BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1380 Hearing Date: 4/19/2016
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|Author: |Mitchell |
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|Version: |4/14/2016 Amended |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Alison Dinmore |
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SUBJECT: Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council
DIGEST: This bill requires 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
adopt guidelines and regulations to include Housing First
policies. This bill establishes the Homeless Coordinating and
Financing Council (Coordinating Council) to oversee
implementation of the Housing First regulations and, among other
things, to identify resources, benefits, and services that can
be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California.
ANALYSIS:
Under existing law, several state agencies, including but not
limited to, the Department of Housing and Community Development,
California Department of Veterans Affairs, California Housing
Finance Agency, and the California Department of Social
Services, have prescribed responsibilities relating to homeless
persons.
This bill:
1) Creates the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council,
which shall have the following goals:
a) Oversee the implementation of this bill.
b) Identify mainstream resources, benefits, and services
that can be assessed to prevent and end homelessness in
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California.
c) Create partnerships among state agencies and
departments, local government agencies, participants in the
U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Continuum of Care Program, federal agencies, the U.S.
Interagency Council on Homelessness (US ICH), nonprofit
entities working to end homelessness, and the private
sector, for purposes of arriving at specific strategies to
end homelessness.
d) Promote systems integration to increase efficiency and
effectiveness.
e) Coordinate existing funding and applications for
competitive funding. Any action taken pursuant to this
paragraph shall not restructure or change any existing
allocations or allocation formula.
f) Make policy and procedural recommendations to
legislators and other government entities.
g) Identify and seek funding opportunities for state
entities that have programs to end homelessness and
facilitate and coordinate those state entities' efforts to
obtain funding.
h) 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 to services, operating, and
capital funding.
i) Serve as a statewide homelessness planning and policy
development resource.
j) Report to the Governor, federal Cabinet members, and the
Legislature on homelessness and work to reduce
homelessness.
aa) Ensure accountability and results in meeting the
strategies and goals of the council.
2) Requires the Governor, within 180 days of enacting this
bill, to appoint up to 15 members to the Coordinating Council
as follows:
a) A representative of the Governor's office.
b) A representative of the Department of Social Services.
c) A representative of the California Housing Finance
Agency.
d) A representative of the Department of Health Care
Services.
e) A representative of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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f) A representative of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation.
g) A representative of the Tax Credit Allocation Committee
in the State Treasurer's office.
h) A person who is, or has been, homeless in California to
the extent funding is available to pay for travel costs and
stipends.
i) Representatives of local agencies or organizations that
participate in the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care Program.
j) A state advocate or other member of the public or state
agencies, according to the Governor's discretion.
aa) The council may, at its discretion, invite stakeholders,
individuals who have experienced homelessness, members of
philanthropic communities, and experts to participate in
meetings or provide information to the council.
3) Requires the Assistant Director for Homeless and Housing
Policy within the Department of Housing and Community
Development to provide staff for the council.
4) Defines "Housing First" as the evidence-based model that
uses housing as a tool, rather than a reward, for recovery.
It connects homeless people to housing as quickly as possible
and does not make housing contingent on participation in
services. 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.
5) Defines "Core Components of Housing First" as the following:
a) Tenant screening and selection practices that promote
accepting applicants regardless of their sobriety or use of
substances, completion of treatment, or participation in
services.
b) 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."
c) Acceptance of referrals directly from shelters, street
outreach, drop-in centers, and other parts of crisis
response systems frequented by vulnerable people
experiencing homelessness.
SB 1380 (Mitchell) Page 4 of ?
d) Supportive services that emphasize engagement and
problem-solving over therapeutic goals and service plans
that are highly tenant-driven without predetermined goals.
e) Participation in services or program compliance is not a
condition of permanent housing tenancy.
f) Tenants have a lease and all the rights and
responsibilities of tenancy, as outlined in California's
Civil, Health and Safety, and Government codes.
g) The use of alcohol or drugs in and of itself, without
other lease violations, is not grounds for eviction.
h) In communities with coordinated assessment with 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 frequency 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.
i) Case managers and service coordinators who are trained
in and actively employ evidence-based practices.
j) Services are informed by a harm-reduction philosophy
that recognizes drug and alcohol use and addiction as part
of tenants' lives, where tenants are engaged in
non-judgmental 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 participating in evidence-based treatment if the
tenant so chooses.
aa) The project and specific apartment may include special
features that accommodate disabilities, reduce harm, and
promote health and community and independence among
tenants.
6) Requires agencies and departments administering state
programs created on or after July 1, 2017, to collaborate with
the Coordinating Council to adopt guidelines and regulations
to incorporate core components of Housing First.
Additionally, agencies and departments administering state
programs in existence prior to July 1, 2017, shall collaborate
with the Coordinating Council to adopt guidelines and
regulations to incorporate core components of Housing First by
July 1, 2019, if the existing guidelines and regulations do
not already incorporate the core components of Housing First.
