Assembly BillChaptered/SignedGovernment
AB 179: Housing.
What AB 179 does, verified August 24, 2026
This bill expresses the intent of the legislature to enact statutory changes relating to the budget act of 2025. The changes aim to improve the overall budgeting process and ensure a more transparent and accountable approach to managing public funds. The bill seeks to clarify and refine the existing budgeting framework, allowing for more efficient allocation of resources and better decision-making.
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Last action: Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 68, Statutes of 2026. (2026-06-29)Alert me
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| Jul. 13, 2026 | Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 68, Statutes of 2026. |
| Jul. 13, 2026 | Approved by the Governor. |
| Jul. 02, 2026 | Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m. |
| Jun. 29, 2026 | Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Ayes 54. Noes 18. Page 5918.) |
| Jun. 29, 2026 | Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 61. Noes 9. Page 5923.). |
Latest bill textChaptered version, July 13, 2026 · 42,879 words
Assembly Bill No. 179
CHAPTER 68
An act to amend Section 8869.84 of the Government Code, to amend Sections 17929, 18942, 50220, 50220.5, 50220.7, 50220.8, 50223, 50230, 50233, 50235, 50239, 50240, 50241, 50242, 50517.5, 50517.8, 50675, 50675.4, 50675.6, and 50675.15 of, to add Section 50246 to, to add Chapter 3.1 (commencing with Section 50160) to Part 1 of, to add Chapter 6.9 (commencing with Section 51349.1) to Part 3 of, and to add Part 18 (commencing with Section 54920) to, Division 31 of, the Health and Safety Code, to amend Sections 75200.2, 75200.3, 75210, 75212, 75214, 75215, 75216, 75217, 75218, 75218.1, and 75218.2 of, to amend, renumber, and add Section 75200 of, to add Sections 75210.1, 75210.2, 75210.3, and 75212.1 to, and to repeal Section 75200.1 of, the Public Resources Code, and to amend Section 8257 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to housing, and making an appropriation therefor, to take effect immediately, bill related to the budget.
[ Approved by Governor July 13, 2026. Filed with Secretary of State July 13, 2026. ]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 179, Committee on Budget. Housing.
(1) Existing law establishes the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency consisting of various state entities, including the Department of Housing and Community Development and the California Housing Finance Agency. Pursuant to the Governor’s Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2025, beginning July 1, 2026, existing law eliminates that agency and establishes the California Housing and Homelessness Agency consisting of various state entities, including the Department of Housing and Community Development and the California Housing Finance Agency. Existing law requires these entities to oversee and administer various state housing programs, including multifamily affordable housing programs.
This bill would, to the extent feasible, require a state entity within the California Housing and Homelessness Agency to consider quantifiable in-kind local contributions, defined as a financial or in-kind commitment by a city, county, or city and county, as specified, when awarding competitive multifamily affordable housing funding for new construction projects, as specified. If a city, county, or city and county is a lead applicant for a project in an affordable multifamily rental or ownership housing development administered by a state entity within that agency and has not committed to waiving any development impact fee, as defined, that it would otherwise impose on the project, the bill would require the awarding agency to reduce the total award amount for the project, as specified. The bill would make these provisions applicable to any notice of funding opportunity issued after July 1, 2027.
(2) Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program (HHAP) for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. Existing law provides for the allocation of funding under the program among continuums of care, cities, counties, and tribes in 6 rounds and establishes round 7 of the program and states the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that specifies the parameters, as specified. Existing law provides for certain of those remaining amounts of those program allocation funds that have not been expended by certain dates, including by reverting those funds to the General Fund.
This bill would require those remaining amounts to be returned to the department for reallocation in a specified procedure, including via a subsequent notice of funding availability. By modifying existing appropriations, this bill would make an appropriation.
(3) Existing law requires applicants for a round 3 or 4 program allocation to establish certain system performance measures to prevent and reduce homelessness. Existing law requires those measures to set definitive metrics for achieving certain goals, including reducing the number of persons experiencing homelessness.
This bill would instead require those measures to include, among other things, the number of people experiencing homelessness who are accessing services, and would require applicants to also track demographic data with respect to age, gender, race, and ethnicity for each of those measures.
(4) Existing law establishes eligibility requirements for jurisdictions to receive a round 5 or 6 program allocation, including being a signatory to a regionally coordinated homelessness action plan. Existing law requires that plan to include, among other things, the most recent system performance metrics for the region, including the number of people experiencing homelessness.
This bill would instead require the most recent system performance measures for each region to include, among other things, the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness on a single night, and would require applicants to also track demographic data with respect to age, gender, race, and ethnicity for each of those system performance measures.
(5) Existing law requires applicants to provide certain information for all rounds of program allocations through a data collection, reporting, performance monitoring, and accountability framework, as established by the Department of Housing and Community Development. Existing law requires each recipient that receives a round 6 allocation to submit to the department, no later than April 1, 2030, a final report, as specified.
This bill would make changes to those data requirements. The bill would require each recipient that receives a round 7 allocation to submit to the department, no later than April 1, 2034, a final report, as specified.
(6) Existing law, through round 6 of HHAP, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to make available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, $1 billion in the 2024–25 fiscal year for the implementation of the program. Existing law, through round 7 of HHAP, beginning July 1, 2026, appropriates $500,000,000, less a certain amount, for the program, to be disbursed in accordance with certain conditions, including the enactment of legislation declaring that it addresses certain issues.
This bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to make available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the above-described $900,000,000, for round 7 of HHAP, to be administered as additional disbursements of round 6, as provided.
(7) Existing law requires applicants for a round 6 base program allocation to submit an application with certain information within 180 days from the date the department makes the application available. Existing law requires the department to approve the application or return it to the applicant with written detailed comments and request one or more amendments to the application. After approval of the application, existing law requires the department to disburse 50% of the eligible city’s, county’s, or continuum of care’s total allocation, subject to meeting certain conditions. Existing law requires the department to disburse the remaining 50% of the recipient’s total allocation after demonstrative compliance with certain conditions.
This bill would similarly require the department to make 2 50% disbursements of a recipient’s total round 7 program allocation, subject to the recipient meeting certain conditions. The bill would also make conforming changes.
(8) Existing law, the Governor’s Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2025, beginning July 1, 2026, eliminates the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and instead establishes the Business and Consumer Services Agency and the California Housing and Homelessness Agency. The plan also, among other things, establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness as an independent entity within the California Housing and Homelessness Agency and renames the existing council as the California Interagency Executive Council on Homelessness, which it establishes within the California Interagency Council on Homelessness. Existing law requires the goals of the Interagency Council on Homelessness to include, among other things, creating a statewide data system or warehouse, known as the Homeless Data Integration System. To further the efforts to improve the public health, safety, and welfare of people experiencing homelessness in the state, existing law authorizes council staff to collect certain data from continuums of care.
This bill would partially effect the above-described changes made by the plan. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2026, require council staff to adopt and periodically publish system performance measures, including age, racial, and ethnic disparities for each measure, as specified.
(9) Existing law authorizes the California Housing Finance Agency to, among other things, make loans to finance affordable housing, including residential structures, housing developments, multifamily rental housing, special needs housing, and other forms of housing, as specified.
This bill would require the California Housing Finance Agency to establish the Disaster Rebuilding Assistance Program, to be administered by the agency, for the purpose of supporting construction, reconstruction, and renovation loans for properties damaged or destroyed in a qualified disaster.
This bill would create in the State Treasury the Disaster Rebuilding Fund, to be administered by the agency and continuously appropriated for purposes of the program, and would provide that the moneys deposited in the fund may include, among other things, appropriations from the Legislature from the General Fund or other state fund. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
(10) The Governor’s Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2025, among other things, establishes the Housing Development and Finance Committee on July 1, 2026, and prescribes its duties. The plan establishes the Housing Development and Finance Executive Committee, with a specified membership, within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and prescribes its duties, and then transfers it to the Housing Development and Finance Committee, on July 1, 2026. The plan defines various terms for these purposes.
Existing law requires the Legislative Counsel to prepare for introduction a bill effecting changes made by a Governor’s reorganization plan, as specified, for the purpose of ensuring that statutory law is amended to conform with the changes made by the reorganization plan.
This bill would effect the above-described changes made by the plan. The bill, however, would add additional voting and nonvoting members to the executive committee, and would exempt the executive committee from compliance with the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act in adopting, amending, or repealing rules and regulations reasonably necessary to carry out the provisions related to its establishment and to the allocation of the executive committee’s share of the state ceiling for qualified residential rental projects, as described, except as provided. The bill would require the Housing Development and Finance Committee staff to support the Housing Development and Finance Executive Committee. The bill would specify that certain meetings of the Housing Development and Finance Committee would be subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, but certain other meetings would not be considered “meetings” for the purposes of that act, thereby imposing a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies. The bill would eliminate a requirement that the Housing Development and Finance Committee submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information for any employee, prospective employee, contractor, or subcontractor whose duties include, or would include, access to specified confidential or personally identifiable information. The bill would require the executive committee to annually submit supplemental information to specified committee of the Legislature regarding bond utilization, among other information, as provided, and to evaluate certain project monitoring fees, as specified. The bill would also require the executive committee, beginning in 2028, to prepare an annual demand survey to assess demand for the Housing Development and Finance Committee housing bond allocation, as provided. The bill would also make various technical changes.
Existing law generally implements the state volume limit established pursuant to specified federal law. Existing law establishes the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee and requires the committee to determine and announce the state ceiling for the calendar year, as specified. Existing law allocates the entire state ceiling for each calendar year to the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee to further allocate to state and local agencies, as specified.
This bill would, beginning January 1, 2027, and until January 1, 2037, require the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee to dedicate a minimum of 90% of the entire state ceiling to be used for qualified residential rental projects, as specified. The bill would require the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, until July 1, 2029, to reserve at least one-half of that 90% to qualified residential rental projects, as defined, awarded funding by the Housing Development and Finance Committee. After July 1, 2029, if that reserve amount is not reauthorized by the Legislature, the bill would require the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee to reserve at least 40% of that 90% for those qualified residential rental projects, unless the annual demand survey prepared by the Housing Development and Finance Executive Committee, as described above, demonstrates demand exceeding that amount, in which case, under the bill, the reserve amount would be automatically increased up to 50% of that 90% to meet the demand.
This bill, with respect to the reserve described above, would require the Housing Development and Finance Committee, upon approving an application for a multifamily affordable housing program award that has also requested a qualified residential rental project bond allocation, to identify the issuer and transmit the application to the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, and, when applicable, to the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. The bill would require those latter committees, as specified, to make a ministerial allocation of private activity bonds for the project, provided the project meets applicable federal requirements. The bill, until November 1, 2027, would provide a separate process for a private activity bond allocation for projects that received a multifamily affordable housing program award prior to January 1, 2027, and that are not seeking any additional state subsidy, as provided.
(11) Existing law requires the Strategic Growth Council (council) to develop and administer the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (AHSC Program) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through projects that implement land use, housing, transportation, and agricultural land preservation practices to support infill and compact development, and that support related and coordinated public policy objectives.
This bill would, beginning with new funding rounds initiated on or after July 1, 2026, divide the administration of the AHSC Program between the council and the Housing Development and Finance Committee (committee), as specified. The bill would require the council to administer the portion of AHSC Program funding called the AHSC Sustainable Communities Allocation to support flexible infrastructure and community improvement investments that advance greenhouse gas reduction objectives, support sustainable land use patterns, strengthen communities, and facilitate affordable housing opportunities throughout the state. The bill would require the committee to administer the portion of AHSC Program funding called the AHSC Housing Allocation, with a focus on infill housing projects, as specified. The bill would make conforming changes to provisions relating to the council and the AHSC Program to account for the council’s administration of the AHSC Sustainable Communities Allocation and the committee’s administration of the AHSC Housing Allocation.
Existing law requires the council to develop guidelines and selection criteria for the implementation of the AHSC Program. Existing law requires, before the adoption of the guidelines and the selection criteria, the council to conduct at least 2 public workshops to receive and consider public comments, as provided. Existing law authorizes the council to include in a notice of funding availability, guidelines or criteria for the award of funds to projects that provide home ownership opportunities for low-income individuals. Existing law requires the council, in awarding funds under the AHSC Program, to provide additional points or preference to jurisdictions that have adopted a housing element that meets certain conditions.
This bill would instead require the council to develop guidelines and selection criteria for the implementation of the AHSC Sustainable Communities Allocation and the committee to develop guidelines and selection criteria for the implementation of the AHSC Housing Allocation. The bill would also require the council and committee, before adoption of their respective guidelines and selection criteria, to conduct public outreach statewide instead of 2 public workshops. For notices of funding availability within the AHSC Housing Allocation released on or after July 1, 2026, the bill would authorize the committee to include guidelines or criteria for the award of funds to projects that provide home ownership opportunities for low-income individuals. The bill would also require the committee, in awarding funds under the AHSC Program, to provide additional points or preference to jurisdictions that have adopted a housing element that meets certain conditions, as specified. The bill would require the council and the committee to jointly report the progress on the implementation of the AHSC Program, as specified.
Existing law prescribes the projects eligible for funding pursuant to the AHSC Program, including, among other projects, housing projects that support infill and compact development and transit projects and programs supporting transit ridership. Existing law requires the council to review and coordinate the activities of member agencies of the council for the AHSC Program, as provided.
This bill would, for notices of funding availability released on or after July 1, 2026, instead prescribe the projects eligible for funding under the AHSC Sustainable Communities Allocation and the projects eligible for funding under the AHSC Housing Allocation, as specified. The bill would repeal the requirement for the council to review and coordinate the activities of member agencies of the council for the AHSC Program.
Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to perform certain actions relating to loans issued pursuant to the AHSC Program, including, but not limited to, requiring the deposit of all moneys received by the department in repayment of loans made pursuant to the AHSC Program into the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund.
This bill would require the committee, instead of the department, to perform those actions for the AHSC Housing Allocation.
(12) Existing law establishes the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program, which requires, subject to the availability of funds, various types of loans and grants to be made for construction, rehabilitation, or development of housing for lower income agricultural employees and their families, as specified. Existing law establishes the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Fund and continuously appropriates the moneys in that fund to the department for purposes of the program, as specified. Among other things, the program authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to adopt criteria determining the number of units in a project to which the restrictions on occupancy contained in the agreement apply, but limits that authority to specified circumstances.
This bill would remove that limitation.
Existing law deems households eligible for a grant under the program if the household is deemed eligible by the United States Department of Agriculture under a certain federal program on the basis of the household’s ratio of housing costs to household income, notwithstanding a specified calculation by the Department of Housing and Community Development.
This bill would, instead, provide that households are eligible for a grant under the program if they are deemed eligible by the United States Department of Agriculture under that certain federal program. By expanding the pool of households eligible for grants under the program, the bill would make an appropriation.
(13) Existing law establishes the Multifamily Housing Program, pursuant to which the Department of Housing and Community Development provides financial assistance in the form of deferred payment loans to pay for the eligible costs of development of specified types of housing projects. In the case of rehabilitation projects, to be eligible to receive a loan, the program requires the loan to be necessary to avoid increases in monthly debt service that would have specified effects.
This bill would, instead, provide that in case of rehabilitation projects, the department shall prioritize loans that extend affordability and reduce displacement risk for lower income households. The bill would also make technical changes and would include a statement of legislative intent.
(14) The State Housing Law (SHL) generally regulates buildings used for human habitation and prescribes requirements for the protection of the public health, safety, and general welfare of occupants of buildings. Among other things, the SHL requires the occupants of the affordable units within a mixed-income multifamily structure to have the same access to the common entrances to, and the common areas and amenities of, the structure as the occupants of the market-rate housing units, and prohibits the structure from isolating the affordable housing units within that structure to a specific floor or an area of a specific floor. The SHL defines various terms for these purposes.
This bill would provide that, for a development that includes both a residential care facility for the elderly licensed pursuant to specified law and units that are not age restricted, the provisions described above only apply to the nonage-restricted housing units and do not apply to the age-restricted units, as specified.
(15) Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission within the Department of General Services. Existing law requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code. Existing law requires the commission to publish, or cause to be published, editions of the code in its entirety once every 3 years, and supplements as necessary in the intervening period.
Existing law limits the changes the commission is authorized to adopt during the intervening period to certain categories, including, among others, building standards necessary to incorporate updates to accessibility requirements that align with minimum federal accessibility laws, standards, and regulations.
This bill would expand those categories to include changes or modifications made to building codes relating to certain health facilities.
(16) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
(17) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 8869.84 of the Government Code is amended to read:8869.84.
(a) The committee shall, as soon as is practicable after the start of each calendar year, determine and announce the state ceiling for the calendar year.(b) (1) The entire state ceiling for each calendar year is hereby allocated to the committee to further allocate to state and local agencies as provided in this chapter.
(2) (A) (i) Subject to clause (ii), beginning on January 1, 2027, and until January 1, 2037, the committee shall dedicate a minimum of 90 percent of the entire state ceiling to be used for qualified residential rental projects.
(ii) Upon unanimous approval of the committee, the amount described in clause (i) may be reduced to no less than 80 percent for a one-year period.
(B) If there is insufficient demand for qualified residential rental projects during a calendar year, the committee may, for the final funding round in that calendar year, reallocate a portion of unused private activity bonds described in subparagraph (A) to address demand for other statewide priorities and to ensure utilization of the state ceiling in conformity with federal law.
(C) The Legislature finds and declares that the establishment of a minimum floor of bond capacity for housing pursuant to this paragraph reflects the statewide priority to promote the development and preservation of affordable housing and to provide certainty in long-term planning and investment. This certainty is necessary to enable developers and financing entities to leverage federal resources and deliver projects efficiently.
(3) (A) (i) Beginning January 1, 2027, the committee shall reserve at least one-half of the amount dedicated pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) to qualified residential rental projects, as defined in the Internal Revenue Code, awarded funding by the Housing Development and Finance Committee.
