Bill Text: CA SB1015 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Senate Bill 1015 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Keep Californians Housed Assistance Fund.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-18 - March 31 hearing postponed by committee. [SB1015 Detail]

Download: California-2019-SB1015-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 1015

Introduced by Senator Skinner

February 14, 2020

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

SB 1015, as introduced, Skinner. Keep Californians Housed Assistance Fund.

Existing law establishes the California Emergency Solutions and Housing Program, under the administration of the Department of Housing and Community Development and requires the department to, among other things, provide rental assistance and housing relocation and stabilization services under that program to ensure housing affordability to people who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness.

This bill would establish in the State Treasury the Keep Californians Housed Assistance Fund and require the moneys in the fund, upon appropriation, to be made available to the department for rental assistance purposes. The bill would require the department to distribute funds to cities and administrative entities in the form of grants awarded on a competitive basis, as specified.

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

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

SECTION 1.

This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Keep Californians Housed Assistance Fund.

SEC. 2.

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) California is experiencing a rental-housing crisis. According to analysis by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, California has only 22 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income households.

(b) Due in part to lack of supply, California cities have some of the highest rents in the nation. San Francisco’s rent is the most expensive in the country, averaging $3,300 per month for a one-bedroom unit, and San Jose, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Anaheim are all in the top 10 for highest rents in the nation.

(c) About 29 percent of California renters spend more than one-half of their income on rent, which can make it difficult for families to afford basic items like food, clothing, transportation, and health care. In 2015, more than 4 in 10 households had housing costs that exceeded 30 percent of household income.

(d) The housing crisis harms families across California and has resulted in higher levels of homelessness or displacement of previously housed individuals and families. One-quarter of the nation’s homeless population, and one-half of the nation’s unsheltered homeless, now live in California.

(e) Providing financial assistance to keep residents from being evicted will prevent evictions and potentially break the cycle of poverty.

SEC. 3.

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. Keep Californians Housed Assistance Fund

50495.

(a) There is hereby established in the State Treasury the Keep Californians Housed Assistance Fund. The fund shall consist of ____ moneys, which shall be made available upon appropriation by the Legislature to the department for rental assistance purposes.

(b) (1) The department shall distribute funds made available pursuant to subdivision (a) to cities and administrative entities in the form of grants awarded on a competitive basis.

(2) In administering the competitive grant program, the department shall award funds based on demonstrated need and ensure geographic diversity in the distribution of grant funds.

(3) Grants awarded to cities and administrative entities pursuant to this section shall supplement, and shall not supplant, moneys otherwise allocated to them pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 50490.2.