BILL NUMBER: SB 224 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Correa
FEBRUARY 23, 2009
An act to amend Sections 50650.3 and 50650.4 of the Health and
Safety Code, relating to housing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 224, as introduced, Correa. CalHome Program: homeowner grants.
(1) Existing law establishes the CalHome Program under the
administration of the Department of Housing and Community Development
and authorizes funds appropriated for purposes of the program to be
used to enable low- and very low income households to become or
remain homeowners. The program authorizes the use of grant funds for,
among other things, home rehabilitation. Existing administrative
regulations require installation of an ignition resistant
construction system only when a manufactured home, mobilehome,
multifamily manufactured home, or commercial modular is installed in
designated areas.
This bill would provide that home rehabilitation includes the
installation or retrofit of ignition resistant exterior components on
existing manufactured homes and mobilehomes required pursuant to
specified administrative regulations. The bill would prohibit
rehabilitation funding for these purposes under a specified
circumstance.
(2) Under the CalHome Program, the department provides the program
funds to local public agencies or nonprofit corporations as either
grants or loans to assist homeownership and requires them to meet
prescribed criteria. In administering the program, the department is
authorized to permit local agencies and nonprofit corporations to
apply their own guidelines with respect to the use of CalHome funds.
This bill would prohibit a local public agency and a nonprofit
corporation from denying funding or applying different underwriting
guidelines to a housing program or project solely on the basis that
the home is a manufactured home or mobilehome or the home is located
in a mobilehome park or a manufactured housing community.
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. Section 50650.3 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:
50650.3. (a) Funds appropriated for purposes of this chapter
shall be used to enable low- and very low income households to become
or remain homeowners. Funds shall be provided by the department to
local public agencies or nonprofit corporations as either of the
following:
(1) Grants for programs that assist individual households.
(2) Loans that assist development projects involving multiple
homeownership units, including single-family subdivisions.
(b) (1) Grant funds may be used for
first-time homebuyer downpayment assistance, home rehabilitation
, including the installation or retrofit of ignition resistant
exterior components on existing manufactured homes and mobilehomes
required pursuant to Article 2.3 (commencing with Section 4200) of
Subchapter 2 of Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 25 of the California
Code of Regulations , homebuyer counseling, home acquisition
and rehabilitation, or self-help mortgage assistance programs, or for
technical assistance for self-help and shared housing homeownership.
Loan
(2) Home rehabilitation funding for the purpose of installing
ignition resistant components on manufactured homes or mobilehomes
pursuant to this subdivision shall not be conditioned upon the
rehabilitation of additional or unrelated home components unless that
rehabilitation is required pursuant to Article 2.3 (commencing with
Section 4200) of Subchapter 2 of Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 25
of the California Code of Regulations.
(c) Loan funds may be used for
purchase of real property, site development, predevelopment, and
construction period expenses incurred on homeownership development
projects, and permanent financing for mutual housing or cooperative
developments. Upon completion of construction, the department may
convert project loans into grants for programs of assistance to
individual homeowners. Financial assistance provided to individual
households shall be in the form of deferred payment loans, repayable
upon sale or transfer of the homes, when they cease to be
owner-occupied, or upon the loan maturity date. Financial assistance
may be provided in the form of a secured forgivable loan to an
individual household to rehabilitate, repair, or replace manufactured
housing located in a mobilehome park and not permanently affixed to
a foundation. The loan shall be due and payable in 20 years, with 10
percent of the original principle to be forgiven annually for each
additional year beyond the 10th year that the home is owned and
continuously occupied by the borrower. Not more than 10 percent of
the funds available for the purposes of this chapter in a fiscal year
shall be used for financial assistance in the form of secured
forgivable loans.
(c)
(d) All loan repayments shall be used for activities
allowed under this section, and shall be governed by a reuse plan
approved by the department. Those reuse plans may provide for loan
servicing by the grant recipient or a third-party local government
agency or nonprofit corporation.
SEC. 2. Section 50650.4 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
50650.4. (a) To be eligible to receive a
grant or loan, local public agencies or nonprofit corporations shall
demonstrate sufficient organizational stability and capacity to carry
out the activity for which they are requesting funds, including,
where applicable, the capacity to manage a portfolio of individual
loans over an extended time period. Capacity may be demonstrated by
substantial successful experience performing similar activities, or
through other means acceptable to the department. In administering
the CalHome program, the department may permit local agencies and
nonprofit corporations to apply their own underwriting guidelines
when evaluating CalHome rehabilitation loan applications, following
prior review and approval of those guidelines by the department. The
local agency or nonprofit corporation may
shall not subsequently alter its underwriting guidelines with
respect to the use of CalHome funds without review and approval by
the department. In allocating funds, the department shall utilize a
competitive application process, using weighted evaluation criteria,
including, but not limited to, the extent that the program or project
utilizes volunteer or self-help labor, trains youth and young adults
in construction skills, creates balanced communities, involves
community participation, or whether the program or project
contributes toward community revitalization. To the extent feasible,
the application process shall ensure a reasonable geographic
distribution of funds.
(b) In administering department funds received pursuant to
subdivision (a), local public agencies and nonprofit corporations
shall not deny the funding application of, or apply different
underwriting guidelines to, a housing program or project solely on
the basis of either of the following:
(1) The home is a manufactured home or mobilehome, as defined in
Sections 18007 and 18008.
(2) The home is located in a mobilehome park or in a manufactured
housing community, as defined in Sections 18214 and 18210.7.