BILL NUMBER: AB 702 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 20, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Salas
FEBRUARY 26, 2009
An act to amend Section 50802 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to housing and community development , and
making an appropriation therefor .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 702, as amended, Salas. Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund.
Existing law creates within the State Treasury the Emergency
Housing and Assistance Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, to
carry out the purposes of the Emergency Housing and Assistance
Program. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and
Community Development to ensure that not less than 20% of the moneys
in the fund be allocated to nonurban counties during any given fiscal
year.
This bill would also require the department to ensure that a
certain percentage of the moneys in the fund be allocated to sponsors
of veterans only homeless projects or projects that give preference
to veterans during any given fiscal year. The bill would require that
funds not utilized to their full capacity during the fiscal year be
allocated in that fiscal year for general distribution in accordance
with the intent and purposes of the program.
Under the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program, the Department
of Housing and Community Development is authorized to make grants
from the continuously appropriated Emergency Housing and Assistance
Fund to local governments and nonprofit organizations to provide
emergency or transitional housing, as specified.
This bill would appropriate, for the 2009-10 fiscal year,
$4,000,000 from the General Fund to the Emergency Housing and
Assistance Fund, as specified, for operating facilities and capital
development grants. The bill would prohibit grants funded pursuant to
the appropriation to be used to supplant existing emergency shelter
or transitional housing funding. The bill would impose various
limitations on the award amounts of specified grants.
Vote: 2/3 majority . Appropriation:
yes no . Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 50802 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
50802. (a) The department shall ensure that not less than 20
percent of the moneys in the Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund
shall be allocated to nonurban counties during any given fiscal year.
If the funds designated for facilities operation that are allocated
to nonurban counties are not awarded by the end of that fiscal year,
then those unencumbered funds shall be allocated in the next fiscal
year to urban counties. Funds for capital development that are not
awarded by the end of the second fiscal year shall be awarded in the
subsequent fiscal year to urban counties.
(b) The amount of funds that the department allocates from the
Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund to each region, excluding funds
allocated pursuant to subdivision (a), shall be based upon a formula
that accords at least 20 percent weight to each of the following
factors:
(1) The relative number of persons in the region below the poverty
line according to the most recent federal census, updated, if
possible, with an estimate by the Department of Finance, compared to
the total of the urban counties.
(2) The relative number of persons unemployed within each region,
based on the most recent one-year period for which data is available,
compared to the total of the urban counties.
(c) Grant funds shall be disbursed as expeditiously as possible by
the department.
(d) The department shall use not more than 5 percent of the amount
available for funds pursuant to this chapter to defray the
department's administrative costs pursuant to this chapter.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the
department shall distribute funds appropriated for purposes of the
activities specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section
50803 as grants in the form of forgivable deferred loans, subject to
all of the following:
(1) Funding shall be made available to each project as a loan with
a term of five years for rehabilitation, seven years for substantial
rehabilitation, or 10 years for acquisition and rehabilitation or
new construction. Each deferred loan shall be secured by a deed of
trust and promissory note. Repayment of the loan shall be deferred as
long as the project is used as an emergency shelter or transitional
housing. At the completion of the specified year term, the loan shall
be forgiven. If a transfer or conveyance of the project property,
however, occurs prior to that time that results in the property no
longer being used as an emergency shelter or transitional housing,
the department shall terminate the grant and require the repayment of
the deferred loan in full.
(2) Applications for funding shall be made pursuant to
department-issued statewide "Notices of Funding Availability" without
the need for additional regulations.
(3) The department shall set forth the criteria for evaluating
applications in the "Notices of Funding Availability" and shall make
deferred loans based on those applications that best meet the
criteria.
(4) The department shall specify in the "Notice of Funding
Availability" both maximum and minimum grant amounts that may be
varied for urban and nonurban counties.
(5) Contracts for projects that have not begun construction within
the initial 12-month period shall be terminated and funds
reallocated. The department, however, may extend this period by a
period not to exceed 12 months.
(f) (1) The department shall ensure that a percentage of the
moneys in the Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund be allocated to
sponsors of veterans only homeless projects or projects that give
preference to veterans during any given fiscal year. The department
shall use the percentage calculated pursuant to paragraph (2).
(2) The department, in conjunction with the Department of Veterans
Affairs, shall use existing data to annually determine the
percentage of veterans within the homeless population.
(3) If the funds designated pursuant to paragraph (1) are not
utilized to their full capacity during the fiscal year, then those
unencumbered funds shall be allocated in that fiscal year for general
distribution in accordance with the intent and purposes of this
chapter.
SECTION 1. (a) For the 2009-10 fiscal year, the
sum of four million dollars ($4,000,000) is hereby appropriated from
the General Fund to the Emergency Housing and Assistance Fund which
shall be distributed pursuant to Chapter 11.5 (commencing with
Section 50800) of Part 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code
for operating facilities and capital development grants.
(b) Grants funded pursuant to this section shall not be used to
supplant existing emergency shelter or transitional housing funding.
(c) Notwithstanding any regulatory provision to the contrary,
operating facilities grants shall not exceed one hundred thousand
dollars ($100,000) nor be less than thirty thousand dollars
($30,000). For counties with an allocation of greater than thirty
thousand dollars ($30,000), one grant of less than thirty thousand
dollars ($30,000) may be awarded if necessary to fully utilize the
county's allocation. For counties with an allocation of up to or
equal to thirty thousand dollars ($30,000), up to two grants of less
than thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) may be awarded.