BILL ANALYSIS
AB 725
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 725 (Lieber and DeVore)
As Amended August 11, 2008
2/3 vote
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |52-20|(January 29, |SENATE: |24-14|(August 13, |
| | |2008) | | |2008) |
|-----------+-----+----------------+--------+-----+---------------|
| | | | | | |
|-----------+-----+----------------+--------+-----+---------------|
|ASSEMBLY: |55-17|(August 15, | | | |
| | |2008) | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: H. & C.D.
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Housing & Community
Development (HCD), on or before April 1, 2009, to convene the
first meeting a working group of subsidized affordable housing
providers to draft a uniform subsidized affordable housing
application and for HCD to post the application on its website.
The Senate amendments :
1)Declare it is the intent of the Legislature to create a
uniform affordable housing rental application and make
findings regarding the benefits that such an application will
provided to low- and moderate- income renters and subsidized
affordable housing providers.
2)Require HCD, on or before April 1, 2009, to convene the first
meeting of a working group of organizations representing
subsidized affordable housing providers to draft a uniform
subsidized affordable housing application.
3)Provide that the working group may organize itself as it
chooses and schedule future meetings.
4)Provide HCD is not required to participate in the working
group or pay the expenses, including travel, of any person
attending a meeting of the working group.
AB 725
Page 2
5)Require HCD to do all of the following if the working group
develops a draft uniform application
a) Review the draft to determine if it complies with
departmental policy and if not return it to the working
group for any necessary changes;
b) Provide the draft of the application to the Department
of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) who will review the
draft for compliance with the fair housing statutes it
enforces and make any necessary changes and return the
draft to HCD;
c) Add a statement to the application indicating that it
can be downloaded in formats accessible to people with
disabilities and the website from which it can be
downloaded;
d) Provide the completed uniform application to the State
Council of Developmental Disabilities which will do all of
the following:
i) Select a contractor to be paid up to $4,000 to
develop two formats of the uniform application both in
English, with a large font, one with color illustrations
and one without;
ii) Require the contractor to conduct at least one test
of the application with a focus group of persons with
disabilities; and,
iii) Review and approve the accessible formats developed
by the contractor and provide them to HCD.
e) Post the final application on its Web site; and,
f) Reconvene the working group as necessary to draft
revisions of the application to comply with changes in law
or the requirements of federal or state funding agencies.
6)Require the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC)
AB 725
Page 3
and the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) to award
additional points to future funding applicants who agree to
distribute and accept the uniform application.
7)Make the provisions of the bill regarding the creation of
accessible formats of the application inapplicable if the
State Council of Development Disabilities does not produce the
accessible formats of the application because of financial
limitations.
8)Provide that HCD's adoption of the uniform rental housing
application is not to be subject to the Administrative
Procedure Act and states that nothing in the bill authorizes
HCD to adopt or amend any regulation.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill created a mandatory
universal rental housing application to be used if the housing
provider receives certain state financial assistance.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Provided that a rental housing provider that receives a grant
or loan from HCD or CalHFA, or tax credits or bond authority
must provide a universal rental housing application.
2)Required HCD to develop a universal rental application by
April 1, 2009.
3)Required the housing provider to make the application
available on its Web site and to make it available to the
public.
4)Required certain specified information to be included such as
name, age, student status, not less than two years housing
history, detailed income information including income and
employment history for the past five years.
5)Required HCD to consider the format used by the Tax Credit
Allocation Committee.
6)Required a 30-day review and public comment prior to adoption
of the application.
7)Required the application to be made available to tenants, by
AB 725
Page 4
housing providers, on and after July 1, 2009.
8)Required HCD, CalHFA, Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC),
and California Debt Limit Allocation Committee (CDLAC) to
notify housing providers of the new universal application as
well as any future revisions.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : Because there is such an acute shortage of affordable
housing in California, low-income renters seeking housing
assistance often must apply to several providers simultaneously.
According to the author, it can be challenging to determine
whether vacancies exist or to even locate an application. When
there are vacancies, applicants must fill out a different
application for each development, even though nearly identical
information is requested for each unit.
According to the author, this lack of uniformity increases the
amount of time and inconvenience that prospective renters face.
A standardized application, argues the author, would streamline
the process of finding affordable housing.
Supporters note that this bill would allow renters to complete
just one application which can be used to apply at multiple
communities, ensuring that prospective residents have the best
possible opportunity to access housing.
The Senate amendments to this bill require HCD to convene the
first meeting of a working group of subsidized affordable
housing providers to develop a uniform subsidized housing
application but HCD is not required to participate in the
working group. After the first meeting it is up to the working
group members to continue to meet and provide a draft of the
application to HCD. HCD and DEFH are required to review the
draft application and provide comments. The final application
must be posted on HCD's Web site in a format that is accessible
to persons with disabilities. CalHFA and TCAC must award
additional points to future funding applicants that agree to use
the uniform application.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
AB 725
Page 5
This bill is unnecessary and impractical for the
Department of Housing and Community Development to
implement. Providers of rental housing are free to
develop a uniform rental housing application on their
own should they find such an application helpful for
their housing developments or for their prospective
tenants. Also, since housing providers would be able to
request additional information on this application, it
in effect would not truly be a universal application.
Additionally, this bill would require state agencies,
when awarding housing funding or tax credits, to assign
bonus points to applicants using the universal rental
application. This provision places the use of a
specific rental application on the same priority level
as other high level programmatic priorities such as
housing affordability, project readiness, and funding
commitments.
Analysis Prepared by : Hubert Bower/Lisa Engel / H. & C.D. /
(916) 319-2085 FN:
0007872