(ii) The reservation described in clause (i) shall remain in effect until July 1, 2029, unless reauthorized by the Legislature.
(iii) If the reservation described in clause (i) is not reauthorized by the Legislature, the committee shall reserve at least 40 percent of the amount dedicated pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) for qualified residential rental projects, as defined by Section 142(d) of the Internal Revenue Code, that are awarded funding by the Housing Development and Finance Committee.
(iv) Notwithstanding clause (iii), if the annual demand survey described in Section 54940 of the Health and Safety Code demonstrates demand exceeding the reservation required by clause (iii), the reservation shall automatically increase, up to 50 percent of the amount dedicated pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2), to meet the demonstrated demand.
(B) (i) With respect to the reserve described in subparagraph (A), the Housing Development and Finance Committee shall, upon approving an application for a multifamily affordable housing program award that has also requested a qualified residential rental project bond allocation, identify the issuer and transmit the application to the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee and, when applicable, to the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee.
(ii) Following the application transmittal, the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, and, when applicable, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, shall make a ministerial allocation of private activity bonds for the project, provided the project meets applicable federal threshold requirements.
(C) Notwithstanding subparagraph (B), until November 1, 2027, for projects that have received a multifamily affordable housing program award prior to January 1, 2027, and that are not seeking any additional state subsidy, the issuer shall apply directly to the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, and, when applicable, to the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, for an allocation from the reserve described in subparagraph (A). The California Debt Limit Allocation Committee shall notify the Housing Development and Finance Committee of the recommended allocation awards for approval, and the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee shall make an allocation of private activity bonds from the reserve described in subparagraph (A) for projects approved by the Housing Development and Finance Executive Committee provided the project meets applicable federal threshold requirements for bonds.
(D) (i) For the 2027 calendar year, any unused portion of the reserve described in subparagraph (A) not allocated by November 1 of the calendar year may be reallocated by the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee for other purposes consistent with federal law.
(ii) For the 2028 calendar year, and every year thereafter, any unused portion of the reserve described in subparagraph (A) not allocated by September 1 of the calendar year or any portion determined to be unused by the Housing Development and Finance Executive Committee pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 54940 of the Health and Safety Code may be reallocated by the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee for other purposes consistent with federal law.
(c) The committee shall prepare application forms and announce procedures for receipt and review of applications from state and local agencies desiring to issue private activity bonds.
(d) The committee may at any time, before or after granting any allocations in any calendar year to any state agencies or local agencies, announce priorities or reservations of any part of the state ceiling not theretofore allocated either for certain categories of bonds or categories of issuers.
(e) The committee may require any issuer making an application to the committee or MBTCAC for allocation of a portion of the state ceiling to make a deposit, as determined by the committee, of up to 1 percent of the portion requested. If an allocation is not given, the deposit shall be returned. If an allocation is given, the deposit shall be kept, in proportion to the amount of allocation given, until bonds are issued. Upon that issuance, the deposit shall be returned to the issuer in an amount equal to the product of (1) the amount of the deposit retained times (2) the ratio between the amount of bonds issued divided by the amount of allocation granted. If no bonds are issued prior to the expiration of the allocation, the deposit shall be kept. However, in cases where only a portion or none of the bonds are issued, the committee may return all or part of the deposit if it determines there is good cause to do so. Any portion of a deposit kept shall be deposited in the fund.
(f) The committee may transfer part of the state ceiling to the MBTCAC, to be used for qualified mortgage bonds and exempt facility bonds or for qualified residential rental projects, as those terms are used in the Internal Revenue Code, together referred to as “housing bonds,” with directions and conditions pursuant to which MBTCAC may allocate those amounts to issuers of housing bonds at both the state and local levels. In carrying out these functions, MBTCAC shall act solely as directed or authorized by the committee. If the committee makes the transfer to MBTCAC authorized by this subdivision, the references in Sections 8869.85, 8869.86, 8869.87, and 8869.88 to the “committee” shall, for purposes of any housing bonds, be deemed to mean MBTCAC.
(g) (1) The committee may establish the Extra Credit Teacher Home Purchase Program to provide federal mortgage credit certificates and reduced interest rate loans funded by mortgage revenue bonds to eligible teachers, principals, vice principals, assistant principals, and classified employees who agree to teach or provide administration or service in a high priority school. Priority for assistance shall be given to eligible teachers, principals, vice principals, and assistant principals.
(2) For purposes of this program, the following definitions shall apply:
(A) “High priority school” means a state K–12 public school that is ranked in the bottom half of the Academic Performance Index developed pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 52052 of the Education Code. However, priority shall be given to schools that are ranked in the lowest three deciles.
(B) “Classified employee” means an employee of a school district, employed in a position not requiring certification qualifications.
(3) The committee may make reservations of a portion of future calendar year state ceiling limits for up to five future calendar years for that program. The committee may also make future allocations of the state ceiling for up to five years for any issuer under that program. Any future allocation made by the committee shall constitute an allocation of the state ceiling for a future year specified by the committee and shall be deemed to have been made on the first day of the future year so specified. The committee may condition allocations under the Extra Credit Teacher Home Purchase Program on any terms and conditions that the committee deems necessary or appropriate, including, but not limited to, the execution of a contract between the teacher, principal, vice principal, assistant principal, or classified employee and the issuer whereby the teacher, principal, vice principal, assistant principal, or classified employee agrees to comply with the terms and conditions of the program. The contract may include, among other things, an agreement by the teacher, principal, vice principal, assistant principal, or classified employee to teach or provide administration or service in a high priority school for a minimum number of years, and provisions for enforcing the contract that the committee deems necessary or appropriate.
(4) If a teacher, principal, vice principal, assistant principal, or classified employee does not fulfill the requirements of a contract entered into pursuant to paragraph (3), the issuer of the mortgage credit certificate or mortgage revenue bond may recover as an assessment from the teacher, principal, vice principal, assistant principal, or classified employee a monetary amount equal to the lesser of (A) one-half of the teacher’s, principal’s, vice principal’s, assistant principal’s, or classified employee’s net proceeds from the sale of the related residence or (B) the amount of monetary benefit conferred on the teacher, principal, vice principal, assistant principal, or classified employee as a result of the federal mortgage credit certificate or reduced interest rate loan funded by a mortgage revenue bond, offset by the amount of any federal recapture, as defined by Section 143(m) of the Internal Revenue Code. The assessment may be secured by a lien against the residence, which shall decline in amount over the term of the contract as the teacher, principal, vice principal, assistant principal, or classified employee fulfills the term of the contract, and which shall be collected at the time of sale of the residence. Any assessment collected pursuant to this paragraph shall be used for the issuer’s costs in administering the Extra Credit Teacher Home Purchase Program. The issuers shall report annually to the committee the total amount of any assessments collected pursuant to this paragraph and how those assessments were used by the issuer.
(5) If the committee establishes the Extra Credit Teacher Home Purchase Program pursuant to this subdivision, the committee shall report annually to the Legislature the results of the program, including all of the following:
(A) The amount of state ceiling limits allocated to or reserved for the program.
(B) The agencies to which state ceiling limits were issued.
(C) The number of loans or mortgage credit certificates issued to teachers, principals, vice principals, assistant principals, and classified employees.
(D) The schools or school districts at which recipients of assistance are employed, aggregated by decile in which the schools rank on the Academic Performance Index and by the percentage of uncredentialed teachers employed at the schools.
(6) The committee shall not make any reservations of future calendar year state ceiling limits or future allocations of the state ceiling pursuant to this subdivision on or after January 1, 2004, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2004, deletes or extends that date. However, reservations and allocations made prior to that date shall remain valid.
SEC. 2.
Section 17929 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:17929.
(a) (1) For a mixed-income multifamily structure, both of the following shall apply:(A) The occupants of the affordable housing units within the mixed-income multifamily structure shall have the same access to the common entrances to that structure as the occupants of the market-rate housing units.
(B) The occupants of the affordable housing units within the mixed-income multifamily structure shall have the same access to the common areas and amenities of that structure as the occupants of the market-rate housing units.
(2) A mixed-income multifamily structure shall not isolate the affordable housing units within that structure to a specific floor or an area on a specific floor.
(b) For purposes of this section:
(1) “Affordable housing unit” means any residential dwelling unit that is restricted by deed or other recorded document as affordable housing for persons and families of low or moderate income, as that term is defined in Section 50093.
(2) “Common entrance” means any area used by the occupants of a mixed-income multifamily structure for ingress to or egress from that structure.
(3) “Market-rate housing unit” means any residential dwelling unit that is not an affordable housing unit or a unit occupied by on-site property management staff.
(4) “Mixed-income multifamily structure” means any residential structure with five or more residential dwelling units that includes both affordable housing units and market-rate housing units.
(c) For a development that includes both a residential care facility for the elderly licensed pursuant to the California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act (Chapter 3.2 (commencing with Section 1569) of Division 2) and units that are not age restricted, including, but not limited to, a development that utilizes density bonuses, incentives, concessions, waivers of development standards and parking reductions pursuant to Section 65915 of the Government Code, this section only applies to nonage-restricted housing units and does not apply to the age-restricted units.
(d) This section is declaratory of existing law. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the application of existing law, including, but not limited to, Article 2 (commencing with Section 12955) of Chapter 6 of Part 2.8 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, Section 65008 of the Government Code, or Subchapter 7 (commencing with Section 12005) of Chapter 5 of Division 4.1 of Title 2 of the California Code of Regulations.
SEC. 3.
Section 18942 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:18942.
(a) (1) The commission shall publish, or cause to be published, editions of the code in its entirety once every three years. In the intervening period the commission shall publish, or cause to be published, supplements as necessary. For emergency building standards defined in subdivision (a) of Section 18913, an emergency building standards supplement shall be published whenever the commission determines it is necessary.(2) Changes adopted during the intervening period described in paragraph (1) shall be limited to only the following:
(A) Technical updates to existing code requirements only to the extent necessary to effectuate support or facilitate the incorporation or implementation of those existing code requirements. The updates shall be limited to clarifying, conforming, or coordinating changes that do not materially alter the substance or intent of the existing code provisions.
(B) Emergency building standards.
(C) Amendments by the State Fire Marshal to building standards within the California Wildland-Urban Interface Code (Part 7 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations).
(D) The building standards are necessary to incorporate errata or emergency updates to the national model codes specified in Section 18916, along with any necessary and related state amendments supporting or facilitating the incorporation of errata or emergency updates to the model codes.
(E) Changes or modifications made pursuant to paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of Section 17958, paragraph (6) of subdivision (c) of Section 17958.5, or paragraph (6) of subdivision (c) of Section 17958.7.
(F) Building standards necessary to incorporate updates to accessibility requirements that align with minimum federal accessibility laws, standards, and regulations.
(G) Changes or modifications made to building codes relating to facilities described in Section 1200, subdivision (b) of Section 1226, and subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive, of Section 1250.
(b) The commission shall publish the text of Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 115920) of Chapter 5 of Part 10 of Division 104, within the requirements for single-family residential occupancies contained in Part 2.5 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, with the following note:
“NOTE: These regulations are subject to local government modification. You should verify the applicable local government requirements at the time of application for a building permit.”
(c) The commission shall publish the text of Section 116064.2 within Part 2 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations.
(d) The commission may publish, stockpile, and sell at a reasonable price the code and materials incorporated therein by reference if it deems the latter is insufficiently available to the public, or unavailable at a reasonable price. Each state department concerned and each city, county, or city and county shall have an up-to-date copy of the code available for public inspection.
(e) (1) Each city, county, and city and county, including charter cities, shall obtain and maintain with all revisions on a current basis, at least one copy of the building standards and other state regulations relating to buildings published in Titles 8, 19, 20, 24, and 25 of the California Code of Regulations. These codes shall be maintained in the office of the building official responsible for the administration and enforcement of this part.
(2) This subdivision shall not apply to a city or county that contracts for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this part with another local government agency that complies with this section.
SEC. 4.
Chapter 3.1 (commencing with Section 50160) is added to Part 1 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:CHAPTER 3.1. Local Impact Fees on Affordable Housing Projects
50160.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares as follows:(1) It is the intent of the Legislature to maximize the production of affordable housing by promoting the efficient use of state financial assistance for new construction administered by entities within the California Housing and Homelessness Agency, and to promote policies that encourage local partnerships, actions, and policies that reduce affordable housing development costs.
(2) It is further the intent of the Legislature to encourage cities, counties, and cities and counties to waive or reduce development impact fees on state-funded affordable housing projects in order to maximize the impact and efficiency of state affordable housing investments.
(3) In this section, it is the intent of the Legislature to focus exclusively on development impact fees or charges imposed by cities, counties, or cities and counties, and not include any fees or charges assessed, imposed, collected, or administered by, or on behalf of, school or community college district, special districts, utilities, or other governmental entities, regardless of whether the authority for such fees derives from a resolution or ordinance of a city, county, or city and county.
(b) (1) Subject to paragraph (2), for purposes of this section, “quantifiable in-kind local contribution” means a financial or in-kind commitment by a city, county, or city and county, including, but not limited to, a waiver, reduction, exemption, or deferral of any of the following development impact fees for a development project by the city, county, or city and county:
(A) A fee or charge described in the Mitigation Fee Act (Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 66000), Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 66010), Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 66016), and Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 66020) of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code).
(B) In-lieu fees for affordability requirements.
(C) A construction excise tax.
(D) In-lieu fees for a requirement that the housing development project provide public art.
(E) In-lieu fees for dedications of parkland imposed pursuant to Section 66477 of the Government Code.
(2) For purposes of this section, “quantifiable in-kind local contribution” does not include any of the following:
(A) A tax, special tax, or other charge imposed by an entity other than a city, county, or city and county.
(B) A fee exempted for a project pursuant to Section 65915 of the Government Code.
(C) A utility fee or charge described or imposed under Chapter 7 of the Mitigation Fee Act (commencing with Section 66012) of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code.
(c) (1) To the extent feasible, a state entity within the California Housing and Homelessness Agency, including, but not limited to, the Housing Development and Finance Committee, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the California Housing Finance Agency, shall consider quantifiable in-kind local contributions when awarding competitive multifamily affordable housing funding for new construction projects.
(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), a quantifiable in-kind local contribution shall be considered an enforceable funding commitment.
(3) When complying with paragraph (1), the state entity shall determine the relative weight assigned to a quantifiable in-kind local contribution in scoring or evaluation applications to encourage cities, counties, and cities and counties to reduce, limit, or defer local development impact fees on state-funded affordable housing projects.
(4) Prioritization for funding administered pursuant to Section 50675.1.3 shall be granted to projects that waive or reduce impact fees as described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).
(d) This section shall apply to any notice of funding opportunity issued after July 1, 2027.
50161.
(a) (1) Subject to paragraph (2), for purposes of this section, “development impact fee” means any of the following assessed, imposed, or controlled by a city, county, or city and county:(A) A fee or charge described in the Mitigation Fee Act (Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 66000), Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 66010), Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 66016), and Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 66020) of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code).
(B) In-lieu fees for affordability requirements.
(C) A construction excise tax.
(D) In-lieu fees for a requirement that the housing development project provide public art.
(E) In-lieu fees for dedications of parkland imposed pursuant to Section 66477 of the Government Code.
(2) For purposes of this section, “development impact fee” does not include either of the following:
(A) A fee or charge assessed, imposed, collected, or administered by or on behalf of a school or community college district, special district, utility or other governmental entity other than a city, county, or city and county, regardless of whether the authority for such fee derives from a resolution or ordinance of a city, county, or city and county.
(B) Any fees or charges described in Chapter 7 of the Mitigation Fee Act (commencing with Section 66012) of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code.
(b) (1) Subject to paragraph (2), if a city, county, or city and county is a lead applicant for a project in an affordable multifamily rental or ownership housing development program administered by a state entity within the California Housing and Homelessness Agency, including, but not limited to, the Housing Development and Finance Committee, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the California Housing Finance Agency, and has not committed to waiving any development impact fee it would otherwise impose on the project, the awarding agency shall reduce the total award amount by the amount of development impact fees that the city, county, or city and county will impose on the project.
(2) Paragraph (1) only applies to project-specific affordable multifamily rental or ownership housing development funding awards and does not apply to formula-based allocations or block grant allocations to a city, county, or city and county.
(3) Paragraph (1) does not apply to funding administered pursuant to Section 50675.1.3. As a condition of receiving funding pursuant to that section, any local government serving as an applicant or coapplicant shall report to the department at the time of assessment whether the local government has assessed impact fees on the project and, if so, the total amount of those fees. The department shall collect this information for purposes of evaluating compliance with Section 66016.5 of the Government Code where applicable and the effect of locally imposed impact fees on state-funded housing projects.
(c) This section shall apply to any notice of funding opportunity issued after July 1, 2027.
SEC. 5.
Section 50220 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50220.
(a) Timelines for round 1 of the program shall be as follows:(1) No later than February 15, 2020, each applicant shall submit to the agency its program allocation application.
(2) No later than April 1, 2020, the agency shall make award determinations for the program allocations based on the point-in-time count numbers.
(3) If, after the first round of awards pursuant to this section, not all funds have been awarded by the agency, the agency shall set aside any remaining funds for a second round of awards.
(4) (A) (i) On or before May 31, 2023, a recipient shall contractually obligate not less than 50 percent of round 1 program allocations.
(ii) Recipients that are counties shall contractually obligate the full allocation awarded to them by the agency at this time. Any funds that are not contractually obligated by this date shall be reverted to the continuum of care that serves the county.
(B) If less than 50 percent is obligated after May 31, 2023, recipients that are continuums of care and cities shall not expend any remaining portion of the 50 percent of round 1 program allocations required to have been obligated pursuant to subparagraph (A) unless and until both of the following occur:
(i) On or before June 30, 2023, the recipient submits an alternative disbursement plan that includes an explanation for the delay.
(ii) The agency approves the alternative disbursement plan.
