Bill Text: CA SB1010 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: Parolees: Supportive Housing Pilot Program.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-5)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-08-16 - August 16 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. [SB1010 Detail]

Download: California-2017-SB1010-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  March 12, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 1010

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Introduced by Senator Beall
(Coauthors: Senators Anderson, Atkins, Hertzberg, Hill, Moorlach, Nielsen, Portantino, Stern, and Wiener)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chiu, Chu, Gallagher, Gipson, Mullin, and Waldron)

February 06, 2018

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An act to amend Sections 2985.1, 2985.3, 2985.4, and 2985.5 of, and to repeal and add Section 2985.2 of, the Penal Code, relating to parole.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 1010, as amended, Beall. Parolees: Supportive Housing Pilot Program.

Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide a supportive housing program that provides wraparound services to mentally ill parolees at risk of homelessness using funding appropriated for that purpose. Existing law makes an inmate or parolee eligible for participation if he or she has a serious mental disorder, as specified, and has been assigned a release date from state prison and is likely to become homeless upon release or is currently a homeless parolee. Existing law requires providers to offer various services, including housing location services and rental subsidies and establishes criteria for housing that qualifies for the program. Existing law requires providers to report to the department regarding the intended outcomes of the program, including the number of participants served and the outcomes for participants. Existing law also requires the department to prepare an analysis of the information, as specified, and to annually submit, on or before February 1, the information and the analysis to the chairs of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and other specified committees.

This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2020, to create the Supportive Housing Pilot Program, which would establish a process and timeline for finalizing a memorandum of understanding with one or more counties in which the department would agree to use current funding to, among other things, refer eligible parolees to participating counties for mental health treatment, housing navigation services, and supportive housing services, and to use remaining resources, as specified, to pay for bridge rental assistance, as defined, and services in supportive housing during the program participant’s term of parole. The participating counties would agree to provide community-based mental health treatment within the existing county Medi-Cal mental health program if ongoing treatment for the participant is medically necessary and to fund rental assistance and services, as specified. Among other changes, the bill would revise the criteria for housing that qualifies as supportive housing opportunities, as specified. The bill would require a participating county, rather than the homeless services providers, to report to the department regarding the intended outcomes of the program, and would expand the scope of the information to include the percentage of program participants currently living in permanent housing and the number who were arrested and are residing in a county jail. The bill would delete the requirement that the department submit the information and analysis described above annually and would instead require the department to submit that information no later than January 1, 2023.

Digest Key

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

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Bill Text

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

SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Evidence shows that “supportive housing,” or housing that is affordable to parolees living in poverty, without limits on length of stay, with rights and responsibilities of tenancy, coupled with services promoting housing stability, effectively reduces recidivism and improves the tenant’s ability to recover from mental illness.

(b) The Legislature passed, and the Governor signed, Senate Bill 1021 in 2012, which included direction to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide, pursuant to Section 3073 of Penal Code, a supportive housing program for mentally ill parolees, as set forth in Article 5 (commencing with Section 2985) of Chapter 7 of Title 1 of Part 3 of the Penal Code. The program was intended to use funds budgeted for the Integrated Services for Mentally Ill Parolees or other programs to serve the purposes outlined in Senate Bill 1021. Since 2012, the budget has not referred to the program by name and funds have not been used for their legislatively intended purposes.

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to strengthen corrections programs to ensure that the department promotes the evidence-based, wraparound services, including rental subsidies in an amount adequate to allow mentally ill parolees experiencing homelessness, or at risk of experiencing homelessness upon release from prison, to obtain and maintain housing stability during and after the term of parole, thereby reducing recidivism among parolees with a history of homelessness.

(d) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to provide evidence-based, comprehensive mental health and supportive services, including housing subsidies, to parolees who suffer from mental illness and are either homeless or at risk of homelessness, in order to successfully reintegrate the parolees into the community, increase public safety, and reduce state costs of recidivism.

SEC. 2.

 Section 2985.1 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

2985.1.

 For purposes of this article, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) “Bridge rental assistance” means rental assistance paid to participating landlords while the homeless services provider and the program participant seek permanent rental assistance that allows the program participant to remain in the same housing or, when feasible, allows the program participant to be responsible for paying the rent after the program participant is no longer on parole.

(b) “Department” means the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

(c) “Fair market rent” means the rent, including the cost of utilities, other than the telephone, as established by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, for units of varying sizes, as determined by the number of bedrooms, that must be paid in the market area to rent privately owned, existing, decent, safe, and sanitary rental housing of a modest nature with suitable amenities.

