BILL NUMBER: AB 558	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 13, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Portantino

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2009

   An act to add and repeal Section 65584.9 of the Government Code,
relating to land use.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 558, as amended, Portantino. Land use planning: housing
element: foster youth placement.
   The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county general plan
to include specified mandatory elements, including a housing element
that identifies and analyzes existing and projected housing needs
and includes a statement of goals, policies, quantified objectives,
financial resources, and scheduled programs for the preservation,
improvement, and development of housing.
   The Planning and Zoning Law requires each local government to
revise its housing element in accordance with a specified schedule.
The Department of Housing and Community Development, in consultation
with each council of governments, is required to determine each
region's existing and projected housing need at least 2 years prior
to a scheduled revision. The appropriate council of governments, or
for cities and counties without a council of governments, the
department, is required to adopt a final regional housing need plan
that allocates a share of the regional housing need to each city,
county, or city and county at least one year prior to a scheduled
revision.
   This bill would authorize a city, until January 1,  2016
  2017  , to meet not more than 10% of its existing
share of the regional housing need by adoption of a program that
meets certain, listed requirements, including that the program
actively promote and assist in the placement of foster youth in
existing family-based households, as specified, and be approved by
the council of governments that assigns the city's share of regional
housing needs or, in the county absence of a council, by the
department. For the 2nd and any subsequent planning period after the
specified program has been adopted, the department or the council of
governments, as applicable, would be prohibited from approving the
program for these purposes if the program was not responsible for
meeting 2.5% or more of the city's share of the regional housing need
for the previous planning period. The bill would require the
department or the council of governments, as applicable, to limit
program approvals to the first 5 programs per region that apply and
qualify for approval. The bill would require each city that has
adopted a program to submit to the department or the council of
governments, as applicable, 2 progress reports per planning period,
on dates established by the department or the council of governments.
The bill would require the reports to include the number of foster
youth placements with a duration of one year or more that occurred
during the reporting period, as verified by the county's program that
manages foster youth placements.
   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.  The Legislature finds and hereby declares all of the
following:
   (a) The number of people across the state willing to become foster
parents declined by more than 30 percent since 2001, with some
counties experiencing even greater declines.
   (b) If this decline continues, more abused and neglected children
will be placed into group homes and homes operated by foster family
agencies at a substantially higher cost to the state and counties.
   (c) Under the current system, the outcomes for youth who turn 18
years of age in foster care are often grim. Many leave the system
without family support, leaving them at high risk of becoming victims
of crime and becoming involved with the judicial system,
homelessness, and unemployment. Many fail to complete high school and
do not pursue higher education or vocational training.
   (d) Foster youth who exit the system with permanent links to
caring adults or families have a better chance for successful
outcomes. When youth grow up in a family, that family is the major
vehicle preparing them for the adult world. The values, skills,
challenges, and opportunities that shape and define adulthood are
woven into the fabric of their everyday lives. Through these lifelong
connections, they discover what it means to learn, love, and live.
   (e) To attain the goal of permanency, the state must be engaged in
creating incentives that identify responsible adults and families
willing to take on this task. New communities need to be tapped to
improve outcomes for foster youth exiting the system. All government
entities should have an opportunity to participate in this goal
through state incentives.
   (f) Cities are not directly involved in finding quality,
family-based households for foster youth, but the Regional Housing
Needs Assessment (RHNA) process creates many challenges in meeting
the state's requirement to plan for future population growth.
Especially difficult to plan are very low and low-income housing.
Most cities are not actually required to zone for affordable housing.
Instead, most zone at certain densities and presume these densities
will allow affordable housing to be built. Because the housing
element does not address the final outcome, setting the density does
not guarantee affordability. In fact, property owners may ultimately
decide to build luxury condominiums too expensive for low-income
people.
   (g) While most cities plan and meet their RHNA requirement to zone
for affordable housing, the market decides when they are built. When
they are built, critics wonder whether they truly accommodate
low-income Californians and whether having an approved housing
element actually made the difference.
   (h) Since the RHNA process does not plan for the fluctuating
population of foster youth in need of immediate and future housing,
flexibility is needed to both plan and fulfill the state's
responsibility to find quality foster parents. Zoning for future
housing that may never be built pales in comparison to the immediate
and ongoing needs of foster care youth seeking quality family-based
environments and permanency.
   (i) In enacting this act, it is not the intent of the Legislature
that cities avoid zoning for future populations. The purpose of this
act is to give cities experiencing difficulty another tool to meet
their RHNA requirement and involve them in the task of identifying
family-based environments for foster youth.
  SEC. 2.  Section 65584.9 is added to the Government Code, to read:
   65584.9.  (a) A city may meet up to 10 percent of its existing
share of the regional housing need pursuant to Section 65584 by
adoption of a program that meets all of the following  criteria
 :
   (1) Actively promotes placement of foster youth in existing
family-based households through advertisement and city-based
incentives.
   (2) Provides a process for coordinating city and county assistance
to help interested persons by providing information and documents
necessary to meet the responsibility of caring for foster youth.
   (3) Serves as a resource to assist interested persons in accessing
existing services that support the placement of foster youth in
existing family-based households.
   (4) Provides a plan to measure the success of the program, in
coordination with the county's current system of data outcomes.
   (5) Is approved by the council of governments that assigns the
city's share of regional housing need or by the Department of Housing
and Community Development if there is no council of governments.
   (b) For the second and any subsequent planning period after the
program described in subdivision (a) has been adopted, the Department
of Housing and Community Development or the council of governments,
as applicable, shall not approve the program for the purposes of
paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) if the program was not responsible
for meeting 2.5 percent or more of the city's share of the regional
housing need pursuant to Section 65584 for the previous planning
period.
   (c) The Department of Housing and Community Development or the
council of governments, as applicable, shall limit approvals under
paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) to the first five programs per
region that apply and qualify for approval.
   (d) Each city that has adopted a program under this section shall
submit to the Department of Housing and Community Development or the
council of governments, as applicable, two progress reports per
planning period, on dates established by the department or the
council of governments, as the case may be. The reports shall
include, but are not limited to, the number of foster youth
placements with a duration of one year or more that occurred during
the reporting period as verified by the county's program that manages
foster youth placements.
   (e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
 2016   2017 , and as of that date is
repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before
January 1,  2016   2017  , deletes or
extends that date.