(C) On or before December 31, 2023, recipients that are continuums of care and cities shall return to the agency any funds that have not been expended pursuant to an alternative disbursement plan approved pursuant to subparagraph (B) for a subsequent round of awards by the agency.
(b) The agency may request additional information, as needed, to meet other applicable reporting or audit requirements.
(c) In addition to requirements in Section 50221, the agency may monitor the expenditures and activities of an applicant, as the agency deems necessary, to ensure compliance with round 1 program requirements.
(d) The agency may, as it deems appropriate or necessary, request the repayment of funds from an applicant, or pursue any other remedies available to it by law for failure to comply with round 1 program requirements.
(e) Any remaining amounts of round 1 program allocation funds not expended by June 30, 2025, shall be returned to the department for reallocation in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
SEC. 6.
Section 50220.5 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50220.5.
(a) To receive a round 2 program allocation, an applicant shall submit an application according to a calendar established by the council consistent with the following requirements:(1) The council shall make an application for round 2 program allocations available no later than November 30, 2020.
(2) Applications shall be due to the council no later than 60 days from the date the council makes those applications available pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) Within 60 days of receiving an application pursuant to paragraph (2), the council shall either approve the application or return it to the applicant with written, detailed comments and request one or more of the following specific amendments to the application:
(A) Greater detail on any aspect of the application so that the council can ensure fidelity with the applicant’s proposed use of funds and stated measurable goals as defined in paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively, of subdivision (b).
(B) Modifications or provision of additional information on the applicant’s proposed funding plan to ensure alignment with the applicant’s stated measurable goals as defined in paragraphs (3), (4), and (5), respectively, of subdivision (b) and with evidence-based solutions to reduce homelessness.
(C) Any other modifications or provision of information that would allow the council to better monitor and evaluate the applicant’s ability to meet objective performance standards in accordance with Sections 50221 and 50222.
(4) An applicant whose application has been returned pursuant to paragraph (3) shall respond to the council’s requested amendments and submit a revised application within 45 days. Where the revised application differs from the council’s requests, the applicant shall include an explanation of the differences and the rationale for departing from the council’s requested amendments.
(5) The council shall have 30 days within which to approve the application, as amended, to address the council’s concerns.
(b) An application submitted pursuant to this section shall provide the following information, in the form and manner prescribed by the council:
(1) A demonstration of how the jurisdiction has coordinated, and will continue to coordinate, with other jurisdictions, particularly regarding their share of the regional need to address homelessness, and how the requested funds will help meet the jurisdiction’s share of that need and coordinate with other regional funding.
(2) Identification of all funds currently being used or anticipated to be used by the applicant to provide housing and homeless services for the homeless populations in the jurisdiction, including all federal, state, and local funds. Funds described in this paragraph specifically includes funding made available under the federal Emergency Solutions Grants Program (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11371 et seq.), the federal Community Development Block Grant Program (42 U.S.C. Sec. 5301 et seq.), or the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund (42 U.S.C. Sec. 801) pursuant to the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Public Law 116-136) where applicable.
(3) An assessment of the current number of people experiencing homelessness, existing programs and funding which address homelessness within the jurisdiction, and a detailed identification of gaps in housing and homeless services for the homeless populations in the jurisdiction utilizing any relevant and available data from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development homeless point-in-time count, continuum of care housing inventory count, longitudinal systems analysis, and Stella tools, as well as any recently conducted local needs assessments.
(4) An outline of proposed uses of funds requested and an explanation of how the proposed use of funds will complement the funds described in paragraph (2) and equitably close the gaps identified pursuant to paragraph (3).
(5) A list of clearly defined and measurable goals, including, but not limited to, the number of individuals to be served and, of those served, the number to be successfully placed in permanent housing as a result of requested funding.
(6) Evidence of connection with the local homeless coordinated entry system.
(7) An agreement to participate in a statewide Homeless Data Integration System, and to enter individuals served by this funding into the local Homeless Management Information System, in accordance with local protocols.
(c) The council may request additional documentation and information from the applicant with respect to round 2 program allocations consistent with the requirements of subdivision (b).
(d) Except as provided in subdivisions (e) and (f), a recipient of a round 2 program allocation shall expend funds on evidence-based solutions that address and prevent homelessness among eligible populations including any of the following:
(1) Rapid rehousing, including rental subsidies and incentives to landlords, such as security deposits and holding fees.
(2) Operating subsidies in new and existing affordable or supportive housing units, emergency shelters, and navigation centers. Operating subsidies may include operating reserves.
(3) Street outreach to assist persons experiencing homelessness to access permanent housing and services.
(4) Services coordination, which may include access to workforce, education, and training programs, or other services needed to promote housing stability in supportive housing.
(5) Systems support for activities necessary to create regional partnerships and maintain a homeless services and housing delivery system, particularly for vulnerable populations including families and homeless youth.
(6) Delivery of permanent housing and innovative housing solutions, such as hotel and motel conversions.
(7) Prevention and shelter diversion to permanent housing, including rental subsidies.
(8) New navigation centers and emergency shelters based on demonstrated need. Demonstrated need for purposes of this paragraph shall be based on the following:
(i) The number of available shelter beds in the city, county, or region served by a continuum of care.
(ii) The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the homeless point-in-time count.
(iii) Shelter vacancy rate in the summer and winter months.
(iv) Percentage of exits from emergency shelters to permanent housing solutions.
(v) A plan to connect residents to permanent housing.
(e) Up to 5 percent of an applicant’s round 2 program allocation may be expended for the following uses that are intended to meet federal requirements for housing funding:
(1) Strategic homelessness plan, as defined in Section 578.7(c) of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(2) Infrastructure development to support coordinated entry systems and Homeless Management Information Systems.
(f) The applicant shall not use more than 7 percent of a round 2 program allocation for administrative costs incurred by the city, county, or continuum of care to administer its program allocation. For purposes of this subdivision, “administrative costs” does not include staff or other costs directly related to implementing activities funded by the program allocation.
(g) A recipient of a round 2 program allocation shall comply with Housing First as provided in Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 8255) of Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(h) Notwithstanding Section 27011 of the Government Code, or any other statute governing the deposit of funds in the county treasury, a county may accept or deposit into the county treasury funds from any source for the purpose of administering a project, proposal, or program under this chapter.
(i) For purposes of Section 1090 of the Government Code, a representative of a county serving on a board, committee, or body with the primary purpose of administering funds or making funding recommendations for applications pursuant to this chapter shall have no financial interest in any contract, program, or project voted on by the board, committee, or body on the basis of the receipt of compensation for holding public office or public employment as a representative of the county.
(j) The council shall post submitted final round 2 program applications to its internet website within 30 days of disbursal to the applicant.
(k) (1) (A) On or before May 31, 2023, a recipient shall contractually obligate not less than 50 percent of round 2 program allocations.
(B) Recipients that are counties shall contractually obligate the full round 2 program allocation awarded to them by the council on or before this date. Any funds that are not contractually obligated by this date shall be reverted to the continuum of care that serves the county.
(2) If less than 50 percent is obligated after May 31, 2023, recipients that are continuums of care and cities shall not expend any remaining portion of the 50 percent of round 2 program allocations required to have been obligated pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) unless and until both of the following occur:
(A) On or before June 30, 2023, the recipient submits an alternative disbursement plan that includes an explanation for the delay.
(B) The council approves the alternative disbursement plan.
(3) On or before December 31, 2023, recipients that are continuums of care and cities shall return to the council any funds that have not been expended pursuant to an alternative disbursement plan approved pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) for a subsequent round of awards by the council.
(l) The council may request additional information, as needed, to meet other applicable reporting or audit requirements.
(m) In addition to requirements in Section 50222, the council may monitor the expenditures and activities of an applicant, as the council deems necessary, to ensure compliance with round 2 program requirements.
(n) The council may, as it deems appropriate or necessary, request the repayment of round 2 program funds from an applicant, or pursue any other remedies available to it by law for failure to comply with program requirements.
(o) Any remaining amounts of round 2 program allocation funds not expended by June 30, 2026, shall be returned to the department for reallocation in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
SEC. 7.
Section 50220.7 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50220.7.
(a) (1) No later than September 15, 2021, the council shall issue a standard agreement for applicants to apply for round 3 program funds, which shall include, at minimum, a requirement for applicants to submit an application that includes a local homelessness action plan and specific system performance measures based on the Homeless Management Information System performance measures as described in subdivision (b).(2) A standard agreement from an applicant shall be due to the council no later than 30 days from the date the council issues the standard agreement pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) If an applicant does not submit a completed standard agreement by the deadline specified in paragraph (2), the council may distribute that applicant’s share of round 3 program funds to an eligible overlapping jurisdiction, as determined by the council.
(4) (A) (i) Upon receipt of a standard agreement, and except as otherwise provided in clause (ii), the council shall allocate 20 percent of an eligible city’s, county’s, or continuum of care’s total allocation pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 50218.6.
(ii) (I) A city, city and county, single continuum of care, or county may apply jointly with a counterpart entity or entities. An applicant that applies jointly pursuant to this paragraph shall instead be allocated 25 percent of the jointly applying jurisdictions’ total allocation pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 50218.6.
(II) A joint application submitted pursuant to this clause shall include, at minimum, evidence of collaboration between the jointly applying applicants and an explanation of how the jointly applying applicants will administer the funds allocated to them pursuant to this section.
(B) A recipient may use initial funds awarded pursuant to this paragraph to complete the local homeless action plan, required as provided pursuant to paragraph (1) and in accordance with the requirements of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), including paying for any technical assistance or contracted entities to support the completion of the homeless action plan.
(5) Priority for initial funds, above the costs of completing the application, shall be for systems improvement, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Capacity building and workforce development for service providers within the jurisdiction, including removing barriers to contracting with culturally specific service providers and building the capacity of providers to administer culturally specific services.
(B) Funding existing evidence-based programs serving people experiencing homelessness.
(C) Investing in data systems to meet reporting requirements or strengthen the recipient’s Homeless Management Information System.
(D) Improving homeless point-in-time counts.
(E) Improving coordinated entry systems to strengthen coordinated entry systems to eliminate racial bias, to create a youth-specific coordinated entry system or youth-specific coordinated entry access points, or to improve the coordinated entry assessment tool to ensure that it contemplates the specific needs of youth experiencing homelessness.
(b) To receive the remaining balance of its round 3 program allocation, an applicant shall submit an application to the council by June 30, 2022, that includes a local homelessness action plan and specific system performance measures in accordance with the following requirements:
(1) The applicant shall engage with the council on its local plan and system performance measures before submitting a complete application.
(2) For city, county, and continuum of care applicants, local homelessness action plans pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) and system performance measures pursuant to subparagraph (C) of paragraph (3) shall be agendized at a regular meeting of the governing body, including receiving public comment, before being submitted to the council.
(3) A complete application submitted pursuant to this section shall provide the following information, in the form and manner prescribed by the council:
(A) A local homelessness action plan, which shall include all of the following:
(i) A local landscape analysis that assesses the current number of people experiencing homelessness and existing programs and funding which address homelessness within the jurisdiction, utilizing any relevant and available data from the Homeless Data Integration System, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s homeless point-in-time count, continuum of care housing inventory count, longitudinal systems analysis, and Stella tools, as well as any recently conducted local needs assessments.
(ii) Identification of the number of individuals and families served, including demographic information and intervention types provided, and demographic subpopulations that are underserved relative to their proportion of individuals experiencing homelessness in the jurisdiction.
(iii) Identification of all funds, including state, federal and local funds, currently being used, and budgeted to be used, to provide housing and homelessness-related services to persons experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of homelessness, how this funding serves subpopulations, and what intervention types are funded through these resources.
(iv) Applicants may submit an analysis that was completed in the last three-years if it meets the requirements of this subparagraph, with any relevant updates to the current available funding.
(B) A narrative that includes the following:
(i) An outline of proposed uses of funds requested and an explanation of how the proposed use of funds will complement existing local, state, and federal funds and equitably close the gaps identified pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(ii) Evidence of connection with the local homeless Coordinated Entry System.
(iii) An agreement to participate in a statewide Homeless Data Integration System, and to enter individuals served by this funding into the local Homeless Management Information System, in accordance with local protocols.
(iv) A demonstration of how the jurisdiction has coordinated, and will continue to coordinate, with other jurisdictions, including the specific role of each applicant in relation to other applicants in the region.
(v) A demonstration of the applicant’s partnership with, or plans to use funding to increase partnership with, local health, behavioral health, social services, and justice entities and with people with lived experiences of homelessness.
(vi) A description of specific actions the applicant will take to ensure racial and gender equity in service delivery, housing placements, and housing retention and changes to procurement or other means of affirming racial and ethnic groups that are overrepresented among residents experiencing homelessness have equitable access to housing and services.
(vii) A description of how the applicant will make progress in preventing exits to homelessness from institutional settings, include plans to leverage funding from mainstream systems for evidence-based housing and housing-based solutions to homelessness.
(viii) Specific and quantifiable systems improvements that the applicant will take to improve the delivery of housing and services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, including, but not limited to, the following:
(I) Capacity building and workforce development for service providers within the jurisdiction, including removing barriers to contracting with culturally specific service providers and building the capacity of providers to administer culturally specific services.
(II) Strengthening the data quality of the recipient’s Homeless Management Information System.
(III) Increasing capacity for pooling and aligning housing and services funding from existing, mainstream, and new funding.
(IV) Improving homeless point-in-time counts.
(V) Improving coordinated entry systems to strengthen coordinated entry systems to eliminate racial bias, to create a youth-specific coordinated entry system or youth-specific coordinated entry access points, or to improve the coordinated entry assessment tool to ensure that it contemplates the specific needs of youth experiencing homelessness.
(ix) Plans shall include strategies to meet system performance measures pursuant to subparagraph (C).
(C) (i) Applicants shall establish system performance measures that prevent and reduce homelessness from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2024, informed by the findings from the local landscape analysis described in subparagraph (A) and the jurisdiction’s base system performance measure from 2020 calendar year data in the Homeless Data Integration System. The system performance measures shall include:
(I) The number of people experiencing homelessness who are accessing services.
(II) The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness on a single night.
(III) The number of people experiencing homelessness who are accessing services for the first time in the past two years.
(IV) The number of people exiting homelessness into permanent housing.
(V) The average length of time that people experienced homelessness while accessing services.
(VI) The percentage of people who return to homelessness within 6 months of exiting the homelessness response system to permanent housing.
(VII) The number of people with successful placements into shelter, interim, or permanent housing from street outreach.
(ii) For each of the system performance measures set forth in clause (i), applicants shall also track demographic data with respect to age, gender, race, and ethnicity.
(iii) The council shall assess system performance measures in the application based on the information provided in the local homeless action plan and the applicant’s baseline data on the system performance measures described in this subparagraph and determine whether the system performance measures adequately further the objectives of reducing and preventing homelessness pursuant to this subparagraph.
(iv) Initial system performance measures should be met no later than June 30, 2024, and system performance measures shall be updated regularly, as funding continues.
(c) The council may request additional documentation and information from the applicant during consultation consistent with respect to round 3 program allocations consistent with the requirements of subdivision (b).
(d) (1) Within 30 days of receiving the final applications pursuant to subdivision (b), the council shall either approve the application and issue the notice of award to allocate the remaining percent of an applicant’s funding pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 50218.6 or return it to the applicant with written, detailed comments and request one or more of the following specific amendments to the application:
(A) Greater detail on any aspect of the application so that the council can ensure fidelity with the applicant’s proposed use of funds and agreed upon system performance measures.
(B) Modifications or provision of additional information on the applicant’s proposed funding plan to ensure alignment with the applicant’s stated system performance measures and with evidence-based solutions to reduce homelessness.
(C) Any other modifications or provision of information that would allow the council to better monitor and evaluate the applicant’s ability to meet objective outcome standards in accordance with Sections 50221, 50222, and 50223.
(2) An applicant whose application has been returned pursuant to paragraph (1) shall respond to the council’s requested amendments and submit a revised application within 30 days of receipt of the council’s detailed comments and request for specific amendments. If the revised application differs from the council’s requests, the applicant shall include an explanation of the differences and the rationale for departing from the council’s requested amendments.
(3) The council shall have 30 days to approve a revised application if, as amended, it addresses the council’s concerns or to provide the grantee with additional guidance and a deadline extension in the case of documented extenuating circumstance for further amending to fully address the council’s concerns.
(e) Except as provided in subdivision (f), a recipient of a round 3 program allocation, including tribal recipients, shall expend funds on evidence-based solutions that address and prevent homelessness among eligible populations, including any of the following:
(1) Rapid rehousing, including rental subsidies and incentives to landlords, such as security deposits and holding fees.
(2) Operating subsidies in new and existing affordable or supportive housing units, emergency shelters, and navigation centers. Operating subsidies may include operating reserves.
(3) Street outreach to assist persons experiencing homelessness to access permanent housing and services.
(4) Services coordination, which may include access to workforce, education, and training programs, or other services needed to promote housing stability in supportive housing.
(5) Systems support for activities necessary to create regional partnerships and maintain a homeless services and housing delivery system, particularly for vulnerable populations, including families and homeless youth.
(6) Delivery of permanent housing and innovative housing solutions, such as hotel and motel conversions.
(7) Prevention and shelter diversion to permanent housing, including rental subsidies.
(8) Interim sheltering, limited to newly developed clinically enhanced congregate shelters, new or existing noncongregate shelters, and operations of existing navigation centers and shelters based on demonstrated need. Demonstrated need for purposes of this paragraph shall be based on the following:
(A) The number of available shelter beds in the city, county, or region served by a continuum of care.
(B) The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the homeless point-in-time count.
(C) Shelter vacancy rate in the summer and winter months.
(D) Percentage of exits from emergency shelters to permanent housing solutions.
(E) A plan to connect residents to permanent housing.
(F) Any new interim sheltering funded by round 3 funds must be low barrier, comply with Housing First as provided in Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 8255) of Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and prioritize interventions other than congregate shelters.