(d) “Homelessness” has the same meaning as in Section 91.5 of Part 91 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(e) “Homeless services provider” means an organization that qualifies as an exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) and that contracts with the relevant participating county to provide services to people experiencing homelessness, funded under the Supportive Housing Pilot Program, created pursuant to Section 2985.2, to provide services to participants of the program.

(f) “Housing navigation” means services provided prior to release or in the community that assist program participants with all of the following:

(1) Locating housing with landlords willing to accept rental assistance from the program participants.

(2) Completing housing applications.

(3) Obtaining documentation needed to access housing.

(g) “Integrated Services for Mentally Ill Parolees program” or “ISMIP program” means the program of supportive services and housing support provided pursuant to this article.

(h) “Interim housing” means a temporary residence in which a program participant resides, for a period not to exceed nine months, while waiting to move into permanent housing. “Interim housing” may include housing that is paid for using motel vouchers or housing in which a program participant resides for the purpose of receiving recuperative care.

(i) “Likely to become homeless upon release” or “at risk of homelessness” means an individual who has a history of homelessness and who satisfies both of the following criteria:

(1) The individual has not identified a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence upon release.

(2) The individual’s only identified nighttime residence upon release includes a supervised, publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations, or a public or private place that is not designed for, or not ordinarily used as, regular sleeping accommodations for human beings.

(j) “Supportive housing” has the same meaning set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 50675.14 of the Health and Safety Code, and that, in addition, is decent, safe, and affordable.

SEC. 3.

 Section 2985.2 of the Penal Code is repealed.

SEC. 4.

 Section 2985.2 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

2985.2.

 Pursuant to Section 3073, on or before January 1, 2020, the department shall create the Supportive Housing Pilot Program that does all of the following:

(a) Establishes a process and timeline for finalizing a memorandum of understanding with one or more counties, in which participating counties and the department agree to both of the following:

(1) The department shall use current funding to do all of the following:

(A) Refer eligible parolees to participating counties for mental health treatment, housing navigation services, and supportive housing services.

(B) Pay for the nonfederal share of the costs of mental health treatment while the participant is on parole.

(C) Use remaining resources the state would have spent on mental health treatment, if not for federal reimbursement through Medi-Cal, to pay for bridge rental assistance and services in supportive housing during the program participant’s term of parole.

(2) Participating counties shall do both of the following:

(A) Provide community-based mental health treatment within the currently operating county Medi-Cal mental health program if ongoing treatment for the participant is medically necessary.

(B) After the parolee transitions off parole, fund rental assistance and services under the Mental Health Services Act program, if the participant qualifies for full-service partnership services, or under another source of funding that the county controls.

(b) Provides a grant, using existing resources, to participating counties to fund a supportive housing program that provides rental assistance and wraparound services to mentally ill parolees who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness.

(c) Produces a process for identifying and referring eligible participants to the pilot program.

(1) The department may allow current participants of the ISMIP or other program used to fund this pilot program to continue to receive services as long as the participant remains eligible. As each current participant of the ISMIP or other program used to fund this pilot program transitions off parole or leaves the program, the department shall refer an inmate or parolee who is eligible to be a program participant in the Supportive Housing Pilot Program.

(2) An inmate or parolee is eligible to participate in the Supportive Housing Pilot program if all of the following apply:

(A) He or she has a serious mental disorder as defined in Section 5600.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and as identified by the department, and he or she has a history of mental health treatment in the prison’s mental health services delivery system or in a parole outpatient clinic.

(B) The inmate or parolee voluntarily chooses to participate.

(C) Either of the following applies:

(i) He or she has been assigned a date of release within 60 to 180 days and is likely to become homeless upon release.

(ii) He or she is currently a homeless parolee.

(d) Creates a process for evaluating the pilot program that evaluates outcomes, costs, and recidivism to jail or prison among participants, pursuant to Section 2985.5.

(e) Sets a timeline for the wind-down or extension of phasing out or extending the pilot program.

SEC. 5.

 Section 2985.3 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

2985.3.

 (a) A homeless services provider working under a contract with participating counties shall offer services, in accordance with Section 5806 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to obtain and maintain health and housing stability while the program participant is on parole, to enable the program participant to comply with the terms of parole, and to augment mental health treatment provided to the program participant. The services shall be offered to a program participant in his or her home, or shall be made as easily accessible to the program participant as possible and shall include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Case management services.

(2) Parole discharge planning.

(3) Housing navigation services, and, if needed, move-in cost assistance.

(4) Rental subsidies that are equal to or greater than fair market rent.

(5) Linkage to other services, such as vocational, educational, and employment services, as needed.

(6) Benefit entitlement application and appeal assistance.

(7) Transportation assistance to obtain services and health care needed.

