Bill Text: CA AB2479 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 2479

Bill Title: Housing First: core components.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-06-05 - Referred to Coms. on HOUSING and RLS. [AB2479 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2479-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly April 25, 2024

Amended IN Assembly March 19, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2479

Introduced by Assembly Member Haney
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Kalra)

February 13, 2024

An act to amend Section 8255 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to housing.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2479, as amended, Haney. Housing First: core components.

Existing law requires agencies and departments administering state programs related to homelessness to adopt guidelines and regulations to incorporate core components of Housing First, as defined. Under existing law, Housing First includes time-limited rental or services assistance, so long as the housing and service provider assists the recipient, among other things, in accessing permanent housing. Existing law defines “state programs” for this purpose as any program a California state agency or department funds, implements, or administers for the purpose of providing housing or housing-based services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, except as provided. Under existing law, the core components of Housing First include, among others, services that are informed by a harm-reduction philosophy that recognizes drug and alcohol use and addiction as a part of tenants’ lives, where tenants are engaged in nonjudgmental communication regarding drug and alcohol use, and where tenants are offered education regarding how to avoid risky behaviors and engage in safer practices, as well as connected to evidence-based treatment if the tenant so chooses.

This bill would clarify, pursuant to that core component, that state departments ~~and~~ or agencies may allow programs to fund recovery ~~housing, as defined, if the state program uses at least 75% of funds for housing or housing-based services using a harm-reduction model and the recovery housing complies with~~ housing, as defined, that use substance use-specific services, peer support, and physical design features supporting individuals and families on a path to recovery from addiction that emphasizes abstinence, so long as the state program meets specified requirements. The bill would require the housing related to time-limited rental or services assistance to meet the core components of Housing First.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 8255 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:

8255.

For purposes of this chapter:

(a) “Council” means the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, formerly known as the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council established pursuant to Section 8257.

(b) “Core components of Housing First” means all of the following:

(1) Tenant screening and selection practices that promote accepting applicants regardless of their sobriety or use of substances, completion of treatment, or participation in services.

(2) Applicants are not rejected on the basis of poor credit or financial history, poor or lack of rental history, criminal convictions unrelated to tenancy, or behaviors that indicate a lack of “housing readiness.”

(3) Acceptance of referrals directly from shelters, street outreach, drop-in centers, and other parts of crisis response systems frequented by vulnerable people experiencing homelessness.

(4) Supportive services that emphasize engagement and problem solving over therapeutic goals and service plans that are highly tenant-driven without predetermined goals.

(5) Participation in services or program compliance is not a condition of permanent housing tenancy.

(6) Tenants have a lease and all the rights and responsibilities of tenancy, as outlined in ~~California’s~~ the Civil, Health and Safety, and Government ~~codes.~~ Codes.

(7) The use of alcohol or drugs in and of itself, without other lease violations, is not a reason for eviction.

(8) In communities with coordinated assessment and entry systems, incentives for funding promote tenant selection plans for supportive housing that prioritize eligible tenants based on criteria other than “first-come-first-serve,” including, but not limited to, the duration or chronicity of homelessness, vulnerability to early mortality, or high utilization of crisis services. Prioritization may include triage tools, developed through local data, to identify high-cost, high-need homeless residents.

(9) Case managers and service coordinators who are trained in and actively employ evidence-based practices for client engagement, including, but not limited to, motivational interviewing and client-centered counseling.

(10) (A) Services are informed by a harm-reduction philosophy that recognizes drug and alcohol use and addiction as a part of tenants’ lives, where tenants are engaged in nonjudgmental communication regarding drug and alcohol use, and where tenants are offered education regarding how to avoid risky behaviors and engage in safer practices, as well as connected to evidence-based treatment if the tenant so chooses. State departments and agencies may allow programs to fund recovery housing if the state program uses at least 75 percent of funds for housing or housing-based services using a harm-reduction model, and that the recovery housing complies with all of the following:

(B) State departments or agencies may allow programs to fund recovery housing, as defined in subparagraph (C), that use substance use-specific services, peer support, and physical design features supporting individuals and families on a path to recovery from addiction that emphasizes abstinence, so long as the state program meets all of the following requirements:
(i) The state program uses at least 75 percent of funds in each county for housing or housing-based services using a harm reduction model.
(ii) The state program shall require an applicant for funding, in the submission of an application for funding, to demonstrate engagement with people with lived experience of homelessness and substance use that informs the local decision to seek funding for recovery housing options. An applicant shall include minutes or notes of at least two meetings between the applicant and a new or existing body of people with lived experience of homelessness and substance use in order to demonstrate engagement with people with lived experience of homelessness and substance use.
(iii) The state program shall require a grantee under the program, prior to awarding subgrants, to confirm that the subgrantee has achieved successful outcomes in promoting housing retention, similar to rates of housing retention as harm reduction programs.
(iv) The state performs periodic monitoring of select recovery housing programs to ensure that the recovery housing complies with the following:
~~(A)~~

(I) The individual or family is offered options and chooses recovery housing over housing offering a harm-reduction approach.

~~(B)~~

(II) The recovery housing otherwise complies with all other components of Housing First in this ~~section.~~ section, including low barrier to entry.

~~(C)~~

(III) Participation in a program is self-initiated.

~~(D)~~

(IV) Core outcomes emphasize long-term housing stability and minimize returns to homelessness.

~~(E)~~

(V) Policies and operations ensure individual rights of privacy, dignity, and respect, and freedom from coercion and restraint, as well as continuous, uninterrupted access to the housing.

~~(F)~~

(VI) Holistic services and peer-based recovery supports are available to all program participants along with services that align with participants’ choice and prioritization of personal goals of sustained recovery and abstinence from substance use.

~~(G)~~

(VII) The housing abides by local and state landlord-tenant laws governing grounds for eviction.

~~(H)~~

(VIII) Relapse is not a cause for eviction from housing ~~and, instead,~~ and tenants receive relapse support. ~~Eviction~~

(IX) Eviction from recovery housing ~~should~~ shall only occur when a tenant’s behavior substantially disrupts or impacts the welfare of the recovery community in which the tenant resides. A tenant may apply to reenter the housing program if expressing a renewed commitment to living in a housing setting targeted to people in recovery with an abstinence focus. If

(X) If a tenant is no longer interested in living in a ~~recovery-housing~~ recovery housing model or the tenant is at risk of eviction, the housing program provides assistance in accessing housing operated with harm-reduction principles that is also permanent housing.

(C) For purposes of this paragraph, “recovery housing” means a residence that serves individuals experiencing, or who are at risk of experiencing, homelessness or who are experiencing serious mental illness or substance use disorders and that does all of the following:
(1) Satisfies the core components of Housing First pursuant to this section.
(2) Uses substance use-specific services, peer support, and physical design features supporting individuals and families on a path to recovery from addiction.
(3) Emphasizes abstinence.

(11) The project and specific apartment may include special physical features that accommodate disabilities, reduce harm, and promote health and community and independence among tenants.

(c) “Homeless” has the same definition as that term is defined in Section 91.5 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(d) (1) “Housing First” means the evidence-based model that uses housing as a tool, rather than a reward, for recovery and that centers on providing or connecting homeless people to permanent housing as quickly as possible. Housing First providers offer services as needed and requested on a voluntary basis and ~~that~~ do not make housing contingent on participation in services.

(2) (A) “Housing First” includes time-limited rental or services assistance, so long as the housing and service provider assists the recipient in accessing permanent housing and in securing longer term rental assistance, income assistance, or employment, and the housing otherwise meets the core components identified in this section.

(B) For time-limited, supportive services programs serving homeless youth, programs should use a positive youth development model and be culturally competent to serve unaccompanied youth under 25 years of age. Providers should work with the youth to engage in family reunification efforts, where appropriate and when in the best interest of the youth. In the event of an eviction, programs shall make every effort, which shall be documented, to link tenants to other stable, safe, and decent housing options. Exit to homelessness should be extremely rare, and only after a tenant refuses assistance with housing search, location, and move-in assistance.

(e)“Recovery housing” means a housing model using substance use-specific services, peer support, and physical design features supporting individuals and families on a path to recovery from addiction that emphasizes abstinence.
~~(f)~~

(e) “State programs” means any programs a California state agency or department funds, implements, or administers for the purpose of providing housing or housing-based services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, with the exception of federally funded programs with requirements inconsistent with this chapter.

(f) “Trauma-informed practices” means a trauma-informed approach to care guided by the principles of safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, collaboration and mutuality, empowerment and choice, and cultural, historical, and gender issues.