(9) Improvements to existing emergency shelters to lower barriers and increase privacy.
(f) An applicant shall not use more than 7 percent of a round 3 program allocation for administrative costs incurred by the city, county, continuum of care, or tribe to administer its program allocation. For purposes of this subdivision, “administrative costs” does not include staff or other costs directly related to implementing activities funded by the program allocation.
(g) A recipient of a round 3 program allocation shall comply with Housing First as provided in Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 8255) of Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(h) Notwithstanding Section 27011 of the Government Code, or any other law governing the deposit of funds in the county treasury, a county may accept or deposit into the county treasury funds from any source for the purpose of administering a project, proposal, or program under this chapter.
(i) For purposes of Section 1090 of the Government Code, a representative of a county serving on a board, committee, or body with the primary purpose of administering funds or making funding recommendations for applications pursuant to this chapter shall have no financial interest in any contract, program, or project voted on by the board, committee, or body on the basis of the receipt of compensation for holding public office or public employment as a representative of the county.
(j) The council and recipients shall post final round 3 program applications to their respective internet websites within 30 days of disbursal to the applicant.
(k) (1) (A) Except as otherwise provided in subparagraph (B), a recipient shall contractually obligate not less than 50 percent of round 3 program allocations no later than May 31, 2024.
(B) Recipients that are counties shall contractually obligate the full amount of round 3 program allocation awarded to them by the council on or before the date specified in subparagraph (A). Any funds that are not contractually obligated by this date shall revert to the continuum of care that serves the recipient county.
(2) If less than 50 percent is obligated after May 31, 2024, recipients that are continuums of care and cities shall not expend any remaining portion of the 50 percent of round 3 program allocations required to have been obligated pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) unless both of the following occur:
(A) On or before June 30, 2024, the recipient submits an alternative disbursement plan that includes an explanation for the delay.
(B) The council approves the alternative disbursement plan submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(3) On or before December 31, 2024, recipients that are continuums of care and cities shall return to the council any funds that have not been expended pursuant to an alternative disbursement plan approved pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2), and those funds shall be reallocated pursuant to subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
(l) (1) No later than June 30, 2024, recipients shall demonstrate whether they have successfully met their system performance measures pursuant to subparagraph (C) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b).
(2) Jurisdictions that have not met their system performance measures shall accept technical assistance from council staff. In addition, jurisdictions that have not met their system performance measures may also be required to limit the allowable uses of these program funds, as determined by the council.
(m) The council may request additional information from applicants, as needed, to meet other applicable reporting or audit requirements.
(n) In addition to requirements in Section 50222, the council may monitor the expenditures and programmatic activities of an applicant, as the council deems necessary, to ensure compliance with round 3 program requirements and adequate progress towards meeting system performance measures.
(o) The council may, as it deems appropriate or necessary, request the repayment of round 3 program funds from an applicant, or pursue any other remedies available to it by law for failure to comply with program requirements.
(p) Any remaining amounts of round 3 program allocation funds not expended by June 30, 2026, shall be returned to the department for reallocation in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
SEC. 8.
Section 50220.8 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50220.8.
(a) (1) The council shall make an application for round 4 program allocations available no later than September 30, 2022.(2) Applications shall be due to the council no later than 60 days from the date the council makes those applications available pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) Within 30 days of receiving an application pursuant to paragraph (2), the council shall either approve the application or return it to the applicant with written, detailed comments and request one or more of the following specific amendments to the application:
(A) Greater detail on any aspect of the application so that the council can ensure fidelity with the applicant’s proposed use of funds and stated system performance measures.
(B) Modifications or provision of additional information on the applicant’s proposed funding plan to ensure alignment with evidence-based solutions to reduce homelessness.
(C) Any other modifications or provision of information that would allow the council to better monitor and evaluate the applicant’s ability to meet objective performance standards in accordance with Sections 50221, 50222, and 50223.
(4) An applicant whose application has been returned pursuant to paragraph (3) shall respond to the council’s requested amendments and submit a revised application within 30 days. Where the revised application differs from the council’s requests, the applicant shall include an explanation of the differences and the rationale for departing from the council’s requested amendments.
(5) The council shall have 30 days within which to approve the application if, as amended, it addressed the council’s concerns or to provide the grantee with additional guidance and a deadline for further amending to fully address the council’s concerns.
(b) To receive a round 4 program allocation, an applicant shall submit an application to the council. A complete application submitted pursuant to this section shall provide the following information, in the form and manner prescribed by the council:
(1) A local homelessness action plan that includes the following, with data updated from the local homelessness action plan included in an application for a round 3 program allocation pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 50220.7:
(A) A local landscape analysis that assesses the current number of people experiencing homelessness and existing programs and funding which address homelessness within the jurisdiction, utilizing any relevant and available data from the Homeless Data Integration System, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s homeless point-in-time count, continuum of care housing inventory count, longitudinal systems analysis, and Stella tools, as well as any recently conducted local needs assessments.
(B) Identification of the number of individuals and families served, including demographic information and intervention types provided, and demographic subpopulations that are underserved relative to their proportion of individuals experiencing homelessness in the jurisdiction.
(C) Identification of all funds, including state, federal and local funds, currently being used, and budgeted to be used, to provide housing and homelessness-related services to persons experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of homelessness, how this funding serves subpopulations, and what intervention types are funded through these resources.
(2) (A) New system performance measures that are specific, ambitious, achievable, and quantifiable to prevent and reduce homelessness from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2025, informed by the findings from the local landscape analysis described in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) and the jurisdiction’s system performance measures specified in its application for a round 3 program allocation pursuant to subparagraph (C) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 50220.7. The system performance measures shall include:
(i) The number of people experiencing homelessness who are accessing services.
(ii) The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness on a single night.
(iii) The number of people experiencing homelessness who are accessing services for the first time in the past two years.
(iv) The number of people exiting homelessness into permanent housing.
(v) The average length of time that people experienced homelessness while accessing services.
(vi) The percentage of people who return to homelessness within 6 months of exiting the homelessness response system to permanent housing.
(vii) The number of people with successful placements into shelter, interim, or permanent housing from street outreach.
(B) For each of the system performance measures set forth in subparagraph (A) applicants shall also track demographic data with respect to age, gender, race, and ethnicity.
(C) Each applicant shall determine its system performance measures that build upon prior year system performance measures in consultation with the council, and shall not submit its final system performance measures before consulting with the council.
(D) The council shall assess system performance measures in the application based on the information provided in the local homeless action plan and the applicant’s baseline data on the system performance measures described in this paragraph and determine whether the system performance measures adequately further the objectives of reducing and preventing homelessness pursuant to this paragraph, and may request additional documentation, information, or revisions to the system performance measures.
(3) A narrative that includes the following:
(A) An outline of proposed uses of funds requested and an explanation of how the proposed use of funds will complement existing local, state, and federal funds and equitably close the gaps identified pursuant to paragraph (1).
(B) Evidence of connection with the local homeless Coordinated Entry System.
(C) An agreement to participate in a statewide Homeless Data Integration System, and to enter individuals served by this funding into the local Homeless Management Information System, in accordance with local protocols.
(D) A demonstration of how the jurisdiction has coordinated, and will continue to coordinate, with other jurisdictions, including the specific role of each applicant in relation to other applicants in the region.
(E) A demonstration of the applicant’s partnership with, or plans to use funding to increase partnership with, local health, behavioral health, social services, and justice entities and with people with lived experiences of homelessness.
(F) A description of specific actions the applicant will take to ensure racial and gender equity in service delivery, housing placements, and housing retention and changes to procurement or other means of affirming racial and ethnic groups that are overrepresented among residents experiencing homelessness have equitable access to housing and services.
(G) A description of how the applicant will make progress in preventing exits to homelessness from institutional settings, include plans to leverage funding from mainstream systems for evidence-based housing and housing-based solutions to homelessness.
(H) Specific and quantifiable systems improvements that the applicant will take to improve the delivery of housing and services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, including, but not limited to, the following:
(i) Capacity building and workforce development for service providers within the jurisdiction, including removing barriers to contracting with culturally specific service providers and building the capacity of providers to administer culturally specific services.
(ii) Strengthening the data quality of the recipient’s Homeless Management Information System.
(iii) Increasing capacity for pooling and aligning housing and services funding from existing, mainstream, and new funding.
(iv) Improving homeless point-in-time counts.
(v) Improving coordinated entry systems to eliminate racial bias or to create a youth-specific coordinated entry system.
(vi) Plans shall include strategies to meet system performance measures pursuant to paragraph (2).
(4) For city, county, and continuum of care applicants, an application pursuant to this subdivision shall be agendized at a regular meeting by the governing body, including receiving public comment, before being submitted to the council.
(c) The council may request additional documentation and information from the applicant during consultation consistent with respect to round 4 program allocations consistent with the requirements of subdivision (b).
(d) (1) Within 30 days of receiving the final applications pursuant to subdivision (b), the council shall either approve the application and issue the notice of award to disburse 50 percent of an applicant’s funding pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 50218.7 or return it to the applicant with written, detailed comments and request one or more of the following specific amendments to the application:
(A) Greater detail on any aspect of the application so that the council can ensure fidelity with the applicant’s proposed use of funds and agreed upon system performance measures.
(B) Modifications or provision of additional information on the applicant’s proposed funding plan to ensure alignment with the applicant’s stated system performance measures and with evidence-based solutions to reduce homelessness.
(C) Any other modifications or provision of information that would allow the council to better monitor and evaluate the applicant’s ability to meet objective outcome standards in accordance with Sections 50221, 50222, and 50223.
(2) Upon approval of an application pursuant to this section, the council shall disburse 50 percent of an eligible city’s, county’s, or continuum of care’s total allocation pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 50218.7.
(e) Except as provided in subdivision (f), a recipient of a round 4 program allocation, including tribal recipients, shall expend funds on evidence-based solutions that address and prevent homelessness among eligible populations, including any of the following:
(1) Rapid rehousing, including rental subsidies and incentives to landlords, such as security deposits and holding fees.
(2) Operating subsidies in new and existing affordable or supportive housing units, emergency shelters, and navigation centers. Operating subsidies may include operating reserves.
(3) Street outreach to assist persons experiencing homelessness to access permanent housing and services.
(4) Services coordination, which may include access to workforce, education, and training programs, or other services needed to promote housing stability in supportive housing.
(5) Systems support for activities necessary to create regional partnerships and maintain a homeless services and housing delivery system, particularly for vulnerable populations, including families and homeless youth.
(6) Delivery of permanent housing and innovative housing solutions, such as hotel and motel conversions.
(7) Prevention and shelter diversion to permanent housing, including rental subsidies.
(8) Interim sheltering, limited to newly developed clinically enhanced congregate shelters, new or existing noncongregate shelters, and operations of existing navigation centers and shelters based on demonstrated need. Demonstrated need for purposes of this paragraph shall be based on the following:
(A) The number of available shelter beds in the city, county, or region served by a continuum of care.
(B) The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the homeless point-in-time count.
(C) Shelter vacancy rate in the summer and winter months.
(D) Percentage of exits from emergency shelters to permanent housing solutions.
(E) A plan to connect residents to permanent housing.
(F) Any new interim sheltering funded by round 4 funds must be low-barrier, comply with Housing First as provided in Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 8255) of Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and prioritize interventions other than congregate shelters.
(9) Improvements to existing emergency shelters to lower barriers and increase privacy.
(f) An applicant shall not use more than 7 percent of a round 4 program allocation for administrative costs incurred by the city, county, continuum of care, or tribe to administer its program allocation. For purposes of this subdivision, “administrative costs” does not include staff or other costs directly related to implementing activities funded by the program allocation.
(g) A recipient of a round 4 program allocation shall comply with Housing First as provided in Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 8255) of Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(h) Notwithstanding Section 27011 of the Government Code, or any other law governing the deposit of funds in the county treasury, a county may accept or deposit into the county treasury funds from any source for the purpose of administering a project, proposal, or program under this chapter.
(i) For purposes of Section 1090 of the Government Code, a representative of a county serving on a board, committee, or body with the primary purpose of administering funds or making funding recommendations for applications pursuant to this chapter shall have no financial interest in any contract, program, or project voted on by the board, committee, or body on the basis of the receipt of compensation for holding public office or public employment as a representative of the county.
(j) The council and recipients shall post final round 4 program applications to their respective internet websites within 30 days of disbursal to the applicant.
(k) (1) A recipient shall contractually obligate not less than 75 percent, and shall expend not less than 50 percent, of the initial round 4 program allocations made to it pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) no later than May 31, 2025.
(2) Upon demonstration by a recipient city, county, or continuum of care that it has complied with the requirement to contractually obligated and expend a minimum amount of its round 4 program allocation pursuant to paragraph (1), and remains on track to meet its system performance measures, as determined by the council pursuant to Section 50223, the council shall disburse to that recipient the remaining 50 percent of its total allocation pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 50218.7.
(3) If less than 75 percent of a recipient’s round 4 program allocation made pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) is obligated, or less than 50 percent of that amount is expended, after May 31, 2025, the recipient shall not contractually obligate or expend any remaining portion of its round 4 program allocations, and the council shall not allocate to the recipient the remaining 50 percent of its total allocation, unless both of the following occur:
(A) On or before June 30, 2025, the recipient submits an alternative disbursement plan that includes an explanation for the delay.
(B) The council approves the alternative disbursement plan submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(4) On or before December 31, 2026, a recipient shall return to the council any funds that have not been expended pursuant to an alternative disbursement plan approved pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (3), to be reallocated for distribution pursuant to subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
(l) No later than June 30, 2025, recipients shall demonstrate whether they have successfully met their system performance measures pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b).
(m) The council may request additional information from applicants, as needed, to meet other applicable reporting or audit requirements.
(n) In addition to requirements in Section 50222, the council may monitor the expenditures and programmatic activities of an applicant, as the council deems necessary, to ensure compliance with round 4 program requirements and adequate progress towards meeting system performance measures.
(o) The council may, as it deems appropriate or necessary, request the repayment of round 4 program funds from an applicant, or pursue any other remedies available to it by law for failure to comply with program requirements.
(p) Any remaining amounts of round 4 program allocation funds not expended by June 30, 2027, shall be returned to the department for reallocation in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
(q) The amendments made to this section by the act adding this subdivision shall become operative on July 1, 2023.
SEC. 9.
Section 50223 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50223.
(a) In addition to the data required under Sections 50221 and 50222, applicants shall provide the following information for all rounds of program allocations through a data collection, reporting, performance monitoring, and accountability framework, as established by the department:(1) (A) Data on the applicant’s progress towards meeting their system performance measures, which shall be submitted annually on April 1 of each year reporting through December 31 of the prior year for the duration of the program.
(B) If the applicant has not made significant progress toward their system performance measures, the applicant shall submit a description of barriers and possible solutions to those barriers.
(C) Applicants that do not demonstrate significant progress towards meeting system performance measures shall accept technical assistance from the department and may also be required to limit the allowable uses of these program funds, as determined by the department.
(2) Up to a monthly, but no less than a quarterly, fiscal report of program funds expended and obligated in each allowable budget category approved in their application for program funds.
(b) No later than April 1, 2027, each recipient that receives a round 3 program allocation shall submit to the department a final report in a format provided by the department, as well as detailed uses of all program funds.
(c) No later than April 1, 2028, each recipient that receives a round 4 program allocation shall submit to the department a final report in a format provided by the department, as well as detailed uses of all program funds.
(d) No later than April 1, 2029, each recipient that receives a round 5 program allocation shall submit to the department a final report in a format provided by the department, as well as detailed uses of all program funds.
(e) No later than April 1, 2030, each recipient that receives a round 6 allocation shall submit to the department a final report in a format provided by the department, as well as detailed uses of all program funds.
(f) No later than April 1, 2034, each recipient that receives a round 7 allocation shall submit to the department a final report in a format provided by the department, as well as detailed uses of all program funds.
(g) The department shall post the information described in this section on its internet website within 30 days of its receipt of the information, and provide notice to the Senate Committee on Housing, Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development, and the appropriate budget committees.
SEC. 10.
Section 50230 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50230.
For purposes of this chapter:(a) “Agency” means the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency.
(b) “Applicant” has either of the following meanings:
(1) For purposes of Article 1 (commencing with Section 50232), “applicant” means a continuum of care, city, county, or a region for purposes of the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan requirements pursuant to Article 1.
(2) For purposes of Article 2 (commencing with Section 50239), “applicant” means a continuum of care, city, county, or a region for purposes of the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan requirements pursuant to Article 2.
(c) “City” means a city or city and county that is legally incorporated to provide local government services to its population. A city can be organized either under the general laws of this state or under a charter adopted by the local voters.
(d) “Continuum of care” means the same as defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in Section 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(e) “Coordinated Entry System” means a centralized or coordinated process developed pursuant to Section 578.7 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as that section read on January 10, 2019, designed to coordinate homelessness program participant intake, assessment, and provision of referrals. In order to satisfy this subdivision, a centralized or coordinated assessment system shall cover the geographic area, be easily accessed by individuals and families seeking housing or services, be well advertised, and include a comprehensive and standardized assessment tool.
(f) “Regionally coordinated homelessness action plan” means the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan described in Section 50233.
(g) (1) Subject to paragraph (2), “council,” unless context requires otherwise, means the associated staff within the Interagency Council on Homelessness, formerly known as the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council created pursuant to Section 8257 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(2) Unless context requires otherwise, “council,” with respect to the administration of this chapter or Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50216) on or after the effective date of the act adding this paragraph, means department.
(h) “Department” means the Department of Housing and Community Development.
(i) “Emergency shelter” has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 50801.
(j) “Grantee” has either of the following meanings:
(1) For purposes of Article 1 (commencing with Section 50232), “grantee” means an eligible applicant that has received its initial round 5 base allocation or total round 5 base allocation, as applicable, pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 50232).