(8) Assistance obtaining appropriate identification.

(b) For a program participant identified prior to release from state prison, upon the homeless services provider’s receipt of referral and, in collaboration with the parole agent and, if appropriate, staff, the intake coordinator or case manager of the homeless services provider shall, when possible:

(1) Receive all prerelease assessments and discharge plans.

(2) Draft a plan for the program participant’s transition into housing that serves the program participant’s needs and that demonstrates a clear transition pathway to permanent, independent, and affordable housing. Housing options shall include permanent supportive housing and interim housing, as necessary, while the program participant awaits placement into permanent supportive housing.

(3) Engage the program participant to actively participate in services upon release.

(4) Assist in obtaining identification for the program participant, if necessary.

(5) Assist in applying for any benefits for which the program participant is eligible.

(c) (1) To facilitate the transition of a program participant identified prior to release into the community and a program participant identified during parole into supportive housing, a homeless services provider shall, on an ongoing basis, not less than quarterly, assess each program participant’s needs and include in each program participant’s assessment a plan to foster independence and continued residence in the same permanent housing when his or her parole is complete.

(2) Upon referral to the homeless services provider, the homeless services provider shall work to transition a program participant from the department’s rental assistance to rental assistance provided under the participating county’s full-service partnership program, rental assistance funded under another locally controlled program, or other mainstream rental assistance benefits if those benefits are necessary to enable the program participant to remain in stable housing, and shall prioritize transitioning the program participant to these benefits in a manner that allows the program participant to remain housed, when possible, without moving. Mainstream rental assistance benefits may include, but are not limited to, federal Housing Choice Voucher assistance, Department of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers, or other rental assistance programs.

(3) The program participant’s parole discharge plan and the assessments shall consider the need for and prioritize linkage to county mental health services and housing opportunities that are supported by the Mental Health Services Act, the Mental Health Services Act Housing Program, or other funding sources that finance permanent supportive housing for persons with mental illness, so that the program participant may continue to achieve all recovery goals of the program and remain permanently housed when his or her parole is complete.

(4) The department and homeless services providers shall not limit the bridge rental assistance made available to the program participant, except to limit the period of time during which assistance is provided to the term of the program participant’s parole. The program participant shall be allowed to remain in the same housing after the bridge rental assistance ends, as long as he or she complies with the terms of the lease.

SEC. 6.

 Section 2985.4 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

2985.4.

 (a) A homeless services provider funded under the Supportive Services Housing Pilot Program shall identify and locate supportive housing opportunities for a program participant prior to his or her release from state prison or as quickly upon his or her release from state prison as possible, or as quickly as possible after the program participant is identified during parole, but in no case later than nine months after the program participant agrees to participate in the program.

(b) Housing identified pursuant to subdivision (a) shall satisfy all of the following:

(1) The housing is located in an apartment building, townhouses, or single-family homes, including rent-subsidized apartments leased in the open market or set aside within privately owned buildings.

(2) The housing is not subject to community care licensing requirements or is exempt from licensing under Section 1504.5 of the Health and Safety Code.

(3) A program participant living in supportive housing shall have a lease and be subject to the rights and responsibilities of tenancy.

(4) The housing program complies with the core components identified in subdivision (b) of Section 8255 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

(c) A housing program funded under the Supportive Housing Pilot Program may use funds to provide program participants with interim housing while the program participant is waiting to obtain appropriate permanent rental housing and to complete documentation and paperwork needed to move the program participant into the rental housing.

SEC. 7.

 Section 2985.5 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

2985.5.

 (a) A participating county provider shall report to the department regarding the intended outcomes of the program, including all of the following:

(1) The number of program participants served.

(2) The types of services that were provided to program participants.

(3) The outcomes for program participants, including the number who are living independently, the number who remain in or moved to permanent housing, the number who ceased to participate in the program, and the number who returned to state prison, and the number who were arrested and are residing in a county jail.

(4) The number of program participants who successfully completed parole.

(5) The percentage of program participants currently living in permanent housing.

(b) The department shall prepare an analysis of the costs of the supportive housing program in comparison to the cost savings to the state as a result of reduced recidivism rates by program participants using the information provided pursuant to subdivision (a). This analysis shall exclude from consideration any federal funds provided for services while the program participant is on parole in order to ensure that the analysis accurately reflects only the costs to the state for the services provided to program participants.

(c) The department shall submit the information collected pursuant to subdivision (a) and the analysis prepared pursuant to subdivision (b) to the chairs of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, the Assembly Committee on Budget, the Senate and Assembly Committees on Public Safety, the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing, and the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community no later than January 1, 2023.