BILL NUMBER: AB 497	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Wieckowski

                        FEBRUARY 15, 2011

   An act to add Chapter 11.6 (commencing with Section 50810) to Part
2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing
and community development.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 497, as introduced, Wieckowski. Housing and community
development: emergency shelters.
   The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987
establishes various programs providing a range of services to
homeless people, including the Emergency Shelter Grants Program.
Under that program, state and local governments are eligible to apply
for federal grant funds for distribution to local government
agencies or private nonprofit organizations responsible for direct
implementation of eligible activities under the program. The federal
Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of
2009 amended the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act by, among
other things, recasting the Emergency Shelter Grants Program as the
Emergency Solutions Grant Program, and shifting more resources
available under that program toward homelessness prevention.
   This bill would require the Department of Housing and Community
Development to adopt regulations for the distribution of the
unobligated balance of federal Emergency Solutions Grant Program
funds received by the state, if any, taking into account specified
considerations relating to homelessness.
   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.  Chapter 11.6 (commencing with Section 50810) is added
to Part 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 11.6.  FEDERAL EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS GRANT PROGRAM


   50810.  (a) This section pertains to the unobligated balance, if
any, of federal Emergency Solutions Grant Program funds received by
the state.
   (b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (1) The federal Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition
to Housing Act of 2009 increases the emphasis on the prevention of
homelessness and provides new incentives for grantees under the
federal Emergency Solutions Grant Program to facilitate rapid
transitions to housing for homeless individuals. The act also calls
for these federal grant moneys to be used in coordination with
federal Continuum of Care programs, which are generally administered
at the local level. The Department of Housing and Community
Development has used these funds, in this manner, effectively for
many years, and the act does not prohibit this ongoing usage of the
funds.
   (2) The National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that over
1.3 million Californians are homeless. More than 133,000 men, women,
and children are homeless in California on any given night. Over
390,000 California residents experience homelessness each year,
meaning one in 95 Californians will experience homelessness at least
once during the course of a year.
   (3) Hate crimes and violence against the homeless have increased
in California over the last few years. These acts of violence include
beatings, rapes, and sexual assaults.
   (4) The United States Conference of Mayors reports that 15 percent
of homeless individuals are victims of domestic violence.
   (5) The United States Department of Veterans Affairs estimates
that 107,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, and that over
the course of a year, approximately twice that many veterans
experience homelessness. Nearly 20 percent of the homeless population
is made up of veterans.
   (6) America's homeless veterans have served in World War II, the
Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, Granada, Panama, Lebanon,
Afghanistan, and Iraq, among other places, and in drug eradication
efforts in South America. Nearly half of homeless veterans served
during the Vietnam era. Two-thirds served our country for at least
three years, and one-third were stationed in a war zone.
   (7) About 1.5 million other veterans are considered at risk of
homelessness due to poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal
living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing.
Approximately 55,000 veterans are homeless in California. Based on
historic trends, tens of thousands of the 300,000 veterans of the
Iraq and Afghanistan wars are likely to become homeless due to
physical disabilities, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other
service-related injuries.
   (8) While 77 percent of homeless people nationwide are sheltered,
only 30 percent of homeless Californians are sheltered.
   (c) The Department of Housing and Community Development shall
promulgate regulations for the distribution of the unobligated
balance of federal Emergency Solutions Grant Program funds received
by the state, if any, taking into consideration all of the following:

   (1) The number and percentage of the state's population that is
homeless.
   (2) The number and percentage of the state's population living
below the federal poverty level.
   (3) The number and percentage of the state's population living in
overcrowded conditions.
   (4) The relative affordability of housing in various communities.
   (5) Locally based evaluations of projects in alignment with
applicable Continuum of Care Plans.
   (d) The department shall allocate the funds according to an
equitable formula that takes into account the considerations listed
in subdivision (c).