(2) For purposes of Article 2 (commencing with Section 50239), “grantee” means an eligible applicant that has received its initial round 6 base allocation or total round 6 base allocation, as applicable, pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 50239).
(k) “Homeless” has the same meaning as defined in Section 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as that section read on January 10, 2019.
(l) “Homeless Management Information System” means the information system designated by a continuum of care to comply with federal reporting requirements as defined in Section 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The term “Homeless Management Information System” also includes the use of a comparable database by a victim services provider or legal services provider that is permitted by the federal government under Part 576 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(m) “Homeless point-in-time count” means the most recently available point-in-time count data as reflected in the Annual Homeless Assessment Report released by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(n) “Homeless youth” means an unaccompanied youth between 12 and 24 years of age who is experiencing homelessness, as defined in Section 725(2) of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11434a(2)). “Homeless youth” includes unaccompanied youth who are pregnant or parenting.
(o) “Housing First” has the same meaning as in Section 8255 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, including all of the core components listed therein.
(p) “Jurisdiction” means a city, county, continuum of care, or tribe, as defined in this section.
(q) “Memorandum of understanding” has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (f) of Section 50233.
(r) “Navigation center” means a Housing First, low-barrier, service-enriched shelter focused on moving homeless individuals and families into permanent housing that provides temporary living facilities while case managers connect individuals experiencing homelessness to income, public benefits, health services, shelter, and housing.
(s) “Program” has either of the following meanings:
(1) For purposes of Article 1 (commencing with Section 50232), unless context otherwise requires, “program” means round 5 of the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program, or round 5, established pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 50232).
(2) For purposes of Article 2 (commencing with Section 50239), unless context otherwise requires, “program” means round 6 of the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program, or round 6, established pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 50239).
(t) (1) “Base program allocation” means the portion of program funds available to expand or develop local capacity to address immediate homelessness challenges pursuant to the allowable uses specified in Section 50236.
(2) “Homekey supplemental allocation” means the portion of program funds available to eligible jurisdictions as supplementary Homekey resources, as defined in Section 50237.
(u) “Recipient” means a jurisdiction that receives funds pursuant to this chapter for the purposes of the program.
(v) (1) Except as set forth in paragraph (2), “region” means the geographic area served by a county, including all cities and continuum of care within it. A region that has a continuum of care that serves multiple counties may submit a plan that covers multiple counties and the cities within them or the continuum of care may participate in the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan of each individual county that is part of the continuum of care along with the cities within the county.
(2) All continuums of care within the County of Los Angeles shall be considered part of a single region, along with the county and big cities within the county.
(w) “Round 6” means the 2024–25 fiscal year program allocation.
(x) “Round 7” means the 2026–27 fiscal year program allocations, administered as additional disbursements of round 6 in accordance with paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 50239.
(y) “Small jurisdiction” means a city that is under 300,000 in population as of January 1, 2022, according to data published on the internet website of the Department of Finance.
(z) “Tribe” or “tribal applicant” means a federally recognized tribal government pursuant to Section 4103 of Title 25 of the United States Code that is located in California.
SEC. 11.
Section 50233 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50233.
(a) To be eligible for a round 5 base program allocation, a jurisdiction that is not a tribe must apply as part of a region and must be signatory to a regionally coordinated homelessness action plan that has been approved by the council.(b) The council shall approve a regionally coordinated homelessness action plan when the council determines that the plan meets all of the requirements of this section.
(c) The regionally coordinated homelessness action plan shall include all of the following components:
(1) Identification and analysis of the specific roles and responsibilities of each participating jurisdiction in the region regarding outreach and site coordination, siting and use of available land, the development of shelter, interim, and permanent housing options, and the coordination and connection to the delivery of services to individuals experiencing homelessness, or at risk of experiencing homelessness, within the region. The plan may also include roles and responsibilities of small jurisdictions in the region that elect to engage and collaborate on the plan.
(2) Most recent system performance measures for the region, which shall include all of the following:
(A) The number of people experiencing homelessness who are accessing services.
(B) The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness on a single night.
(C) The number of people experiencing homelessness who are accessing services for the first time in the past two years.
(D) The number of people exiting homelessness into permanent housing.
(E) The average length of time that people experienced homelessness while accessing services.
(F) The percentage of people who return to homelessness within 6 months of exiting the homelessness response system to permanent housing.
(G) The number of people with successful placements into shelter, interim, or permanent housing from street outreach.
(3) For each of the system performance measures set forth in paragraph (2), applicants shall also track demographic data with respect to age, gender, race, and ethnicity.
(4) A description of key actions the region intends to take to improve the performance metrics described in paragraph (2). The plan may also include key actions of small jurisdictions in the region that elect to engage and collaborate in the plan. In naming key action steps, a region will identify all of the following:
(A) The sources of federal, state, and local funding the region intends to use to achieve the action steps and objectives.
(B) The lead entity on an action step and collaborating entities partnering to achieve the key action step.
(C) A timeframe for action.
(D) The methods of measuring the success of the action step and related performance metrics.
(5) A description of key actions each participating jurisdiction will take to reduce the number of people falling into homelessness as they exit institutional settings, including, but not limited to, jails, prisons, and hospitals.
(6) (A) An explanation of how each participating jurisdiction is utilizing local, state, and federal funding programs to end homelessness, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(i) The Homekey program, as described in Section 50675.1.1.
(ii) The No Place Like Home Program (Part 3.9 (commencing with Section 5849.1) of Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code).
(iii) The Multifamily Housing Program (Chapter 6.7 (commencing with Section 50675) of Part 2).
(iv) The Housing for a Healthy California Program (Part 14.2 (commencing with Section 53590)).
(v) The Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program (Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50216)).
(vi) Funding distributed to local jurisdictions pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 50470.
(vii) The California Emergency Solutions Grants Program (Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 50899.1) of Part 2).
(viii) The National Housing Trust Fund established pursuant to the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-289), and implementing federal regulations.
(ix) HOME Investment Partnerships Act (Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 50896)).
(x) Parolee or probation programs that are intended to prevent homelessness upon release.
(B) An explanation of how the region is connecting, or will connect, individuals to wraparound services from all eligible federal, state, and local benefit programs, including, but not limited to, housing and homelessness services and supports that are integrated with the broader social services systems and supports, including, but not limited to:
(i) CalWORKs (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code).
(ii) CalFresh (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 18900) of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code).
(iii) Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Program (SSI/SSP) (Subchapter 16 (commencing with Section 1381) of Chapter 7 of Title 42 of the United States Code and Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 12000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code) and the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) pursuant to Chapter 10.3 (commencing with Section 18937) of Chapter 10.3 of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(iv) In-home supportive services.
(v) Adult protective services.
(vi) Child welfare.
(vii) Childcare and development.
(viii) Disability benefits advocacy.
(ix) Medi-Cal program (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code).
(C) The plan may also include local, state, and federal funding uses of small jurisdictions in the region that elect to engage and collaborate on the plan pursuant to paragraph (4).
(7) A description of specific actions the region will take to ensure racial and gender equity in service delivery, housing placements, and housing retention and changes to procurement or other means of affirming racial and ethnic groups that are overrepresented among residents experiencing homelessness have equitable access to housing and services.
(8) Evidence and an explanation by a continuum of care that shares geographic boundaries with a city, county, or city and county that is using state funding allocated pursuant to this chapter or is receiving state funding pursuant to the Encampment Resolution Funding program (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 50250)) to provide services or housing for place-based encampment resolution, of collaboration with that city, county, or city and county that addresses how people served through encampment resolution have or will be included in prioritization for permanent housing within coordinated entry systems. This paragraph shall not be interpreted to supersede or limit the federal requirements of coordinated entry systems.
(d) Participating jurisdictions shall collaborate to complete the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan and shall engage in a public stakeholder process that includes at least three public meetings before completing the plan.
(e) The participating jurisdictions shall invite and encourage all of the following to engage in the public stakeholder process:
(1) People with lived experience of homelessness.
(2) Youth with lived experience of homelessness.
(3) Local department leaders and staff of qualifying small jurisdictions, including child welfare, health care, behavioral health, justice, and education system leaders.
(4) Homeless service and housing providers working in that region.
(5) Each Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan contracted with the State Department of Health Care Services in the region.
(6) Street medicine providers and other providers directly serving people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.
(f) The regionally coordinated homelessness action plan shall be reflected in a memorandum of understanding committing each signatory to participation in, and to comply with, the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan.
(g) Smaller jurisdictions in the region may also sign the memorandum of understanding and commit to participation in, and compliance with, the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan. Counties are encouraged to allocate resources from program funding to smaller jurisdictions that participate in and commit to complying with the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan.
(h) Upon receipt of a proposed regionally coordinated homelessness action plan, the council shall review it in coordination with the Department of Housing and Community Development, the State Department of Health Care Services, and the State Department of Social Services.
(i) A qualifying jurisdiction or continuum of care participating in a regionally coordinated homelessness action plan shall post on its internet website that proposed, approved, and amended regionally coordinated homelessness action plan.
(j) The council may consult with any local government, public agency, group, or person, and shall receive and consider any written comments from any public agency, group, or person, regarding the action by a participating jurisdiction in determining whether the regional coordinated homelessness action plan substantially complies with this chapter.
SEC. 12.
Section 50235 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50235.
(a) The council shall make an application for round 5 base program allocations available no later than September 30, 2023.(b) Applications shall be due no later than 180 days from the date applications are made available pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).
(c) (1) Applicants from each region shall submit a single, regional application from their shared region.
(2) Each applicant shall have the discretion to receive their base program allocation directly or may designate a corresponding eligible applicant in their region to serve as the fiscal agent responsible for the administration of funding made available pursuant to this chapter.
(d) Within 30 days of the application deadline pursuant to subdivision (b), the council shall either approve the application or return it to the applicant with written, detailed comments and request one or more of the following specific amendments to the application:
(1) Greater detail on any aspect of the application so the council can ensure fidelity with the applicant’s proposed use of funds and stated performance goals.
(2) Modifications or provision of additional information on the applicant’s proposed funding plan to ensure alignment with evidence-based solutions to reduce homelessness.
(3) Any other modifications or provision of information that would allow the council to better monitor and evaluate the region’s compliance with its regionally coordinated homelessness action plan and whether it is meeting objective performance standards.
(e) (1) An applicant whose application has been returned pursuant to this section shall respond to the council’s requested amendments and submit a revised application within 30 days. Where the revised application differs from the council’s requests, the applicant shall include an explanation of the differences and the rationale for departing from requested amendments.
(2) The council shall have 30 days within which to approve the application if, as amended, it addressed the council’s concerns or to provide the grantee with additional guidance and a deadline for further amending to fully address the council’s concerns.
(f) (1) To receive a round 5 base program allocation, an applicant shall submit an application to the council. A complete application submitted pursuant to this section shall include, in the form and manner prescribed by the council, all of the following:
(A) A regionally coordinated homelessness action plan that complies with Section 50233.
(B) A detailed proposal for how the applicant intends to use the funds for which it is applying that complies with Section 50236.
(C) All other components that the council shall deem necessary to the proper administration of the program.
(2) Upon approval of an application pursuant to this section, the council shall disburse 50 percent of an eligible city’s, county’s, or continuum of care’s total allocation pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 50232.
(g) The council and recipients shall post final round 5 program applications to their respective internet websites within 30 days of disbursal to the applicant.
(h) (1) On or before January 31, 2026, a grantee shall submit to the council an updated regionally coordinated homelessness action plan which shall include updates on the metrics and corresponding key actions carried out pursuant to Section 50233, as applicable.
(2) The council shall, within 30 days, review and provide comments on complete regionally coordinated homelessness action plans or amendments and report its findings to the participating grantee, as applicable.
(3) The council shall approve the updated plan if the plan substantially complies with the requirements of this section.
(4) The council may conditionally approve the plan and notify the participating jurisdictions in the region of specific changes needed to meet the requirements of this section. Participating jurisdictions shall accomplish these changes within 30 days of being notified by the council.
(5) The council shall have 30 days to review changes to conditionally approved plans and make a final determination of approval or rejection of the jurisdiction or regionally coordinated homelessness action plan update.
(6) (A) The council may reject the plan based on either one of the following:
(i) The region failed to submit a timely plan within 30 days from the date in paragraph (1).
(ii) The region failed to make needed changes to the plan within 30 days, if the council conditionally approved the plan.
(7) (A) The council may withhold the remaining 50 percent of funds from a jurisdiction that repeatedly failed to take action as specified in its regionally coordinated homelessness action plan, or that took actions adverse to achieving the plan objectives provided pursuant to Section 50233, until such time the jurisdiction demonstrates to the council they are in substantial compliance with the requirements of this paragraph.
(B) The council shall provide technical assistance and support of jurisdictions efforts to comply with the requirements of this paragraph.
(8) Regions are encouraged to update their memorandums of understanding to reflect their updated regionally coordinated homelessness action plan that have been approved pursuant to this subdivision.
(9) In making this determination the council may provide exceptions to the requirement if the recipient demonstrates hardship by a disaster for which a state of emergency is proclaimed by the Governor pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8550) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(10) Any proposed revision to a deemed compliant regionally coordinated action plan must be submitted to the council for review and approval. The council will have 30 days to review proposed amendments and make findings, including recommendations, until the proposed amendments are deemed compliant by the council.
(11) All proposed, approved, and amended regionally coordinated homelessness action plans should be posted on the internet website of all participating jurisdictions and continuums of care participating in the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan.
(12) The council may consult with any local government, public agency, group, or person, and shall receive and consider any written comments from any public agency, group, or person, regarding the action by a participating jurisdiction in determining whether the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan substantially complies with this chapter.
(i) (1) A recipient shall contractually obligate not less than 75 percent, and shall expend not less than 50 percent, of the initial round 5 program allocations made to it pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) no later than June 30, 2026.
(2) Upon compliance with subdivision (h) and demonstration by a recipient grantee that it has complied with the requirement to contractually obligate and expend a minimum amount of its round 5 program allocation pursuant to paragraph (1), the council shall disburse to that recipient the remaining 50 percent of its total base allocation pursuant to Section 50234.
(3) (A) If the requirements of paragraph (2) are not satisfied, the council shall not allocate to the recipient the remaining 50 percent of its total allocation, unless both of the following occur:
(i) On or before June 30, 2026, the recipient submits an alternative disbursement plan that includes an explanation for the delay.
(ii) The council approves the alternative disbursement plan submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(B) If a grantee does not satisfy the requirements of subparagraph (A), the council shall have the discretion to allocate the unused funding in a manner prescribed by the council.
(4) On or before December 31, 2027, a recipient shall return to the council any funds that have not been expended pursuant to an alternative disbursement plan approved pursuant to this paragraph, to be reallocated in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
(j) The council may request additional information from applicants, as needed, to meet other applicable reporting or audit requirements.
(k) In addition to requirements in Section 50222, the council may monitor the expenditures and programmatic activities of an applicant, as the council considers necessary, to ensure compliance with round 5 program requirements.
(l) The council may, as it considers appropriate or necessary, request the repayment of round 5 program funds from an applicant, or pursue any other remedies available to it by law for failure to comply with program requirements.
(m) Any remaining amounts of round 5 base program allocation funds not expended by June 30, 2028, shall be returned to the department for reallocation in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
SEC. 13.
Section 50239 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50239.
(a) Round 6 of the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program is hereby established.(b) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department shall make available the following amounts in accordance with this article:
(1) One billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) in the 2024–25 fiscal year for implementation of round 6.
(2) Nine hundred million dollars ($900,000,000) in the 2026–27 fiscal year for implementation of round 7 to be administered as additional disbursements of round 6 consistent with Section 50242 and through an amendment to the round 6 notice of funding availability.
(3) Further amounts as the Legislature may appropriate to the program in the future, or as may be recaptured by the department from prior rounds pursuant to subdivision (i).
(c) (1) The department shall administer all aspects of the program in accordance with this article.
(2) No more than 5 percent of the total allocation for each round of funding shall be used to cover the department’s costs of administration of this article, including state operations expenditures and activities in support of statewide capacity building for recipients, including providing ongoing training and technical assistance, measuring data and performance, conducting research, and evaluation of funding service delivery demonstration projects.
(A) The department may utilize any unused funds from moneys set aside for program administration to augment existing allocation categories using existing allocation methodologies.
(B) Any unused funds from moneys set aside for program administration remaining by the expenditure deadline for the given appropriation shall be rolled over into the next round of appropriated funding, or will revert back to the General Fund.
(d) Contracts entered into or amended shall be exempt from all of the following:
(1) Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 14825) of Part 5.5 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(2) The personal services contracting requirements of Article 4 (commencing with Section 19130) of Chapter 5 of Part 2 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(3) Part 2 (commencing with Section 10100) of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code and the State Contracting Manual.
(4) Notwithstanding Section 11546 of the Government Code, from review or approval of any division of the Department of Technology, upon approval from the Department of Finance.
(5) From the review or approval of any division of the Department of General Services.
(e) The department shall approve or deny an application, and the determination of the amount of funding to be provided shall be final.
(f) If the applicant identifies substantive errors or omissions in their required data submissions, the department may, at its sole discretion, allow jurisdictions to modify or resubmit their data and, if applicable, may allow applicants to modify their data accordingly.
(g) The department shall maintain and make available to the public on its internet website records of all of the following:
(1) The number of applications for program funding received by the department.
(2) The number of applications for program funding denied by the department.
(3) The name of each recipient of program funds.
(4) Each applicant receiving funds pursuant to this article who shall provide a list of all awards to subrecipients.
(5) Annual reports filed by recipients pursuant to Sections 50221, 50222, and 50223.
(h) In administering this article, the department shall not be subject to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
(i) (1) If a grantee fails to meet an expenditure deadline for any prior round of the program, then after technical assistance is provided and the opportunity to correct any accounting or reporting errors, the department may reduce that grantee’s future allocation in an amount equal to the unspent funds, in lieu of seeking cash repayment.
