Bill Text: CA AB653 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 653

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Federal Housing Voucher Acceleration Program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2023-08-17 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [AB653 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB653-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly April 17, 2023

Amended IN Assembly March 23, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 653

Introduced by Assembly Member Reyes
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Connolly, Kalra, Luz Rivas, and Schiavo)
(Coauthor: Senator Becker)

February 09, 2023

An act to add Chapter 2.9 (commencing with Section 50495) to Part 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 653, as amended, Reyes. Federal Housing Voucher Acceleration Program.

Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. Under existing law, the department is responsible for administering various housing programs throughout the state, including, among others, the California Emergency Solutions and Housing Program, which, among other things, provides rental assistance and housing relocation and stabilization services to ensure housing affordability for people who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness.

Existing law, the Housing Authorities Law, creates a housing authority in each county and each city that is authorized to transact business and exercise specified powers upon adoption of a resolution by the governing body of the county or city declaring that there is a need for the authority to function. Among other things, existing law authorizes a housing authority to prepare, carry out, acquire, lease, and operate housing projects and housing developments for persons of low income, as provided.

This bill would establish the Federal Housing Voucher Acceleration Program, and would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to allocate $200,000,000, as specified, to establish, administer, and fund a grant application process and award grants to public housing authorities in geographically diverse communities, as determined by the department, on or before July 1, 2024. The bill would authorize applicants to use grant funds to provide specified services to the eligible population. The bill would require the department to allocate grant funds to applicants based upon the number of public housing and Section 8 vouchers maintained by the housing authority and by a housing authority’s success rate, defined as the percentage of new voucher families that successfully lease a qualifying unit.

This bill would provide that assistance, services, or supports received pursuant to these provisions are not income or a resource of the participant for purposes of determining eligibility for, or benefits pursuant to, public assistance programs. The bill would require applicants that receive grant funds pursuant to the program to submit a report to the department on or before January 1 of the year following receipt of the funds, and annually thereafter, and would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, to submit a report to specified Senate and Assembly committees that includes the recipients’ reports, as specified, and an evaluation of the outcomes and status of the program. The bill would require the department to provide technical assistance to applicants that receive grant funds, as specified.

This bill would require all public housing authorities to report their monthly success rate to the department, and, if the success rate is below 60% for 2 consecutive quarters, to take specified actions, including opting in to a federal program and submitting a report to the department that analyzes the potential for other policies to increase success rates. Because the bill would require certain local housing authorities to perform additional duties, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the department to require an authority to make other changes to its practices and would require the department to report to the Legislature annually an evaluation of the statewide success rate and changes made to increase efficiencies in placements.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

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

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

SECTION 1.

Chapter 2.9 (commencing with Section 50495) is added to Part 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

CHAPTER 2.9. Federal Housing Voucher Acceleration Program

50495.

For purposes of this chapter:

(a) “Applicant” means a public housing authority created pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 34200) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 24, or a community-based organization or nonprofit in partnership with a public housing authority.

(b) “Department” means the Department of Housing and Community Development.

(c) “Eligible population” means an applicant or participant in a federal housing voucher program administered pursuant to Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1437f).

(d) “Exception payment standard” has the same meaning as defined in Section 982.503(c) of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(e) “Holding fees” means payment to a private-market landlord as an incentive to hold a housing unit available for an eligible participant while the participant or landlord is waiting for approval to rent or lease the housing unit.

(f) “Housing navigation services” means services that assist program participants with locating, applying for, and moving into permanent housing.

(g) “Landlord incentives” means incentives to landlords to provide permanent housing, including, but not limited to, holding fees, signing bonuses, payment for repairs made in advance of occupancy to ensure compliance with habitability standards, and contractors to assist the landlord in making repairs.

(h) “Medium housing authorities” means the same as “low medium” and “high medium” and are public housing authorities that have a combined total of 1,001 to 6,000 public housing units and Section 8 vouchers.

(i) “Mobility counseling” means services that assist program participants with locating, applying for, and moving into permanent housing, with an emphasis on helping families move to low-poverty neighborhoods.

(j) “Payment standard” means the maximum monthly assistance payment for a family assisted in the voucher program before deducting the total tenant payment by the family, as defined by Section 982.4 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(k) “Security deposit” means a residential security deposit pursuant to Section 1950.5 of the Civil Code and does not include a fee in lieu of a security deposit.

(l) “Small housing authorities” means the same as “very small” and “small” and are public housing authorities that have a combined total of 1,000 or fewer public housing units and Section 8 vouchers.

(m) “Small area fair market rents” has the same meaning as defined in Section 888.113(c) of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(n) “Success rate” means the percentage of new voucher families that successfully leased a qualifying unit.

