BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2591
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 2591 (Weber) - As Amended: April 21, 2014
SUBJECT : Homeless youth: basic material needs assistance
SUMMARY : Enacts the Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs
Assistance Program.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to
proportionally allocate funding appropriated by the
Legislature to counties based on each county's respective
number of homeless youth for the purpose of establishing a
Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs Assistance Program.
2)Provides that homeless youth, for purposes of the provision of
services by a county program, shall have the same meaning as
that term is defined in the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act.
3)Defines basic material needs assistance as school supplies,
dental supplies and other hygienic products, shoes, clothes,
blankets, and other basic material needs.
4)Requires DSS to retain the moneys allocated for a county that
elects not to establish a program or that requests the
department to administer its program, and requires DSS to
directly administer a program for homeless youth in that
county.
5)Authorizes a county to join with one or more other counties
for the purpose of pooling resources and establishing a
multi-county Homeless Youth Basic Material Needs Assistance
Program.
6)Establishes requirements related to the administration of
programs, including solicitation of proposals and contracting
with one or more nonprofit organizations, as specified.
7)Outlines requirements for the nonprofit organizations with
which counties or DSS contract for purposes of a program,
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including a requirement to consult with the children and
family commission pertaining to the county or counties served
by the program, as specified.
8)Requires each program to encourage contracted nonprofit
organizations to provide at least a 20% match for all moneys
received to furnish basic material needs to homeless youth and
work with the homeless liaison(s) of the local education
agency or agencies, as specified.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes, in federal law, the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act, and subsequent amendments, which provides
federal funding for local homeless assistance projects with an
emphasis on addressing homelessness in a coordinated and
comprehensive manner.
(42 U.S.C. 11301 et seq.)
2)Establishes the United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness with the mission to coordinate a federal response
to homelessness and create a national partnership at every
level of government and with the private sector to reduce and
end homelessness, as specified.
(42 U.S.C. 11311)
3)Includes in the definition of a homeless person or persons,
within the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, an
individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime
residence; has a primary nighttime residence that is a public
or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a
regular sleeping accommodation for human beings; is living in
a supervised publicly or privately operated temporary shelter;
resided in a shelter or place not meant for human habitation
and who is exiting an institution where he or she temporarily
resided; is at imminent risk of housing loss; or is an
unaccompanied youth or part of a homeless family with children
and youth, as specified. (42 U.S.C. 11302)
4)States the intent of the Legislature that homeless youth are
entitled to a meaningful opportunity to meet the challenging
state pupil academic achievement standards to which all pupils
are held. (EDC 48850 (a)(1))
5)Requires each state educational agency, pursuant to the
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federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, to make
subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs), as specified,
for the purpose of facilitating the enrollment, attendance,
and success in school of homeless children and youths. (42
U.S.C. 11433)
6)Requires each state to submit to the federal government a plan
to provide for the education of homeless children and youth
within the state, including assurances that the state
educational agency and LEAs in the state will adopt policies
and practices to ensure that homeless children and youths are
not stigmatized or segregated on the basis of their status as
homeless, and that LEAs will designate an appropriate staff
person as an LEA liaison for homeless children and youths, as
specified. (42 U.S.C. 11432 (g))
7)Establishes the School Supplies for Homeless Children Fund in
the State Treasury for the purpose of receiving personal
income tax contributions to the fund that are to be
distributed, in part, and upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to the California Department of Education for the
purpose of providing school supplies and health-related
products to homeless children through a competitive grant
program, as specified. (RTC 18895 through 18898)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : California's homeless children who are enrolled in
school face daily uncertainty with respect to shelter, access to
enough food to eat, the ability to maintain general hygiene, and
lack of access to other basic needs, all of which compromise a
child's ability to remain in school, progress in his or her
education and remain healthy. This bill seeks to provide
material basic needs to homeless children and youth through
coordinated local programs in order to mitigate some of the
effects of child homelessness.
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
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neither exhaustive of the number of Californians experiencing
homelessness on a daily basis nor the number of Californians who
experience homelessness each year.
According to the National Association for the Education of
Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY), the rise in family
homelessness over the past several decades is primarily
attributable to severe poverty rates increasing while the
availability of affordable rental housing has decreased. Even
for many individuals and families living in poverty, but not
experiencing severe poverty, the inability to obtain stable
housing persists, as full-time minimum-wage income is often not
enough to afford low-income housing. Employment and housing
instability for parents often results in high mobility for
children, putting their well-being and their educational
opportunities at risk. In a July 2013 report, titled "Various
Supports for Low-Income Families Reduce Poverty and Have
Long-Term Positive Effects on Families and Children," the Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities highlighted the ways in which
housing instability results in poor school outcomes for
children. The report noted that frequent moves tend to worsen
educational performance, and that homeless children are more
likely than other low-income children to perform poorly on
tests, and either repeat a grade or drop out of school
altogether.
National homeless student enrollment data from the U.S.
Department of Education's Education for Homeless Children and
Youth (EHCY) Program reveals that in the 2011-12 school year,
1,168,354 homeless children were enrolled in school; almost a
25% increase compared to the 939,903 homeless children enrolled
in school in the 2009-10 school year. According to the
California Department of Education, there were nearly 260,000
homeless children enrolled in California's k-12 schools in the
2012-13 school year. Of those homeless children, 224,161 were
living in doubled-up situations, which include cohabitating with
other families, "couch surfing," or living in a garage. Another
17, 844 were living in shelters, 10,073 lived in motels and
hotels, and 7,578 were unsheltered.
Need for this bill : Young homeless children face daily
stressors that compromise their development, and homeless
children enrolled in school face a number of barriers to
learning and being able to take full advantage of available
school-related opportunities and activities. Frequently
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included among these factors impeding homeless children's
development and educational attainment are hunger and related
fatigue and health issues; unaddressed emotional and mental
health needs; inadequate transportation; an inability to
maintain proper hygiene; and a lack of clothing, shoes, and
school supplies. While some counties have the financial means
and a structure in place to provide such needs to homeless
children and youth, there is currently no statewide standard for
the coordination and distribution of such basic materials. By
putting such a structure in place, this bill seeks to help
homeless children receive some of the items they need, which can
help reduce their stress levels, increase their focus, and
improve their ability to feel a sense of normalcy and safety
among their peers.
According to the author, "This bill would provide a lifeline for
our state's most fragile population. Ensuring that all children
are able to live with their most basic material needs met would
enable them to attend school and work hard with the basic
dignity and comfort we should demand for all children."
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RELATED LEGISLATION
SB 761 (DeSaulnier) 2014 requires the California Department of
Education (CDE) to designate a tax-exempt, nonprofit
organization to use funds appropriated from the School Supplies
for Homeless Children Fund for the sole purpose of providing
school supplies and health-related products to partnering
learning education agencies for distribution to homeless
children and provide a 100% match for all funds received.
SB 608 (DeSaulnier) Chapter 307, Statutes of 2011, authorized
the Prison Industry Authority to offer their goods and services
for sale to nonprofit organizations that have entered into MOUs
with LEAs for the purpose of distributing the products and
services are provided to public school students at no cost to
the students or their families.
SB 1571 (DeSaulnier) Chapter 459, Statutes of 2012, established
the School Supplies for Homeless Children Fund and tax check off
for the purpose of providing school supplies to homeless
children through a competitive grant program.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
California Teachers Association
City and County of San Francisco
First 5 Association of California
Give Something Back Office Supplies
KtoCollege, sponsor
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089