(2) (A) Funds recaptured pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be reallocated by the department in a subsequent notice of funding availability consistent with the most recent statutory provisions of this program.
(B) The department shall reallocate the funds to other eligible applicants in the same region unless no such applicant exists, in which case the department shall reallocate the funds as a bonus among recipients that have achieved a prohousing designation.
SEC. 14.
Section 50240 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50240.
(a) To be eligible for a round 6 base program allocation, a jurisdiction that is not a tribe must apply as part of a region and must be signatory to a round 6 regionally coordinated homelessness action plan that has been approved by the department. An update to the round 5 plan may constitute a round 6 regionally coordinated homelessness action plan.(b) The department shall approve a round 6 regionally coordinated homelessness action plan when the department determines that the plan meets all of the requirements of this section.
(c) The round 6 regionally coordinated homelessness action plan shall include all of the following components:
(1) Identification and analysis of the specific roles and responsibilities of each participating jurisdiction in the region regarding outreach and site coordination, siting and use of available land, the development of shelter, interim, and permanent housing options, and the coordination and connection to the delivery of services to individuals experiencing homelessness, or at risk of experiencing homelessness, including specifying roles and coordination plans in relation to Mental Health Services Act or Behavioral Health Services Act, within the region. The plan may also include roles and responsibilities of small jurisdictions in the region that elect to engage and collaborate on the plan.
(2) Most recent system performance measures for the region, which shall include all of the following:
(A) The number of people experiencing homelessness who are accessing services.
(B) The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness on a single night.
(C) The number of people experiencing homelessness who are accessing services for the first time in the past two years.
(D) The number of people exiting homelessness into permanent housing.
(E) The average length of time that people experienced homelessness while accessing services.
(F) The percentage of people who return to homelessness within 6 months of exiting the homelessness response system to permanent housing.
(G) The number of people with successful placements into shelter, interim, or permanent housing from street outreach.
(3) For each of the system performance measures set forth in paragraph (2), applicants shall also track demographic data with respect to age, gender, race, and ethnicity.
(4) A system performance and improvement plan, which shall include a description of key actions the region intends to take to improve the system performance measures described in paragraph (2). The system performance and improvement plan may also include key actions of small jurisdictions in the region that elect to engage and collaborate in the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan. In naming key actions in the system performance and improvement plan, a region will identify all of the following:
(A) The lead entity on the key action and collaborating entities partnering to achieve the key action.
(B) A timeframe for steps and completion of each key action.
(C) The methods of measuring the success of each key action and related system performance measures that will demonstrate success of the key action.
(D) An explanation of how each participating jurisdiction is utilizing local, state, and federal funding programs as key actions to improve the system performance measures, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(i) The Homekey program, as described in Section 50675.1.1.
(ii) The No Place Like Home Program (Part 3.9 (commencing with Section 5849.1) of Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code).
(iii) The Multifamily Housing Program (Chapter 6.7 (commencing with Section 50675) of Part 2).
(iv) The Housing for a Healthy California Program (Part 14.2 (commencing with Section 53590)).
(v) The Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program (Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50216)). All items currently being funded through rounds 1 through 4, inclusive, pursuant to the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program (Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50216)) and round 5 pursuant to round 5 of the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program (Article 1 (commencing with Section 50232)), and those items proposed to be funded by round 6 pursuant to this article must be included as key actions. If an item proposed to be funded under the rounds will not lead to improvement of the system performance measures described in paragraph (2), it is not an eligible use of funding pursuant to those rounds.
(vi) Funding distributed to local jurisdictions pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 50470.
(vii) The California Emergency Solutions Grants Program (Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 50899.1) of Part 2).
(viii) The National Housing Trust Fund established pursuant to the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-289), and implementing federal regulations.
(ix) HOME Investment Partnerships Act (Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 50896)).
(x) Parolee or probation programs that are intended to prevent homelessness upon release.
(xi) CalWORKs (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code).
(xii) CalFresh (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 18900) of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code).
(xiii) Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Program (SSI/SSP) (Subchapter 16 (commencing with Section 1381) of Chapter 7 of Title 42 of the United States Code and Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 12000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code) and the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) pursuant to Chapter 10.3 (commencing with Section 18937) of Chapter 10.3 of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(xiv) In-home supportive services.
(xv) Adult protective services.
(xvi) Child welfare.
(xvii) Child care and development.
(xviii) Disability benefits advocacy.
(xix) Medi-Cal program (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code).
(xx) Mental Health Services Act and Behavioral Health Services Act.
(E) A description of how the key actions will ensure racial and gender equity in service delivery, housing placements, and housing retention and changes to procurement or other means of affirming racial and ethnic groups that are overrepresented among residents experiencing homelessness have equitable access to housing and services.
(F) A list of encampments within the region and plans to address these encampments in support of reducing unsheltered homelessness.
(G) (i) A policy for addressing encampments that is consistent with the California Interagency Council on Homelessness’ May 20, 2025, Guidance: Addressing Encampments.
(ii) Participating jurisdictions may adopt policies or ordinances that differ from the model encampment ordinance referenced in the guidance as one example of a compliant approach so long as they remain consistent with the guidance.
(d) Participating jurisdictions shall collaborate to complete the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan and shall engage in a public stakeholder process that includes at least three public meetings before completing the plan.
(e) The participating jurisdictions shall invite and encourage all of the following to engage in the public stakeholder process:
(1) People with lived experience of homelessness.
(2) Youth with lived experience of homelessness.
(3) Local department leaders and staff of qualifying small jurisdictions, including child welfare, health care, behavioral health, justice, and education system leaders.
(4) Homeless service and housing providers, including non-profit developers of permanent supportive housing, working in that region.
(5) Each Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan contracted with the State Department of Health Care Services in the region.
(6) Street medicine providers and other providers directly serving people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.
(7) Federally recognized tribal governments pursuant to Section 4103 of Title 25 of the United States Code that are within the region.
(f) The regionally coordinated homelessness action plan shall be reflected in a memorandum of understanding committing each signatory to participation in, and to comply with, the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan.
(g) Smaller jurisdictions in the region may also sign the memorandum of understanding and commit to participation in, and compliance with, the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan. Counties are encouraged to allocate resources from program funding to smaller jurisdictions that participate in and commit to complying with the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan.
(h) Upon receipt of a proposed regionally coordinated homelessness action plan, the department shall review it in coordination with the council, the State Department of Health Care Services, and the State Department of Social Services.
(i) A qualifying jurisdiction participating in a regionally coordinated homelessness action plan shall post on its internet website the proposed, approved, and amended regionally coordinated homelessness action plan.
(j) The department may consult with any local government, public agency, group, or person, and shall receive and consider any written comments from any public agency, group, or person, regarding the action by a participating jurisdiction in determining whether the regional coordinated homeless action plan substantially complies with this article.
SEC. 15.
Section 50241 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50241.
(a) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the funds administered pursuant to this article, less the set aside funds provided for the department’s costs of administration in subdivision (c) of Section 50239, shall be made available in round 6 for implementing the program, and additional funding shall be made available for round 7, as follows:(1) Not more than 80 percent of the round 6 funding available pursuant to this section shall be available to cities, counties, or continuums of care, for basic program allocations, and not more than 97 percent of round 7 funding available pursuant to this section shall be available to cities, counties, or continuums of care, for base program allocations, as follows:
(A) Thirty percent of the funds described in this paragraph shall be available to continuums of care. The department shall calculate these allocations to a continuum of care based on each continuum of care’s proportionate share of the state’s total homeless population, based on the homeless point-in-time count. The department shall not award more than 40 percent of the allocation made pursuant to this subparagraph to a continuum of care.
(B) Forty-two percent of the funds described in this paragraph shall be available to each city, or a city that is also a county, that has a population of 300,000 or more, as of January 1, 2022, according to data published on the Department of Finance’s internet website. The department shall calculate the allocation to a city based on the city’s proportionate share of the total homeless population of the region served by the continuum of care within which the city is located, based on the homeless point-in-time count. The department shall not award more than 45 percent of the program allocation made pursuant to this subparagraph to a city. If more than one recipient within the continuum of care meets the requirements of this subparagraph, the proportionate share of funds shall be equally allocated to those jurisdictions.
(C) Twenty-eight percent of the funds described in this paragraph shall be available to each county. The department shall calculate the allocation to a county based on the county’s proportionate share of the total homeless population of the region served by the continuum of care within which the county is located, based on the homeless point-in-time count. The department shall not award more than 40 percent of the program allocation made pursuant to this subparagraph to a county.
(2) Not more than 17 percent of the round 6 funding available pursuant to this section shall be available to eligible cities, counties, and tribal applicants for the purpose of providing supplemental support for the Homekey program pursuant to Section 50244.
(3) Not more than 3 percent of the funding available pursuant to this section shall be available to tribal applicants. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the funds described in this paragraph shall be allocated as follows:
(A) A tribe may apply for program funds and the department shall make allocations to tribes on the basis of need. Tribes that apply for program funds pursuant to subparagraph (B) shall be allocated funds up to their requested amount. If the total requested funds exceeds the amount available collectively among all tribal applicants, the department shall determine an allocation methodology based on each tribal applicant’s proportionate share of need relative to all tribes that submit an application for funding.
(B) A tribal applicant seeking funds pursuant to this section shall submit an application to the department, in the form and manner prescribed by the department, no later than June 30, 2025, with all of the following information:
(i) The amount of grant funds the tribe is requesting.
(ii) An explanation of the tribe’s local need, including an estimation of the number of people who need homelessness services and the current resources that exist.
(iii) A description of the services on which the tribe plans to spend its grant funds. These activities shall be allowable pursuant to Section 50243.
(C) Any funds available to tribal applicants pursuant to this paragraph that are unallocated as of July 1, 2027, shall be reallocated for distribution to tribal applicants as part of future program rounds.
(D) A tribal applicant is encouraged to partner with a local continuum of care or coordinated entry system.
(b) An applicant applying for round 6 program funds pursuant to this section shall comply with the requirements set forth in Section 50220.6.
(c) A program recipient shall not use funding from the program allocated under this section to supplant existing local funds for homelessness services under penalty of disallowance or reduction, or both, of future program funds, as determined by the department.
(d) (1) No more than 5 percent of the appropriated funds shall be used to cover state administrative costs pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 50239.
(2) The department may expend administrative funds until December 31, 2029, to complete grant closeout activities.
(e) A program recipient shall use at least 10 percent of the funds allocated under this section for services for homeless youth populations. This subdivision does not prohibit program recipients from spending a greater percentage on services for homeless youth populations.
(f) Moneys allocated pursuant to this section shall be expended in compliance with Housing First as provided in Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 8255) of Division 8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
SEC. 16.
Section 50242 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50242.
(a) The department shall make an application for round 6 base program allocations available no later than January 31, 2025.(b) Applications shall be due no later than 180 days from the date applications are made available pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c) (1) Applicants from each region shall submit a single, regional application from their shared region.
(2) Each applicant shall have the discretion to receive their base program allocation directly or may designate a corresponding eligible applicant in their region to serve as the fiscal agent responsible for the administration of funding made available pursuant to this article.
(d) Within 30 days of the application deadline pursuant to subdivision (b), the department shall either approve the application or return it to the applicant with written, detailed comments and request one or more of the following specific amendments to the application:
(1) Greater detail on any aspect of the application so the department can ensure fidelity with the applicant’s proposed use of funds and impact on system performance measures.
(2) Modifications or provision of additional information on the applicant’s proposed funding plan to ensure compliance with this section, and ensure alignment with evidence-based solutions to reduce homelessness.
(3) Any other modifications or provision of information that would allow the department to better monitor and evaluate the region’s compliance with its regionally coordinated homelessness action plan and whether it is meeting objective performance standards.
(e) (1) An applicant whose application has been returned pursuant to this section shall respond to the department’s requested amendments and submit a revised application within 30 days. Where the revised application differs from the department’s requests, the applicant shall include an explanation of the differences and the rationale for departing from requested amendments.
(2) The department shall have 30 days within which to approve the application if, as amended, it addressed the department’s concerns or to provide the applicant with additional guidance and a deadline for further amending to fully address the department’s concerns.
(f) (1) To receive a round 6 base program allocation, an applicant shall submit an application to the department. A complete application submitted pursuant to this section shall include, in the form and manner prescribed by the department, all of the following:
(A) A regionally coordinated homelessness action plan that the department finds compliant with Section 50240. This may be an updated version of the action plan submitted in prior rounds if that action plan was found compliant by the department.
(B) A detailed proposal for how the applicant intends to use the funds for which it is applying that complies with Section 50243.
(C) All other components that the department shall deem necessary to the proper administration of the program.
(2) After approval of an application pursuant to this section, the department shall disburse 50 percent of an eligible city’s, county’s, or continuum of care’s total round 6 allocation pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 50241 upon a determination that the eligible city, county, or continuum of care has done all of the following:
(A) Contractually obligated all of its funding from rounds 1 through 3 of the program.
(B) Expended all of its funding from round 1 of the program.
(C) Expended at least 50 percent of its funding and contractually obligated 75 percent of its funding from the first disbursement of round 4 of the program.
(g) The department and recipients shall post final round 6 program applications to their respective internet websites within 30 days of disbursal to the applicant.
(h) (1) On or before January 31, 2027, a grantee shall submit to the department an update on their round 6 regionally coordinated homelessness action plan activities, which shall include updates on the obligation and expenditure activities, progress on their system performance and improvement plan, key actions and corresponding updates on system performance measures carried out pursuant Section 50240, as applicable.
(2) The department shall, within 30 days, review the update and report its findings to the participating grantee pursuant to this subdivision.
(3) If the department finds that the grantee has adhered to the requirements of this section, or concludes that the grantee has addressed any shortcomings in the update, the department shall approve the update.
(4) (A) If the department finds that a grantee failed to adhere to the requirements of this section, the department may require the participating jurisdictions in the region to make specific changes needed to meet the requirements of this section. If the department concludes that the grantee made insufficient progress on key actions or failed to improve on at least one-half of the region’s system performance measures, the department may require the participating jurisdictions to provide a corrective action plan to the update to the regionally coordinated action plan to address these findings. The department shall offer technical assistance to the recipient. Participating jurisdictions shall accomplish these changes or submit a corrective action plan, as applicable, within 30 days of being notified by the department.
(B) The department shall have 30 days to review the changes or corrective action plan, as applicable, to determine if they addressed the department’s concerns and approve the update, or to provide the grantee with additional guidance and a deadline for making changes or further amending the corrective action plan to address the department’s concerns.
(5) (A) The department may withhold the remaining 50 percent of round 6 funds from a grantee until the department has approved the update to the grantee’s round 6 regionally coordinated homelessness action plan.
(B) The department shall provide technical assistance and support of jurisdictions efforts to comply with the requirements of this paragraph.
(6) Regions are encouraged to update their memorandums of understanding to reflect their updated regionally coordinated homelessness action plan that have been approved pursuant to this subdivision. The department may ask for confirmation that a region has updated its memorandum of understanding to reflect a part of a corrective action required under this section.
(7) In making determinations pursuant to this subdivision the department may provide exceptions to the requirement if the recipient demonstrates hardship by a disaster for which a state of emergency is proclaimed by the Governor pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8550) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(8) After the department has deemed a regionally coordinated action plan compliant with this section, the grantee shall submit any proposed revisions to the department for review and approval. No later than 30 days from submission, the department shall review the proposed revisions and either approve the revisions or recommend changes.
(9) All proposed, approved, and amended regionally coordinated homelessness action plans shall be posted on the internet website of all participating jurisdictions in the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan, and the department shall post all action plans received from participating jurisdictions.
(10) In determining whether the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan substantially complies with this article, the department may consult with any local government, public agency, group, or person, and shall receive and consider any written comments from any public agency, group, or person, regarding the action by a participating jurisdiction.
(i) (1) A recipient shall contractually obligate not less than 75 percent, and shall expend not less than 50 percent, of the initial round 6 program allocations made to it pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) no later than June 30, 2027.
(2) The department shall disburse the remaining 50 percent of a recipient’s round 6 total base allocation pursuant to Section 50241 only after the recipient demonstrates all of the following:
(A) Compliance with subdivision (h).
(B) Compliance with the requirement to contractually obligate and expend a minimum amount of its round 6 program allocation pursuant to paragraph (1).
(C) That the recipient has a compliant housing element as defined in Section 65589.9 of the Government Code, if the recipient is a city or county. If the recipient does not have a compliant housing element, the department shall hold the disbursement until the recipient is housing element compliant, consistent with paragraph (3).
(3) On or before December 31, 2028, a recipient shall return to the department any funds that have not been expended pursuant to this subdivision, to be reallocated in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
(j) The department may request additional information from applicants, as needed, to meet other applicable reporting or audit requirements.
(k) In addition to requirements in Section 50222, the department may monitor the expenditures and programmatic activities of an applicant, as the department considers necessary, to ensure compliance with round 6 program requirements.
(l) The department may, as it considers appropriate or necessary, request the repayment of round 6 program funds from an applicant, or pursue any other remedies available to it by law for failure to comply with program requirements.
(m) Any remaining amounts of round 6 base program allocation funds not expended by June 30, 2029, shall be returned to the department for reallocation in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
(n) (1) The department shall disburse 50 percent of an eligible city’s, county’s, or continuum of care’s total round 7 program allocation pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 50241 upon a determination that the eligible city, county, or continuum of care has met all of the following requirements:
(A) Provided a detailed proposal for how the applicant intends to use the full round 7 program allocations that complies with Section 50243.
(B) Met all requirements to receive the second disbursement of round 5 funds pursuant to subdivision (i) of Section 50235, including completion of the update to the round 5 regionally coordinated homelessness action plan pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 50235.