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7) Defines "state programs" as 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 or programs that
fund emergency shelters.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, homelessness affects
multiple systems in California. A state as large, diverse,
and complex as California requires a coordinating body to
enable state agencies to maximize federal funding, leverage
local dollars, and ensure programs touching homeless
Californians are as effective as possible. California has
several programs designed to fund housing for our homeless
residents, but has no coordinated plan or program to address
homelessness systematically. While many other states with
large homeless populations have an interagency council on
homelessness, California does not have any coordinating body
that fosters collaboration among the state agency's
homelessness impacts, or with local governments dealing with
homelessness on the ground. This bill would require programs
funding housing for homeless residents to use evidence-based
practices recognized and adopted throughout all federal
agencies.
2)Interagency Councils on Homelessness. According to the
Corporation for Supportive Housing, over 20 other states have
interagency councils on homelessness. The US ICH is comprised
of 19 federal agencies that meet four times per year to
advance federal collaboration and coordination. In between
Council meetings, US ICH convenes interagency working groups
focused on key issues and activities. These meetings all
focus on identifying high-impact strategies and aligning
efforts to achieve the goals of Opening Doors. Opening Doors,
released in 2010 and updated in 2015, is the nation's first
comprehensive federal strategy to prevent and end
homelessness. Interagency Councils in other states have
focused on establishing coordination among state and local
agencies to further the goal of creating housing
opportunities. This bill would establish an interagency
council at the California state level, to facilitate and
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coordinate those state entities' efforts to obtain funding to
end homelessness.
3) Council membership and staffing. The Coordinating Council
is comprised of 15 members representing state entities that
work on homelessness issues. Noticeably absent from this
list, however, is the Department of Housing and Community
Development. This department oversees many existing state
housing programs that serve homeless individuals and arguably
is the agency with the most expertise in Housing First
principles. Additionally, this bill requires the Assistant
Director for Homeless and Housing Policy within the Department
of Housing and Community Development to provide staff for the
Council. This position is not a statutorily defined position
and there is a possibility that this position may not always
be filled. Further, the Assistant Director for Homeless and
Housing Policy does not have any staff.
The committee may wish to consider adding a representative of
the Housing and Community Development Department to the
council and require this department to provide staff to the
council, in place of the Assistant Director for Homeless and
Housing Policy.
4) Too many cooks in the kitchen. The idea of the Coordinating
Council is to create more efficiency and facilitate discussion
among relevant agencies and therefore remove layers of
bureaucracy. Too many participants, however, could
potentially undermine the goal of this council. To that end,
the committee may wish to consider reducing the number of
Coordinating Council participants to 11. This can be
accomplished by removing the representative from the
Governor's office (since arguably the administration is
represented by the relevant departments), reducing the number
of homeless persons to one, and providing two representatives
from local agencies. When necessary, the bill provides that
the council may at its discretion invite stakeholders,
individuals who have experienced homelessness, members of
philanthropic communities, and experts to participate in
meetings or provide information to the council. The Governor
also retains discretion to appoint a state advocate or other
member of the public or state agencies.
5) Housing First. Housing First is an evidence-based housing
model that centers on providing people experiencing
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homelessness with housing as quickly as possible - and then
providing services as needed. A core component of Housing
First includes a tenant screening process that promotes
accepting applicants regardless of their sobriety or use of
substances, completion of treatment, or participation in
services. This model recognizes that an individual
experiencing homelessness should be provided shelter and
stability before underlying issues can be successfully
tackled.
The Housing First model is contrasted with a model known as
"housing readiness," which is exhibited in some transitional
housing models. This model requires homeless people to earn
their way into transitional housing and make progress on
certain goals; when they are deemed well enough; they earn
their spot in permanent housing.
6) What programs would be affected? In recent years, the
federal government has shifted its focus towards funding
Housing First programs. In fact, federal McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Grants must be used for Housing First
programs. As a result, housing programs under the Department
of Housing and Community Development, such as the Veterans
Housing and Homeless Prevention Program, already integrate
core components of Housing First. Existing programs under
other state agencies, however, such as the Transitional
Housing Program Plus (THP-Plus) administered by the Department
of Social Services, and other housing programs at the state
level that fund other housing models, would likely have to
adopt core Housing First principles.
Under this bill, new programs created on or after July 1,
2017, would be required to adopt guidelines and regulations to
incorporate the core components of Housing First. Existing
programs that do not already incorporate the core components
of Housing First would be required to revise or adopt
guidelines and regulations that incorporate the core
components of Housing First.
7) Double-referral. This bill was heard in the Senate Human
Services Committee on April 12 and passed on a 3-0 vote.
Related Legislation:
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AB 998 (Fong, 2013) - would have created the California
Interagency Council on Homelessness and required various state
agencies to meet quarterly to coordinate efforts on
homelessness. This bill died on suspense in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 1167 (Fong, 2011) - would have created a state Interagency
Council on Homelessness, with specified membership and duties.
This bill died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 1875 (Fong, 2009) - would have created a state Interagency
Council on Homelessness, with specified membership and duties.
This bill died in the Assembly Business, Professions and
Consumer Protections Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday,
April 13, 2016.)
SUPPORT:
Poverty Matters (sponsor)
Corporation for Supportive Housing
Destination: Home
OPPOSITION:
None received
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