BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 264
Page 1
Date of Hearing: January 14, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 264 (Maienschein) - As Amended: January 6, 2014
SUBJECT : CalWORKs temporary shelter assistance
SUMMARY : Deletes the requirement that the 16 days of housing
assistance provided to homeless families through the California
Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program
be used consecutively. Specifically, this bill : allows an
eligible CalWORKs recipient to receive temporary shelter
assistance for 16 days at any time while the recipient is
receiving CalWORKs aid and is homeless.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes under federal law the Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) program to provide aid and
welfare-to-work services to eligible families and, in
California, provides that TANF funds for welfare-to-work
services are administered through the CalWORKs program. (42
U.S.C. 601 et seq., WIC 11200 et seq.)
2)Establishes income, asset and real property limits used to
determine eligibility for the program, including net income
below the Maximum Aid Payment (MAP), based on family size and
county of residence, which is currently no higher than 40% of
the Federal Poverty Level. (WIC 11450, 11150 et seq.)
3)Provides temporary shelter assistance to homeless families
receiving CalWORKs for one period of 16 consecutive days,
except as specified, and counts a break in the consecutive use
of this assistance as permanent exhaustion of the benefit.
(WIC 11450(f)(2))
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : While many needy families experience several bouts of
homelessness prior to obtaining permanent housing, temporary
shelter assistance under the CalWORKs program only allows for a
lifetime limit of 16 consecutive days of aid, which are
considered completely exhausted if there is a break in the
family's statutorily defined homelessness for one day. This
AB 264
Page 2
bill will ensure that homeless families receiving CalWORKs aid
can receive a full 16 days of temporary shelter assistance
payments while they search for permanent housing, regardless of
whether there is a technical break in their homeless status.
Background : The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility
to Kids (CalWORKs) program provides monthly income assistance
and employment-related services aimed at moving children out of
poverty and helping families meet basic needs. Federal funding
for CalWORKs comes from the Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) block grant. The average monthly cash grant for
a family of three on CalWORKs (one parent and two children) is
$463. According to recent data from the California Department
of Social Services, 545,516 families rely on CalWORKs, including
over one million children. Nearly 80% of the children are under
age twelve.
Average grants of $463 per month for a family of three means
$15.43 per day, per family, or $5.14 per family member, per day
to meet basic needs, including rent, clothing, utility bills,
food, and anything else a family needs to ensure children can be
cared for at home and safely remain with their families. This
grant amount puts the annual household income at $5,556 per
year. Federal Poverty Guidelines show that 100% of poverty for
2013 is three and a half times that at $19,530 per year.
Homelessness in California : Point in time data from the 2012
Annual Homeless Assessment Report produced by the US Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reveals that on a single
night in 2012 there were 633,782 homeless people in the United
States, 239,403 of which were people who were part of homeless
families. That same report reveals that 20.7%, or 131,193 of
those homeless people were counted in California. It is
important to note that this number is for a single night and is
neither exhaustive of the number of Californians experiencing
homelessness on a daily basis nor the number of Californians who
experience homelessness each year.
Homelessness has particularly damaging effects on children.
According to the National Center on Family Homelessness,
approximately 1.6 million children will experience homelessness
over the course of a year, and more than 200,000 children have
no place to live on any given day. The effects of homelessness
on children stem from hunger and related physical, cognitive and
developmental issues to lowered academic achievement and
AB 264
Page 3
increases in stress, depression, emotional instability and
overall poor mental health.
CalWORKs homeless assistance : For purposes of identifying
families eligible for CalWORKs homeless assistance, a family is
considered homeless if the family lacks a fixed and regular
nighttime residence, if the family's primary nighttime residence
is a shelter, or if the family is residing in a public or
private place that is not an appropriate sleeping place for
human beings. Additionally, a family can be considered homeless
for CalWORKs purposes if the family has received an eviction
notice and the cause of eviction is the result of a verified
financial hardship.
Temporary shelter assistance and permanent housing assistance
are two types of housing assistance provided to homeless
families under the CalWORKs program. Whereas permanent housing
assistance can be provided to help secure or maintain permanent
housing and help prevent eviction for a family, temporary
shelter assistance is provided to homeless families for up to 16
consecutive days. Temporary shelter assistance for a family of
up to four people is $65 per day, and $15 is provided for each
additional family member. The maximum amount of temporary
shelter assistance any family can receive is $125 per day, and
the assistance can only be used to pay for housing provided in a
commercial establishment, a shelter, or an established rental
property. Additionally, CalWORKs recipients must provide proof
to the county that they are searching for permanent housing
while they are receiving this benefit and proof that the shelter
assistance was used to pay for allowable housing. Any break in
the use of the assistance, including one night spent with a
friend or relative, automatically terminates a family's ability
to receive shelter assistance for any days remaining within the
16 consecutive day limit.
The 16 consecutive day limit is a lifetime limit for temporary
shelter assistance, provided that a family doesn't meet criteria
for an exception. A family may receive temporary shelter
assistance more than once in a lifetime if the family's
homelessness is the direct result of domestic violence, a
medically verified physical or mental illness, excluding
diagnoses that include substance abuse, or a fire or other
natural catastrophe beyond the family's control. Still, a
family cannot receive the 16 consecutive days of homeless
AB 264
Page 4
assistance more than once in a 12-month period, and families can
only receive shelter assistance for domestic violence twice in a
lifetime.
Temporary shelter assistance requests : In October 2013,
counties throughout California received 3,623 requests for
temporary shelter assistance, 369 of which accompanied requests
for permanent housing assistance and 741 of which were requests
from new shelter assistance applicants. Of those 3,623
requests, 192 were submitted in Sacramento County, 92 in Kern
County, and 118 in San Diego County. 17 counties received fewer
than five requests for temporary shelter assistance, and five
counties received over 100 requests throughout the month.
Need for the bill : According to the author, "Because the
temporary housing assistance is only available for 16
consecutive days, a break in assistance inadvertently punishes
families who, for one reason or another, have to vacate their
temporary lodgings for even one day. Out-of-area travel for job
opportunities, childcare obligations or medical related travel
can interrupt a 16-day consecutive hotel stay. Sometimes the
interruptions in the 16-day consecutive stay come when a family
vacates a hotel or motel because it is unsuited for children or
they have a temporary offer to stay with a family or friend.
Whether or not the family has a choice to stop aid before the
16th day, the rule itself establishes a disincentive to find
alternative arrangements, seek prospective opportunities for
employment or to tend to pressing health or family obligations
during this time period?The purpose of the CalWORKs temporary
housing assistance is to enable homeless families with children
to stay off of the street and more quickly secure permanent
housing. AB 264 strengthens the ability of the program to
achieve that goal."
In support of this bill, the Western Center on Law and Poverty
also writes, "Parents facing hard choices and turning to the
CalWORKs program due to economic hardship, loss of a job or a
home, can be overwhelmed by the rules and requirements of the
program. This is especially true for applicants and recipients
whose lives have been destabilized by eviction or loss of a
AB 264
Page 5
home. AB 264 simplifies the rules and increases options for our
state's poorest families with children while improving program
administration."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Western Center on Law and Poverty (sponsor)
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089