(C) Contractually obligated not less than 50 percent of the total round 6 award, or if the expenditure deadline pursuant to subdivision (m) has passed, then the recipient must have had any remaining round 6 funds reallocated in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
(D) Has a compliant housing element, as defined in Section 65589.9 of the Government Code, if the recipient is a city or county. If the recipient does not have a compliant housing element, the department shall hold the disbursement until the recipient has a compliant housing element, consistent with paragraph (2) of this subdivision.
(E) (i) (I) Recipients that are cities, and the counties in which those cities are located, shall obtain and maintain a prohousing designation at the time of disbursement.
(II) If the city or county has not obtained the prohousing designation prior to the allocation of round 7 funds, it shall obtain the designation no later than 12 months from the initial disbursement.
(III) If the city or county fails to obtain the prohousing designation by that date, any unspent program funds that would have otherwise been allocated to that jurisdiction may be reallocated by the department to other eligible direct recipients within the same region as described in subparagraph (E) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (o).
(IV) For purposes of this clause, “prohousing designation” has the same meaning as described in Section 65589.9 of the Government Code.
(ii) The department shall process prohousing designation applications from recipients pursuant to the following timeline:
(I) Within 30 days of receipt of the application, the department shall either approve the application or respond to the applicant with options the applicant can complete to obtain approval and provide the applicant with technical assistance.
(II) The department shall respond to each subsequent submission by the applicant within 30 days by either approving the application or indicating which options from subclause (I) remain viable.
(F) (i) Complied with the California Interagency Council on Homelessness’ May 20, 2025, Guidance: Addressing Encampments, if the recipient is a city or county, demonstrated through one of the following:
(I) Adoption of a local ordinance or administrative policy consistent with that state guidance.
(II) Submission of documentation that demonstrates, to the department’s satisfaction, that the city or county’s practices are consistent with that state guidance.
(ii) Participating jurisdictions may adopt policies or ordinances that differ from the model encampment ordinance referenced in the guidance as one example of a compliant approach so long as they remain consistent with the guidance.
(G) (i) Recipients that are cities, and the counties in which they are located, shall demonstrate that they will provide qualifying matching funds equal or greater than 35 percent of their total program allocation.
(ii) For the purposes of this section, “qualifying matching funds” means any funding that is dedicated to activities that expand the supply of housing affordable to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, or that prevent and end homelessness, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(I) A dedicated local or regional funding source for homelessness, including funds or in-kind resources used for affordable housing development, housing-related infrastructure, rental assistance or operating subsidies, or supportive services.
(II) A new local or regional funding source dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness.
(III) Impact fee deferrals or impact fee waivers that reduce the cost of developing housing affordable to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. Those quantifiable contributions may include, but are not limited to, the waiver, reduction, or deferral of fees imposed by the local agency for a development project, as defined in Section 66000 of the Government Code, but not those fees exempted for a project under Section 65915 of the Government Code.
(IV) The value of land donations or philanthropic contributions used to support housing, shelter, clinics, or other activities related to housing or servicing people currently or formerly experiencing homelessness for the purpose of maintaining housing stability.
(V) Local government contributions in the form of rental assistance or other permanent or interim housing or supportive services.
(VI) Local government contribution use of state-originated sources, including, but not limited to, the Behavioral Health Services Act, the Permanent Local Housing Allocation Program, the Homekey program, the Community Care Expansion Program, and Behavioral Health Bridge Housing Program. Use of these funds to meet the match is limited to activities that support permanent or interim housing and supportive services for people at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness.
(VII) Sources set forth in subparagraph (D) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 50240 other than federally funded programs and this program.
(VIII) Any other eligible sources, as defined in the notice of funding availability or other guidance issued by the department.
(iii) (I) The department shall post on its website the process for how recipients will demonstrate compliance with the matching fund requirement with reasonably sufficient time for program recipients to complete the process and receive their first round 7 disbursements, if otherwise eligible, by the target date of September 1, 2026. The post shall include instructions and a list of sources that the department has predetermined meet the definition of “qualifying matching funds” in accordance with this section.
(II) As part of the process for demonstrating compliance with the matching fund requirement, the department may require recipients to do any of the following:
(ia) Describe how the funds will be used to expand the supply of housing affordable to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness or that prevent and end homelessness.
(ib) Provide the anticipated timeframe the local fund administrator anticipates expending the funds or providing the in-kind resources.
(ic) Identify the specific budget, appropriation, or other funding action that authorizes or makes those funds available.
(III) As part of the process for demonstrating compliance with the matching fund requirement, the department shall count the total amount of known dollars or value of in-kind resources, identified by the recipient , secured or made available to spend from July 1, 2026, through December 31, 2033, the final expenditure deadline for the remainder disbursement of round 7 funds.
(H) Be in good standing on all reporting requirements, including Homeless Management Information System reporting, for prior rounds.
(2) On or before December 31, 2032, a recipient shall return to the department any initial round 7 funds that have not been expended pursuant to this subdivision, to be reallocated in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
(o) (1) The department shall disburse the second round 7 allocation pursuant to Section 50241 only after the recipient demonstrates all of the following:
(A) Completion of key actions related to round 6 funding committed to in the round 6 program application and regionally coordinated homelessness action plan pursuant to Section 50233.
(B) Improvement on at least one-half of the region’s most recent system performance measures data pursuant to Section 50240 compared to the baseline data from the most recent calendar year when the program commences.
(C) Contractually obligated not less than 75 percent, and has spent not less than 50 percent, of the initial disbursement of round 7 program allocations, or if the expenditure deadline pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (n) has passed, then any remaining initial round 7 funds shall be reallocated in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
(D) Has a compliant housing element, as defined in Section 65589.9 of the Government Code, if the recipient is a city or county. If the recipient does not have a compliant housing element, the department shall hold the disbursement until the recipient is housing element compliant, consistent with paragraph (3) of this subdivision.
(E) (i) Recipients that are cities, and the counties in which those cities are located, shall obtain and maintain a prohousing designation from the department as a condition of receiving the second disbursement of funds.
(ii) A jurisdiction that has not obtained or maintained a prohousing designation is subject to the following conditions:
(I) Funds that would have otherwise been allocated to a jurisdiction that has not obtained or maintained a prohousing designation shall be redirected to another eligible city, county, or continuum of care within the same region that is able to administer the funds, to the extent such an entity exists. A county in which there is a city pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 50241 that has not obtained or maintained a prohousing designation shall not be eligible to receive or administer those funds in any capacity, including as the administrative entity for the continuum of care, unless and until it obtains the prohousing designation.
(II) If no eligible recipient within the region is available to administer the funds, the department may make the second disbursement of funds to a recipient without the prohousing designation, subject to enhanced oversight, technical assistance, and any additional conditions or restrictions on the use of funds deemed necessary by the department.
(F) Maintains compliance with the state guidance on addressing encampments, consistent with subparagraph (F) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (n) of this section.
(G) (i) Recipients that are cities, and the counties in which they are located, shall demonstrate that they will provide qualifying matching funds.
(ii) After the initial disbursement of funds pursuant to subdivision (n), and as a condition of receiving a second disbursement of funds pursuant to this subdivision, a recipient shall demonstrate the availability, over the full grant period, of qualifying matching funds equal to not less than 70 percent of its total allocation, including the 35 percent matching funds required pursuant to subclause (I) of clause (i) of subparagraph (G) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (n) and an additional 35 percent in qualifying matching funds.
(H) Updated the round 6 regionally coordinated homelessness action plan showing all of the following:
(i) Actions taken to resolve the initial encampments identified in round 6.
(ii) Identification of any new encampments, along with a lead entity, timeline, and plan to address these encampments.
(iii) Actions taken to prevent unsheltered homelessness and reduce the pipeline into encampments.
(I) Be in good standing on all reporting requirements, including Homeless Management Information System reporting, for prior rounds.
(2) (A) (i) If the department finds that a grantee has not met all of the requirements in paragraph (1), the department may require the recipient to submit and obtain approval of a corrective action plan before receiving its disbursement.
(ii) The department may require the corrective action plan to include modifications to the recipient’s proposed use of the round 7 funds or to the recipient’s key actions as part of the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan pursuant to Section 50233.
(iii) The department shall offer technical assistance to the recipient.
(iv) Participating jurisdictions shall accomplish these changes or submit a corrective action plan, as applicable, within 30 days of being notified by the department.
(B) The department shall have 30 days to review the corrective action plan to determine if it addressed the department’s concerns and approve the update, or to provide the grantee with additional guidance and a deadline for further amending the corrective action plan to address the department’s concerns.
(3) On or before December 31, 2033, a recipient shall return to the department any round 7 funds that have not been expended pursuant to this subdivision, to be reallocated in accordance with subdivision (i) of Section 50239.
SEC. 17.
Section 50246 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:50246.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) In enacting subparagraph (E) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (n) of Section 50242, it is the intent of the Legislature to continue to partner with the state’s largest jurisdictions to establish and sustain the conditions that accelerate housing production. These jurisdictions account for the majority share of the state’s housing demand, development activity, and homelessness population. Their land use decisions, permitting practices, and regulatory frameworks directly shape housing availability and costs. When affordable housing supply does not keep pace with demand, more households are priced out of stable housing, increasing the risk of, and decreasing exits from, homelessness. Incentivizing these jurisdictions to obtain and maintain a prohousing designation by providing funding to help address homelessness reinforces the connection between local housing policies and regional homelessness outcomes while maximizing the use of limited state resources.
(b) In enacting subparagraph (G) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (n) of Section 50242, the Legislature has the following intent:
(1) To coordinate between the state and its largest jurisdictions in the effort to address, reduce, and prevent homelessness.
(2) That the department provide flexible options to support compliance with the matching fund requirement described in this subparagraph including a range of eligible match sources, technical assistance, sufficient time to align resources with program timelines, and a clear process for program recipients to demonstrate compliance.
(3) That the department strive to minimize the time and administrative workload of this process in alignment with the intent to streamline round 7.
(4) That, in making determinations regarding compliance with the matching fund requirement set forth in subparagraph (G) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (n) of Section 50242, the department shall consider all of the following:
(A) The importance of maintaining the matching fund requirement as a meaningful demonstration of local commitment to preventing and ending homelessness.
(B) Whether a recipient has demonstrated, through clear documentation, that extraordinary and unforeseen fiscal distress or other exigent circumstances beyond the recipient’s reasonable control have materially impaired its ability to satisfy the matching fund requirement despite making good faith efforts to do so.
(C) Whether the recipient has made good faith efforts to maximize available public and private funding sources, including identifying in-kind contributions that substantially advance the purposes of this program.
(D) The need to administer the matching fund requirement in a manner that promotes timely implementation and reduces administrative burdens on the department while preserving program accountability.
(E) Any flexibility exercised by the department pursuant to this paragraph shall be limited to that reasonably necessary to address the demonstrated hardship and shall not be construed to authorize a waiver of the matching fund requirement.
SEC. 18.
Section 50517.5 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50517.5.
(a) (1) The department shall establish the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program under which, subject to the availability of funds, there shall be made to local public entities, nonprofit corporations, limited liability companies, and limited partnerships, any of the following:(A) Loans for the construction or rehabilitation of rental housing for lower-income agricultural employees and their families, including the cost of acquiring the land and any building related thereto and constructing or rehabilitating-related support facilities necessary to the housing. For the funds loaned under this subparagraph, the department shall do all of the following:
(i) Make funds available at the same time it makes funds, if any, available under the Multifamily Housing Program (Chapter 6.7 (commencing with Section 50675)).
(ii) Rate and rank applications in a manner consistent with the Multifamily Housing Program (Chapter 6.7 (commencing with Section 50675)), except that the department may establish additional point categories for the purposes of rating and ranking applications that seek funding pursuant to this paragraph in addition to those used in the Multifamily Housing Program.
(iii) Administer funds subject to this chapter in a manner consistent with the Multifamily Housing Program (Chapter 6.7 (commencing with Section 50675)), except that assisted units may serve agricultural employees and their families with incomes of up to 80 percent of the area median income. Loan terms shall be consistent with Section 50675.6 and any other requirements concerning loan terms in Chapter 6.7 (commencing with Section 50675).
(iv) Only applications meeting the threshold requirements of this subparagraph, and any additional threshold requirements established by the department, shall be eligible to receive funds pursuant to this subparagraph.
(B) Loans that assist development projects involving multiple home ownership units, including single-family subdivisions, for lower-income agricultural employees and their families, including the cost of acquiring the land and constructing or rehabilitating-related support facilities necessary to the housing. Upon completion of construction, the department may convert project loans into grants for programs of assistance to lower-income agricultural employees and their families consistent with the process described in subdivision (c) of Section 50650.3. For the funds loaned under this subparagraph, the department shall do all of the following:
(i) Make funds available at the same time it makes funds, if any, available under the CalHome Program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650).
(ii) Rate and rank applications in a manner consistent with the CalHome Program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650), except that the department may establish additional point categories for the purposes of rating and ranking applications that seek funding pursuant to this paragraph in addition to those used in the CalHome Program.
(iii) Administer funds subject to this chapter in a manner consistent with the CalHome Program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650). Loan terms shall be consistent with loan terms in the CalHome Program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650).
(iv) Only applications meeting the threshold requirements of this subparagraph, and any additional threshold requirements established by the department, shall be eligible to receive funds pursuant to this subparagraph.
(C) Grants for programs that assist lower-income agricultural employees and their families to become or remain homeowners consistent with the eligible funding purposes described in Section 50650.3. For the funds granted under this subparagraph, the department shall do all of the following:
(i) Make funds available at the same time it makes funds, if any, available under the CalHome Program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650).
(ii) Rate and rank applications in a manner consistent with the CalHome Program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650), except that the department may establish additional point categories for the purposes of rating and ranking applications that seek funding pursuant to this paragraph in addition to those used in the CalHome Program.
(iii) Administer funds subject to this chapter in a manner consistent with the CalHome Program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650).
(iv) Only applications meeting the threshold requirements of this subparagraph, and any additional threshold requirements established by the department, shall be eligible to receive funds pursuant to this subparagraph.
(D) Grants for the acquisition of manufactured housing as part of a program to address and remedy the impacts of current and potential displacement of lower-income farmworker families from existing labor camps, mobilehome parks, or other housing, including the cost of acquiring the land related to the housing and constructing or rehabilitating-related support facilities necessary to the housing. For the funds granted under this subparagraph, the department shall do all of the following:
(i) Make funds available at the same time it makes funds, if any, available under the CalHome Program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650).
(ii) Rate and rank applications in a manner consistent with the CalHome Program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650), except that the department may establish additional point categories for the purposes of rating and ranking applications that seek funding pursuant to this paragraph in addition to those used in the CalHome Program.
(iii) Administer funds subject to this chapter in a manner consistent with the CalHome Program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650).
(iv) Only applications meeting the threshold requirements of this subparagraph, and any additional threshold requirements established by the department, shall be eligible to receive funds pursuant to this subparagraph.
(2) With respect to any moneys appropriated for the purposes of this section, the department shall determine the amounts, if any to be made available for each of the purposes described in paragraph (1).
(b) (1) The Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, all money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department for making grants or loans, or both, pursuant to this section and Section 50517.10, for purposes of Chapter 8.5 (commencing with Section 50710), and for costs incurred by the department in administering these programs.
(2) There shall be paid into the fund the following:
(A) Any moneys appropriated and made available by the Legislature for purposes of the fund.
(B) Any moneys that the department receives in repayment or return of grants or loans from the fund, including any interest therefrom.
(C) Any other moneys that may be made available to the department for the purposes of this chapter from any other source or sources.
(D) All moneys appropriated to the department for the purposes of Chapter 8.5 (commencing with Section 50710) and any moneys received by the department from the occupants of housing or shelter provided pursuant to Chapter 8.5 (commencing with Section 50710). These moneys shall be separately accounted for from the other moneys deposited in the fund.
(c) (1) The department may adopt criteria for determining the number of units in a project to which the restrictions on occupancy contained in the agreement shall apply. If the department adopts criteria, the criteria shall provide for the application of the agreement to a percentage of units in a project that is at least as high as the percentage of total development costs that funds granted or loaned pursuant to this section represent.
(2) Prior to funds granted pursuant to this section being used to finance the acquisition of a manufactured home, the grantee shall ensure that the home either is already installed in a location where it will be occupied by the eligible household or that a location has been leased or otherwise made available for the manufactured home to be occupied by the eligible household.
(3) The department shall provide linguistically appropriate services and publications, or require grantees to do so, as necessary to implement the purposes of this section.
(d) The department shall include in its annual report required by Section 50408, a current report of the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program. The report shall include, but need not be limited to, (1) the number of households assisted, (2) the average income of households assisted and the distribution of annual incomes among assisted households, (3) the rents paid by households assisted, (4) the number and amount of grants or loans, or both, made to each grantee in the preceding year, (5) the dollar value of funding derived from sources other than the state for each project receiving a grant or loan, or both, under this section, and an identification of each source, (6) recommendations, as needed, to improve operations of the program and respecting the desirability of extending its application to other groups in rural areas identified by the department as having special need for state housing assistance, and (7) the number of manufactured housing units assisted under this section.
(e) As used in this section:
(1) “Agricultural employee” has the same meaning as specified in subdivision (b) of Section 1140.4 of the Labor Code, but also includes any person who works on or off the farm in the processing of any agricultural commodity until it is shipped for distribution, whether or not this person is encompassed within the definition specified in subdivision (b) of Section 1140.4 of the Labor Code.
(2) “Grantee” means the local public entity, nonprofit corporation, limited liability company, or limited partnership that is awarded the grant or loan, or both, under this section.
(3) “Housing” may include, but is not necessarily limited to, conventionally constructed units and manufactured housing installed pursuant to either Section 18551 or 18613.
(4) “Local public entity” includes, but is not limited to, the duly constituted governing body of an Indian reservation or rancheria or a tribally designated housing entity as defined in Section 4103 of Title 25 of the United States Code and Section 50104.6.5.
(5) “Limited liability company” means a limited liability company where all the members are nonprofit public benefit corporations.