(o) “Turn-back rate” means the percentage of families that receive a voucher but then turn the voucher back into the public housing authority at the expiration of the search term because they cannot find a unit.

(p) “Voucher utilization rate” means the number of units leased with voucher assistance as a percentage of the number of units that were under the Annual Contributions Contract (ACC) between the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and the public housing authority.

50496.

(a) Upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature for the purpose of establishing, administering, and funding the program pursuant to this chapter, the department shall allocate one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) for that purpose each fiscal year for two years, beginning with the 2023–24 fiscal year.

(b) On or before July 1, 2024, the department shall create a grant application process and award grants to applicants in geographically diverse communities, as determined by the department. The department shall allocate grant funds as follows:

(1) At least 25 percent of the funds shall be available to applicants that have a success rate below 60 percent.

(2) At least 15 percent of the funds shall be made available to small housing authorities.

(3) At least 30 percent of the funds shall be made available to medium housing authorities.

(c) An applicant may use grant funds for any of the following eligible uses to provide services to the eligible population:

(1) Holding fees, signing bonuses, and other landlord incentives.

(2) Housing navigation and housing mobility services.

(3) Security deposits.

(4) Costs of establishing leases with landlords.

(5) Landlord recruitment activities.

(6) Administrative activities of the housing authority for purposes of providing services to the eligible populations under this program. However, no more than 10 percent of the grant award may be used for this purpose.

50497.

Notwithstanding any other law, and to the extent allowable under federal law, assistance, services, or supports received pursuant to this chapter are not income or a resource of the participant for purposes of determining eligibility for, or benefits pursuant to, any public assistance program.

50498.

(a) An applicant that receives grant funds pursuant to the program shall submit a report to the department on or before January 1 of the year following receipt of the funds, and annually thereafter, until all funds have been expended. The report shall be on a form provided by the department, and shall include all of the following, and any additional information that the department deems appropriate or necessary:

(1) Nature of the use of funds.

(2) Number of voucher families served with the funds.

(3) Success rate before receiving the grant.

(4) Success rate after receiving the grant.

(5) The ZIP Codes to which family participants that accessed the services provided under the program successfully moved and the number of family participants that moved to units in each of those ZIP Codes.

(b) On or before January 1, 2026, and annually thereafter until all the funds have been expended, the department shall submit a report to the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development, the Senate Committee on Housing, the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, the Assembly Committee on Budget, the Senate and Assembly Committees on Human Services, and the Senate and Assembly Committees on Health that includes a summary of the reports submitted to the department pursuant to subdivision (a) and an evaluation of the outcomes and status of the program.

(c) The department shall provide technical assistance to applicants that receive grant funds for the purpose of administering the program pursuant to this chapter. No more than 5 percent of the funds appropriated by the Legislature for the purpose of establishing, administering, and funding the program pursuant to this chapter shall be used by the department to provide technical assistance.

50499.

(a) Beginning January 1, 2024, and every quarter thereafter, all public housing authorities shall report their monthly success rates to the department disaggregated by voucher type by race of population served. If an authority’s success rate is below 60 percent for two consecutive quarters, the authority shall do all of the following:

(1) Opt in to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Small Area Fair Market rents for all metro areas in the authority’s jurisdiction within the three months following the report in a manner that:

(A) Complies with federal requirements according to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Public and Indian Housing Notice PIH 2018-01, including amending its administrative plan.

(B) Holds current tenants harmless so there is no reduction in the amount of subsidy. A public housing authority is required to continue to use the existing higher payment standard for the current family’s subsidy calculation for as long as the family continues to receive the voucher assistance in that unit.

(C) Allows the housing authority to utilize up to 110 percent Small Area Fair Market Rent, or higher if approved by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, as an Exception Payment Standard in a ZIP Code after considering the local rental market.

(D) Allows the housing authority to request an exemption from the requirements of this paragraph if the housing authority asserts that it meets any of the conditions in Section 888.113(c)(4) of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The department shall determine whether any of the conditions apply and if so, may decide not to require an authority to adopt Small Area Fair Market Rents pursuant to this paragraph.

(2) Submit a report to the department that analyzes the potential for other policies to increase success rates, including, but not limited to:

(A) The time it takes to inspect an apartment before move-in.

(B) Voucher search times.

(b) The department may require an authority to make other changes to its practices, including, but not limited to, increasing payment standards, and the authority shall comply within a reasonable period of time.

(c) The department shall report to the Legislature annually an evaluation of the statewide success rate and changes made to increase efficiencies in placements.

SEC. 2.

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.