Article
5.5. Supportive Housing Pilot Program
2986.
For purposes of this article, the following definitions 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 Subpart A of Part 91 of Subtitle A of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(e) “Homeless services “Services
provider” means an organization that qualifies as an exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that contracts with the relevant participating county to provide services to people experiencing homelessness, funded pursuant to this article, 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.
(4) Fund move-in assistance, such as overdue rent and utility payments, security deposits, application fees, and utility payments for participants moving into permanent housing.
(g) “Integrated Services for Mentally Ill Parolees program” or “ISMIP program” means the program of supportive services and housing support provided pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 2985).
(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 and, in addition, is decent, safe, and affordable.
2986.1.
Pursuant to Section 3073, on or before January 1, 2020, 2019, the department shall create the Supportive Housing Pilot Program that shall do all of the following:(a) Establish a process and timeline for finalizing a memorandum of understanding with one or more counties, counties that elect to participate, in which
the 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 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 participant is no longer on parole, fund rental assistance and services under the Mental Health Services Act program,
Housing Program, if the participant qualifies for full-service partnership services, or under another source of funding that the county controls.
(b) Provide a grant, Establish a process for awarding grants, using existing resources, to participating counties to fund a supportive housing program that provides bridge rental assistance based on rents at or above fair market rent and comprehensive, or “wraparound,” services to mentally ill parolees who
are either homeless or at risk of homelessness.
(c) Produce a process for identifying and referring eligible participants to the pilot program. An inmate or parolee is eligible to participate in the pilot program established pursuant to this article if he or she is eligible for the ISMIP program or if all of the following apply:
(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 pilot program established pursuant to this article.
(2)An inmate or parolee is eligible to participate in the pilot program established pursuant to this article if all of the following apply:
(A)
(1) 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)
(2) The inmate or parolee voluntarily chooses to participate.
(C)
(3) Either of the following applies:
(i)
(A) He or she has been assigned a date of release within 60 to
180 days and is likely to become homeless upon release.
(ii)
(B) He or she is currently a homeless parolee.
(d) Create a process for evaluating the pilot program that evaluates outcomes, costs, and recidivism to jail or prison among participants, pursuant to Section 2986.4.
(e)Set a timeline for phasing out or extending the pilot program.
2986.2.
(a) A homeless services provider working under a contract with participating counties shall offer evidence-based 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
ensure the participant is able to access in a timely manner mental health treatment provided to the program participant. to which he or she is entitled. 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, possible. The services shall include all of the following:(1) Case management services.
(2) Parole discharge planning.
(3) Housing navigation services, and, including, 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 care, as 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)
(c) 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
(d) A 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.
2986.3.(a)A homeless services provider funded pursuant to this article shall identify and locate supportive housing opportunities for a program participant prior to his or her release from state prison or as quickly as possible upon his or her release from state prison, 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 shall be located in an apartment building, townhouse, or single-family home, including a rent-subsidized apartment leased in the
open market or set aside within privately owned buildings.
(2)The housing shall be exempt from community care licensing requirements set forth in Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1500) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code.
(3)A program participant living in the supportive housing shall have a lease and be subject to the rights and responsibilities of tenancy.
(4)The housing program shall comply with the core components identified in subdivision (b) of Section 8255 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
2986.3.
(a) Housing identified for use pursuant to this article shall satisfy the criteria described in subdivision (c) of Section 1504.5 and paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 50675.14 of the Health and Safety Code, and, in addition, the core components identified in subdivision (b) of Section 8255 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(c)
(b) A housing program funded pursuant to the pilot program established pursuant to this article 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. The housing program may also use funds to provide move-in costs for eligible participants.
2986.4.
(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 have moved to
are currently living in permanent housing, the number who have ceased to participate in the program, program and the reasons why they ceased participating, the number who reoffended, the number who returned to state prison, and the number who were arrested and are while participating in the program, the number receiving mental health treatment, and the number residing in a county
jail.
(4) The number of program participants who have successfully completed parole.
(5)The percentage of program participants currently living in permanent housing.
(b) The (1) On or before June 30, 2021, the department shall
seek and contract with an independent evaluator to prepare an analysis of the costs of the supportive housing program in comparison to the cost savings to the state as a result of outcomes of participants, including reduced recidivism rates by program participants and costs avoided, 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.
(2) Based on outcomes identified in paragraph (1), the department shall determine a timeline for a recommendation to the Legislature regarding extending the program.
(c) The department shall submit the information collected pursuant to subdivision (a) and the analysis prepared pursuant to subdivision (b) to the chairs 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
Development no later than January 1, 2023.
2986.5.
The department shall implement the program created by this article using funding appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes described in this article.