(6) “Limited partnership” means a limited partnership where all of the general partners are either nonprofit public benefit corporations, limited liability companies, or a combination of nonprofit public benefit corporations and limited liability companies.
(7) “Nonprofit corporations” includes, but is not limited to, a tribally designated housing entity as defined in Section 4103 of Title 25 of the United States Code and Section 50104.6.5.
(f) The department may provide the assistance offered pursuant to this chapter in any area where there is a substantial unmet need for farmworker housing.
(g) The department may adopt guidelines to administer this chapter. Guidelines adopted pursuant to this subdivision shall not be subject to the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(h) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2022.
SEC. 19.
Section 50517.8 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50517.8.
A household deemed eligible by the United States Department of Agriculture, under the Rural Housing Loan Program of Section 502 of Title V of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1472 et seq.) shall be deemed eligible for a grant pursuant to this chapter.SEC. 20.
Section 50675 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50675.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) Large numbers of California’s renters face excessive housing costs and live in overcrowded or substandard units. Many of these renters also have special housing needs arising from their employment status, age, or disability, and live in communities suffering from a lack of investment.
(b) In previous years, the state has attempted to address the needs of California renters through a series of small programs operated by the Department of Housing and Community Development, each offering financing targeted at a specific population or building type. These programs were typically highly successful in addressing local housing and community development needs. However, because each individual program came with a unique set of rules, the programs were often costly and time consuming to administer, for both the state and program users.
(c) A more efficient method to address renter housing needs would be to operate one omnibus multifamily housing program modeled upon an existing successful program. This omnibus program would provide a standardized set of program rules and features applicable to all housing types. As particular needs are identified, it may be easily and quickly customized to meet those needs.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Multifamily Housing Program created by this chapter constitute this omnibus multifamily housing program, and that it be based on the department’s existing California Housing Rehabilitation Program as established and described in Subchapter 8 (commencing with Section 7670) of Chapter 7 of Part 1 of Title 25 of the California Code of Regulations.
(e) (1) The Multifamily Housing Program is intended to take the place of the following department programs:
(A) The Deferred-Payment Rehabilitation Loan Program established by Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 50660).
(B) The Rental Housing Construction Program established by Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 50735).
(C) The Family Housing Demonstration Program established by Section 5 of Chapter 30 of the Statutes of 1988.
(2) Repeal of the statutes establishing these programs would be administratively problematic because the department still administers a portfolio of loans from these programs. Therefore, in lieu of repeal, it is the Legislature’s intent that no further allocation of funds be made to these programs and that any and all future funds that would have been appropriated to these programs shall be appropriated instead to the Multifamily Housing Program.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature to designate the Multifamily Housing Program as the state’s primary omnibus affordable housing subsidy program to fundamentally simplify access to state housing resources and to evolve from a patchwork of overlapping programs toward a single pathway to complete financing. By eventually consolidating subsidy administration, the state can improve transparency, speed, and certainty from application through closing, advancing the Governor’s Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2025 and the Affordable Housing Finance Workgroup’s, as described in Section 50300 of the Health and Safety Code, vision for a more efficient and unified housing finance system that delivers fully funded projects and accelerates housing production.
SEC. 21.
Section 50675.4 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50675.4.
(a) To be eligible to receive a loan, a proposed project shall involve one or more of the following activities:(1) The development and construction of a new transitional or rental housing development.
(2) The rehabilitation, or acquisition and rehabilitation, of a transitional or rental housing development.
(3) The conversion of a nonresidential structure to a transitional or rental housing development.
(b) In the case of rehabilitation projects, the department shall prioritize loans that extend affordability and reduce displacement risk for lower income households.
(c) To be eligible to receive a loan, the sponsor shall agree to both of the following:
(1) To set and maintain affordable rent levels for assisted units.
(2) To the payment of prevailing wage rates with respect to construction assisted through the program. In implementing this paragraph, it is the intent of the Legislature that this requirement apply to construction work that is dependent on the commitment of program funds in order for construction to proceed. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department’s enforcement responsibilities shall be limited to the imposition of this requirement through the lending documents. The department shall require, as a condition of loan closing, a signed certificate that prevailing wages have been, or will be, paid in conformance with the requirements of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1720) of Part 7 of the Labor Code and that labor records shall be made available to any enforcement agency upon request. The requirements of this paragraph shall not apply to projects for which program funds are used exclusively to achieve lower rents and to pay associated administrative costs.
SEC. 22.
Section 50675.6 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50675.6.
(a) A sponsor may apply for loans for one or more rental or transitional housing developments. A housing development may utilize any combination of federal, state, local, and private financial resources necessary to make the development affordable, for the term of the state’s regulatory agreement, to the eligible households.(b) (1) Loans made pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 50675.7 to sponsors by a local public entity as part of its code enforcement efforts for rental housing developments involving rehabilitation shall only be for terms of not less than 20 years. All other loans shall be for a term of not less than 55 years.
(2) For loans made pursuant to this chapter, the department may approve an extension of an existing loan, the subordination of an existing loan to new debt, or an investment of tax credit equity, as long as the rental housing development is being operated in a manner consistent with the regulatory agreement and the development requires an extension in order to continue to operate in a manner consistent with this chapter. Each extension shall be for a period of not less than 10 years and each extension shall not exceed 55 years or, if needed to match the term of tax credit restrictions, exceed 58 years. The interest rate for the extension shall be 3 percent simple interest, or such interest rate as authorized by the department pursuant to Section 50406.7. All loan payments shall be deferred for the full term of the loan, except for residual receipts payments. These residual receipts payments shall be structured to avoid reducing the amount of payments on local public agency loans resulting solely from changes in the payment terms on the department’s loan, and not resulting from fees or other payments to the borrower, and shall otherwise be consistent with the department’s uniform multifamily regulations (Subchapter 19 (commencing with Section 8300) of Chapter 7 of Division 1 of Title 25 of the California Code of Regulations) or successor regulations. The department may charge a transaction fee to cover its costs for processing such restructuring transactions. The department may waive or defer some or all of this fee, if it determines that a particular development or class of developments does not have the ability to make these payments.
(c) Principal and accumulated interest is due and payable upon completion of the term of the loan. The loan shall bear simple interest at the rate of 3 percent per annum on the unpaid principal balance. The department may forgive that portion of that loan that is used to cover costs of developing child care facilities. The department shall require annual loan payments in the minimum amount necessary to cover the costs of project monitoring. For the first 30 years of the loan term, the amount of the required loan payments shall not exceed forty-two hundredths of 1 percent (.42%) per annum.
(d) The department may establish maximum loan-to-value requirements for some or all of the types of projects that are eligible for funding under this chapter.
(e) The department may establish per-unit and per-project loan limits for all project types.
SEC. 23.
Section 50675.15 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:50675.15.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:(1) “Eligible individual” means an individual who meets both of the following criteria:
(A) The individual is experiencing homelessness, as defined in this chapter.
(B) The individual or head of household is eligible to receive qualifying services.
(2) “Experiencing homelessness” means the same as “homeless” and “homelessness,” as those terms are each defined in Section 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as that section read on January 1, 2022, except that people who were homeless upon admission to an institutional setting shall continue to be considered homeless upon discharge, regardless of the length of time residing in the institutional setting. For the purposes of this paragraph, people who have lost their housing as a result of institutionalization, including, but not limited to, institutionalization in skilled nursing facilities, acute care hospitals, psychiatric facilities, jails, and prisons, and have no home to live in upon discharge are considered homeless regardless of the length of time residing in the institutional setting.
(3) “Qualifying services” includes all of the following:
(A) Services received under the Assisted Living Waiver pursuant to state law and Section 1915(c) of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396n(c)).
(B) Services received under the Home and Community-Based Alternatives Waiver pursuant to state law and Section 1915(c) of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396n(c)).
(C) Services received under the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) pursuant to Chapter 8.75 (commencing with Section 14591) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(b) By December 31, 2023, the department shall do both of the following:
(1) With respect to funds made available under this chapter, award incentives listed in subdivision (c) to project applicants that agree to all of the following:
(A) Set aside at least 20 percent of the project’s units for eligible individuals. If the project includes more than 100 units, the applicant shall agree to set aside no more than 50 percent of the project’s units for eligible individuals.
(B) Demonstrate viability of linking the units to qualifying services.
(C) Accept referrals from local coordinated entry systems.
(2) Partner with the State Department of Health Care Services to determine the most effective way to align qualifying services in housing projects funded under this chapter, including, but not limited to, expediting enrollment, prioritizing waiver and PACE programs for eligible individuals, reducing administrative barriers to using qualifying services in publicly subsidized housing, creating partnerships between developers and providers of qualifying services, and developing sample memoranda of understanding or contracts between developers and providers of qualifying services.
(c) The department shall offer project applicants the following incentives:
(1) Loan limits or program funding for impacted units higher than offered to other units for people experiencing homelessness.
(2) An exemption for project applicants to submit a services plan for units set aside under this section, so long as the project applicant has completed an executed agreement with a provider of qualifying services to offer services in set aside units. The department shall determine whether the qualifying services are provided in a manner that complies with the applicable requirements of Section 8255 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and that services provided in each project are meeting applicable department requirements governing staff-to-client ratios.
(3) Based on data and a best practice analysis, providers may receive a higher services cap or an exemption from services caps the department imposes.
(4) Allowing project applicants to use funds made available under this chapter for creating alternative care sites for projects aligning with PACE or other service space to offer other qualifying services to eligible individuals. Alternative care sites shall be funded to operate in a manner consistent with state law, department regulations, and program guidelines.
(d) The department shall engage a consultant to examine to what extent caps are needed on the amount of supportive services that can be paid through project operating budgets on any project funded under this chapter.
(e) No later than 180 days following the first year of operation of a representative sample of projects, with respect to projects receiving incentives under subdivision (b), the department shall assess tenant outcomes and engage with an evaluator to identify both of the following:
(1) The number and demographics, including age, race, or ethnicity, and presubsidy housing status, of people being served.
(2) Housing retention rates.
SEC. 24.
Chapter 6.9 (commencing with Section 51349.1) is added to Part 3 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:CHAPTER 6.9. Disaster Rebuilding Fund Act
51349.1.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Disaster Rebuilding Fund Act.51349.2.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The Legislature finds that disasters resulting in a state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor have destroyed or severely damaged large numbers of single-family homes, duplexes, and accessory dwelling units leaving many households without the resources or access to affordable financing needed to rebuild their homes and return to their communities.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage and facilitate responsible private lending for the construction and reconstruction of owner-occupied single-family homes and multifamily homes of one to four units in disaster-impacted areas by authorizing the California Housing Finance Agency to administer a construction loan loss guarantee program and construction loan rate buydown program, and to authorize additional mortgage assistance or lending programs as may be appropriate and consistent with the purpose of this chapter. This may include, but is not limited to, a low-interest, deferred-payment subordinate loan program to facilitate access to financing. This program is intended to leverage private capital in a cost-effective manner, reduce the cost of reconstruction financing for homeowners in need, and expand access to affordable lending to enable households to reduce their costs and to rebuild more quickly.
(c) It is further the intent of the Legislature that all obligations, commitments, and guarantees issued pursuant to this act shall be obligations solely of the fund created by this act and shall not constitute a debt or liability of the state. The Legislature further intends that the fund may be supported over time through a combination of public resources, private sector participation, eligible disaster recovery funding, and other program revenues. The Legislature further intends that the structure of the program allow the agency to leverage additional private and philanthropic capital and other available disaster recovery resources to expand the capacity of the fund to support rebuilding efforts over time.
(d) It is further the intent of the Legislature that the program be implemented in a manner that prioritizes households and communities most affected by a disaster and expands access to reconstruction financing for homeowners who may otherwise face barriers obtaining affordable lending. The Legislature further intends that, in administering the program, the agency shall prioritize assistance toward households with the greatest unmet rebuilding needs.
51349.3.
For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:(a) “Agency” means the California Housing Finance Agency.
(b) “Construction loan loss guarantee” means a form of credit enhancement in which the agency agrees to reimburse a participating lender for a portion of the loss incurred on an eligible construction loan made to an eligible homeowner for the construction, reconstruction, or renovation of a home damaged or destroyed in a qualified disaster.
(c) “Construction loan rate buydown” means a form of financial assistance in which the agency reimburses the participating lender for all or a portion of lender funded temporary or permanent interest rate reductions on an eligible construction loan made to an eligible homeowner for the construction, reconstruction, or renovation of a home damaged or destroyed in a qualified disaster.
(d) “Qualified disaster” means a disaster that received a state of emergency proclamation by the Governor, or a major disaster declaration approved by the President of the United States.
51349.4.
(a) The agency shall establish the Disaster Rebuilding Assistance Program, to be administered by the agency, for the purpose of supporting construction, reconstruction, and renovation loans for properties damaged or destroyed in a qualified disaster.(b) The Disaster Rebuilding Assistance Program may include the following forms of assistance:
(1) A construction loan loss guarantee program.
(2) A construction loan rate buydown program.
(3) A low-interest, deferred-payment subordinate loan program to facilitate access to financing.
(4) (A) Any additional programs the agency determines to be appropriate and consistent with the purpose of this chapter.
(B) If the agency expends more than ten million dollars ($10,000,000) on any additional program pursuant to this paragraph, then the agency shall first provide the Department of Finance and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee with the spending plan for the program and the basis on which the assistance will be provided.
(c) (1) There is hereby created in the State Treasury the Disaster Rebuilding Fund, to be administered by the agency.
(2) Moneys deposited in the fund may include appropriations from the Legislature from the General Fund or other state fund, the sale or issuance of any debt instrument secured by repayment of loans originated pursuant to this chapter, or money received pursuant to paragraph (3).
(3) The agency may collect or receive moneys from contractual agreements, donations, bequests, or local government appropriations, or any other source permitted by law to be deposited into the Disaster Rebuilding Fund.
(4) (A) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, all moneys in the Disaster Rebuilding Fund are continuously appropriated to the agency, without regard to fiscal years, for expenditure pursuant to this chapter and for defraying administrative costs of the agency.
(B) The administrative costs of the agency shall not exceed 5 percent of appropriations to the fund.
(5) Notwithstanding Section 16305.7 of the Government Code, any interest earned or other increment derived from investments made from moneys in the Disaster Rebuilding Fund shall be deposited in the fund.
(d) The state and the agency shall not be liable beyond the assets of the fund for any obligation in connection therewith.
51349.5.
(a) The agency shall adopt guidelines for the Disaster Rebuilding Assistance Program that include, but are not limited to, all of the following:(1) Eligibility criteria, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Verification that the home was damaged or destroyed in a qualified disaster.
(B) Proof of ownership or occupation as a primary residence at the time of the disaster.
(C) Intent to owner-occupy the property as a primary residence within 60 days of construction completion.
(D) (i) Ownership by a natural person.
(ii) Properties may be eligible if the homeowner has transferred their ownership interest into a living trust, provided the homeowner remains a beneficiary of such trust and occupies the home as their primary residence.
(E) Property type, including, but not limited to:
(i) Single family properties.
(ii) Planned unit developments.
(iii) Individual condominium units.
(iv) Properties containing four or fewer units.
(v) Accessory dwelling units.
(vi) Manufactured homes that are permanently affixed to real property and land owned by borrower.
(2) Prioritization of rebuilding assistance based on each of the following criteria:
(A) Communities with the highest percentage of destroyed housing.
(B) Communities with the greatest unmet disaster-related reconstruction needs.
(3) Incentives for borrowers at the greatest risk of displacement due to heightened difficulty to obtain or afford financing to rebuild their homes without assistance.
(4) Income limit requirements based on borrower income.
(5) Underwriting standards, collateral requirements, minimum borrower equity provisions, and risk-sharing structures consistent with prudent financial practice.
(6) Consumer education components.
(7) Safeguards against predatory, discriminatory, or unlawful lending practices.
(8) Public outreach requirements, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Language access.
(B) Coordination with community organizations.
(C) Proactive components to ensure awareness among disaster-impacted community members.
(9) Lender qualification standards, including, but not limited to, both of the following:
(A) Current and proper licensure.
(B) (i) Approval by a federal housing agency, such as the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac).
(ii) Eligible lenders may also include community development financial institutions certified by the United States Department of the Treasury or other lenders not approved by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or the Federal Housing Administration subject to program review and approval. Program staff shall consider lender experience, financial capacity, and operational readiness in determining eligibility.
(10) Limitations on lender fees.
(b) Guidelines, policies, procedures, and regulations issued pursuant to this chapter shall not be subject to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
51349.6.
(a) The agency shall complete an initial phase of the program, shall conduct an evaluation of this initial phase, and shall report the results of the evaluation to the Legislature pursuant to Section 9795 of the Government Code and to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, Housing Committees, and Emergency Management Committees on or before January 10, 2027. The assessment shall include all of the following:(1) A description of program activity.
(2) Data regarding the guarantees issued.
(3) Geographic distribution.
(4) Borrower demographics.
(5) How the balance of the funds appropriated to the program in the Budget Act of 2026 are planned to be allocated among the forms of assistance set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 51349.4.
(b) Within 30 days of receiving the report described in subdivision (a), the Joint Legislative Budget Committee may provide feedback in writing on the proposed funding breakdown described in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a). The agency shall consider this feedback for the remaining phases or any future program allocations.
51349.7.
The agency shall communicate with relevant public agencies, including local, state, and federal agencies, to avoid duplication of benefits and to support program alignment with disaster recovery efforts.51349.8.
The agency may contract with public or private entities for the processing of guarantees or related administrative functions.51349.9.
On or before March 1, 2028, and each year thereafter, the agency shall submit a report to the Legislature pursuant to Section 9795 of the Government Code, describing program activity, including guarantees issued, geographic distribution, borrower demographics, claims paid, and recommendations for improvement.SEC. 25.
Part 18 (commencing with Section 54920) is added to Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:Showing the opening sections of a long bill. Connect Plus has the full text and every earlier version of AB 179.Compare versions