BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1452
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 25, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 1452 (Stone) - As Introduced: January 8, 2014
SUBJECT : CalWORKs: temporary homeless assistance
SUMMARY : Provides additional temporary assistance to homeless
families receiving CalWORKs benefits. Specifically, this bill :
Increases the daily temporary shelter assistance amount from $65
to $75 and attaches an annual cost of living adjustment to that
amount to address future increases in temporary housing costs.
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 approximately 40% of the Federal
Poverty Level. (WIC 11450, 11150 et seq.)
3)Provides a $65 per day temporary shelter assistance benefit to
homeless CalWORKs families of up to four people 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))
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : The current CalWORKs temporary homeless assistance
benefit amount of $65 was set in 2006 and has not been adjusted
for inflation since then. According to the 2009 Hotel Price
Index, the average cost per night in a California hotel at that
time was $118, approaching twice the amount of the temporary
shelter assistance benefit. This bill seeks to modestly
increase the temporary shelter assistance amount in order to
assist homeless families in making temporary housing
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arrangements while they look for more permanent housing.
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, 554,292 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
a family of three is over three and a half times that at $19,790
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
increases in stress, depression, emotional instability and
overall poor mental health.
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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
assistance more than once in a 12-month period, and families can
only receive shelter assistance for domestic violence twice in a
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lifetime.
Temporary shelter assistance requests : In December 2013,
counties throughout California received 3,984 requests for
temporary shelter assistance, 306 of which accompanied requests
for permanent housing assistance and 720 of which were requests
from new shelter assistance applicants. Of those 3,984
requests, 138 were submitted in Sacramento County, 63 in Kern
County, and 98 in San Diego County. 20 counties received fewer
than five requests for temporary shelter assistance, and four
counties received over 100 requests throughout the month.
Need for the bill : According to the author, "Long-term and
temporary homelessness have detrimental effects on the physical
and mental health and well-being of children and families?Less
than one quarter of homeless students in elementary school are
proficient in math and reading. Families who have experienced
homelessness have higher rates of family separation in which
children live apart from a parent or guardian. According to the
National Center on Family Homelessness, homeless children are at
high risk for being placed in foster care, with 12% of homeless
children having been placed in foster care compared to just 1%
of other children. Providing eligible CalWORKs families with
temporary homeless assistance to prevent them from sleeping on
the streets or in unsafe environments helps protect children and
their families from the negative effects of homelessness.
Assisting families experiencing homelessness helps prevent
higher state costs on health care, education and foster care
caused by the trauma of homelessness on families."
RECOMMENDED AMENDMENT :
Current law provides for $65 to be provided to a family of up to
four people for temporary shelter assistance. An additional $15
is provided for each additional family member, up to a maximum
of $125 per day (all within the 16-day limit). The current $125
cap accommodates an allotment for a family of eight; $65 + ($15
x 4), but the new base amount included in this bill would cause
the current maximum to max out with seven family members.
Because the base amount is being increased to $75, the committee
recommends also adjusting the maximum amount to $135.
RELATED LEGISLATION :
AB 1452
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AB 264 (Maienschein) deletes the requirement that CalWORKs
temporary shelter assistance only be provided for a lifetime
limit of 16 consecutive days, and instead allows a family to
receive temporary shelter assistance for a lifetime limit of 16
calendar days, with certain exceptions.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations - Sponsor
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)
California Alternative Payment Program (CAPPA)
California Association of Food Banks
California Catholic Conference
California Communities United Institute
California Partnership
California Police Chiefs
California State Association of Counties (CSAC)
Community Food and Justice Coalition
County of Santa Clara
County Welfare Directors Association of CA (CWDA)
Housing California
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC)
National Association of Social Workers, CA Chapter (NASW-CA)
Paratransit, Inc.
River City Food Bank
Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness
St. Anthony Foundation
Western Center on Law and Poverty
1 individual
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089