
(c) "Homeless" has the same definition as that term is defined in
Section 91.5 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(d) (1) "Housing First" means the evidence-based model that uses
housing as a tool, rather than a reward, for recovery and that
centers on providing or connecting homeless people to permanent
housing as quickly as possible. Housing First providers offer
services as needed and requested on a voluntary basis and that does
not make housing contingent on participation in services.
(2) "Housing First" includes time-limited rental or services
assistance, so long as the housing and service provider assists the
recipient in accessing permanent housing and in securing longer-term
rental assistance, income assistance, or employment.
(e) "State programs" means any programs a California state agency
or department funds, implements, or administers for the purpose of
providing housing or housing-based services to people experiencing
homelessness or at risk of homelessness, with the exception of
federally funded programs with requirements inconsistent with this
chapter.
8261. (a) Agencies and departments administering state programs
created on or after July 1, 2017, shall collaborate with the
Coordinating Council to adopt guidelines and regulations to
incorporate core components of Housing First.
(b) By July 1, 2019, agencies and departments administering state
programs in existence prior to July 1, 2017, shall collaborate with
the Coordinating Council to revise or adopt guidelines and
regulations that incorporate the core components of Housing First.
8262. (a) Within 180 days of the effective date of the measure
adding this chapter, the Governor shall create a Homeless
Coordinating and Financing Council.
(b) The Coordinating Council shall have the following goals:
(1) To oversee implementation of this chapter.
(2) To identify mainstream resources, benefits, and services that
can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California.
(3) To create partnerships among state agencies and departments,
local government agencies, participants in the United States
Department of Housing and Urban Development's Continuum of Care
Program, federal agencies, the United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness, nonprofit entities working to end homelessness, and the
private sector, for the purpose of arriving at specific strategies
to end homelessness.
(4) To promote systems integration to increase efficiency and
effectiveness.
(5) To coordinate existing funding and applications for
competitive funding.
(6) To make policy and procedural recommendations to legislators
and other government entities.
(7) To identify and seek money to end homelessness, including, but
not limited to, federal and philanthropic funding opportunities.
(8) To broker agreements between state agencies and departments
and between state agencies and departments and local jurisdictions to
align and coordinate resources, reduce administrative burdens of
accessing existing resources, and foster common applications for
services, operating, and capital funding.
(9) To serve as the single statewide homelessness planning and
policy development resource.
(10) To report to the Governor, federal Cabinet members, and the
Legislature on homelessness and work to reduce homelessness.
(11) To ensure accountability and results in meeting the
strategies and goals of the council.
(c) The Governor shall appoint up to 15 members of the
Coordinating Council as follows:
(1) A representative of the Governor's office.
(2) A representative of the Department of Social Services.
(3) A representative of the California Housing Finance Agency.
(4) A representative of the Department of Health Care Services.
(5) A representative of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(6) A representative of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation.
(7) People who are, or have been, homeless in California, to the
extent funding is available to pay for travel costs and stipends.
(8) Representatives of local agencies or organizations that
participate in the United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development's Continuum of Care Program.
(9) State advocates and other members of the public or state
agencies, according to the Governor's discretion.
(d) The members of the council shall serve at the pleasure of the
Governor. The Governor shall appoint a chairperson, who may rotate
among members at terms set by the Governor.
(e) The members shall serve without compensation, except that
members who are, or have been, homeless may receive reimbursement for
travel, per diem, or other expenses.
(f) The Assistant Director for Homeless and Housing Policy within
the Department of Housing and Community Development shall provide
staff for the council.
8263. There is hereby established in the State Treasury the
Homeless Trust Fund. Moneys in the fund shall consist of funds
awarded to the state through philanthropic, federal, or other grants
the Coordinating Council, or departments within the Coordinating
Council, receive that are not otherwise designated to be administered
by another agency and that are expressly restricted for use only for
the purposes set forth in this chapter. Moneys in the fund are
hereby continuously appropriated as follows:
(a) For the purposes of the grant.
(b) For the administrative costs of the Coordinating Council, when
appropriate and available.