BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1593
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Date of Hearing: August 23, 2000
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Carole Migden, Chairwoman
SB 1593 (Burton) - As Amended: August 11, 2000
Policy Committee: Housing and
Community Development Vote: 6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill implements numerous recommendations of the Senate Task
Force on Homelessness by making various changes to state housing
assistance programs, including:
1)Requiring the Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) to evaluate and report on the number of successful
applications funded within the Multifamily Housing Program for
each applicant type and make any needed adjustments to the
award process to ensure an equitable award distribution.
2)Requiring, to the extent feasible, that providers of emergency
shelter or transitional housing provide adequate facilities so
all members of a family may be housed together, regardless of
gender or age.
3)Requiring Emergency Housing And Assistance Program (EHAP)
funds allocated to nonurban counties, that are not expended
after two fiscal years, to be allocated to urban counties in
the following year.
4)Requiring HCD to consider increasing maximum EHAP grant limits
to $300,000 for operating grants and $500,000 for capital
grants, and increasing the amount that any eligible
organization within a region may receive in an EHAP funding
round from $500,000 to $1,000,000.
5)Adding veterans to the list of low-income individuals included
in the target population for the Supportive Housing Program.
FISCAL EFFECT
SB 1593
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Negligible fiscal impact to HCD.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . This bill seeks to implement some of the
recommendations of the Senate Task Force on Homelessness that
are contained in the final report, released in June 2000. The
task force examined a variety of state and federal programs
that have some contact with the homeless population and made a
set of recommendations as to how California might improve its
services for the homeless. The task force was convened by
Senators Burton and Johnson, and was made up of 17 members
representing private, public and nonprofit sectors, the
faith-based community, as well as client advocacy
organizations and service providers.
2)Background . The Multifamily Housing Program provides deferred
payment loans for the construction, rehabilitation, or
acquisition of transitional or rental housing. The Emergency
Housing and Assistance Program allocates funds to counties on
a formula grant basis to provide a variety of services, such
as emergency shelter or transitional housing, counseling, and
residential rental assistance or housing vouchers. The
Supportive Housing Program awards competitive grants to either
local or nonprofit agencies that provide integrated housing
and support services to very low-income Californians.
3)Budget Funding . The 2000-01 Budget Act provided the following
funding levels for the housing programs impacted by this bill:
$188 million for the Multi-Family Housing Program; $39
million for the Emergency Housing Assistance
Program-consisting of $14 million for operating grants and $25
million for capital grants; and $25 million for the Supportive
Housing Program.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)319-2081