Bill Text: CA SB37 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 37

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

Bill Title: Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Act.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-07-02 - July 2 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file. [SB37 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB37-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate February 15, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 37

Introduced by Senator Caballero

December 05, 2022

An act ~~relating to tenancy.~~ to add Part 4.6 (commencing with Section 19905) to Division 13 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to homelessness.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 37, as amended, Caballero. ~~Tenancy.~~ Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Act.

Existing law establishes various programs to address homelessness, including requiring the Governor to create an Interagency Council on Homelessness and establishing the Homeless Emergency Aid program for the purpose of providing localities with one-time grant funds to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. Existing law commits to the Department of Housing and Community Development the administration of various housing assistance programs, including provisions relating to residential hotel rehabilitation and tasks the department, in consultation with each council of governments, with the determination of each region’s existing and projected housing need.
This bill would, upon an appropriation by the Legislature for this express purpose, require the California Department of Housing and Community Development, commencing January 1, 2024, to begin developing the Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Program. The bill would require the department, in administering the program, to offer competitive grants to nonprofit community-based organizations, continuums of care, public housing authorities, and area agencies on aging, as specified, to administer a housing subsidy program for older adults and adults with disabilities who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, as defined.
This bill would require the department, in establishing the program guidelines, to prioritize communities in which a higher proportion of renters face severe rental cost burden than the state average. The bill would create the Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Fund from which funds would be allocated by the department to eligible recipients though December 31, 2028, for these purposes.
This bill would require an award recipient to use grant funds for specified activities, including housing subsidies up to the amount of reasonable rent until the participant is able to access a longer-term subsidy, no longer requires the housing subsidy, or the specified expenditure period expires and relocation costs if a landlord decides not to continue participating in the program or evicts a tenant, as specified. The bill would authorize a grantee to utilize up to 15% of its allocation for landlord recruitment and tenancy acquisition services, landlord incentives, and housing navigation and tenancy transition services, as defined.
This bill would require the department to conduct specified oversight activities, including imposing reporting requirements on award recipients and contracting with an independent evaluator to conduct an interim evaluation of program outcomes and a final report. The bill would require the department to submit those reports to the Legislature, as specified.
Existing law permits application of age restrictions in connection with housing and defines a “senior citizen housing development,” among other terms, for these purposes. Existing law establishes in each city or county a housing authority authorized to plan, administer, operate, and assist public housing projects financed in whole or in part by the state or federal government. Existing law imposes various requirements regarding access to, and quality of, housing for seniors and the elderly.
This bill would make findings and declarations relating to senior housing and would state the intent of the Legislature to subsequently amend this bill to include provisions than would enact meaningful tenancy reform to ensure that aging adults can remain safely housed.

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

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

SECTION 1.

Part 4.6 (commencing with Section 19905) is added to Division 13 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

PART 4.6. Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Act
19905.
This part shall be known, and may be cited, as the Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Act.
19905.2.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Californians who are older or experience disabilities, many of whom live on fixed incomes, face increasing rental cost burdens, with roughly 8 out of 10 extremely low income older renters paying more than one-half of their monthly income on rent. Fair market rents in California for an efficiency apartment range from six hundred twenty-nine dollars ($629) to two thousand two hundred twenty-three dollars ($2,223) per month, far more than an older adult or adult with a disability on a fixed income can afford, particularly when the maximum Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payment for an individual in 2023 is one thousand one hundred thirty-three dollars ($1,133) per month. The SSI payment in 2019 covered only 40 percent of the basic cost of living for a senior living alone. In the County of Los Angeles, the SSI individual payment level has not been enough to afford an apartment since 2008.
(b) The state has also estimated that over 11,000 people living in nursing facilities could be discharged to the community if they had an affordable place to live.
(c) Older adults are at the epicenter of California’s housing affordability and homelessness crisis, with over 40,000 people 55 years of age or older experiencing homelessness. In the four-year period from 2017 to 2021, the number of older Californians, 65 years of age or older, accessing homeless services has increased by 138 percent. The California Master Plan for Aging has a key goal of preventing and ending older adult homelessness.
(d) Housing subsidies are highly effective in both preventing and reducing homelessness. Studies show that low-income renters accessing “shallow” housing subsidies of two hundred dollars ($200) to five hundred dollars ($500) per month are able to remain stably housed. Moreover, people experiencing homelessness are able to move into permanent housing quickly, and remain stably housed, with a housing subsidy and the right services and interventions.
(e) The housing stabilization program could prevent and end homelessness for thousands of older adults and adults with disabilities.
19905.4.
For purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Adult with a disability” means an individual or head of household who is 18 years of age or older and is experiencing a condition that limits a major life activity, including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) A “physical disability,” as defined in subdivision (m) of Section 12926 of the Government Code.
(2) A “mental disability,” as defined in subdivision (j) of Section 12926 of the Government Code, except it shall also include a substance use condition.
(3) A “medical condition,” as defined in subdivision (i) of Section 12926 of the Government Code.
(4) A “developmental disability,” as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 4512 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(5) A chronic illness, including, but not limited to, HIV.
(6) A traumatic brain injury.
(b) “Affordable housing” means multifamily rental housing receiving a public subsidy that allows eligible populations occupying that housing to pay no more than 30 percent of their household income on rent.
(c) “Area agency on aging” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 9006 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(d) “Area median income” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 50093.
(e) “At risk of homelessness” means a household that meets all of the following criteria:
(1) The household has an income that is not greater than 20 percent of the area’s median income, as determined using the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s area median income annual standards.
(2) The household is severely rent burdened, as defined in subdivision (v), or is otherwise moving frequently without any leaseholder agreement because of an inability to afford rent.
(3) The household meets one or more of the following risk factors:
(A) The household is living in a census tract with rates higher than the state’s mean rate of poverty, displacement, gentrification, or homelessness.
(B) The household has experienced one or more previous incidents of homelessness.
(C) The household receives services from multiple county or other public or publicly funded agencies.
(D) The household is exiting an institution or would be able to exit with affordable housing, including, but not limited to, people living in a skilled nursing facility or other residential care facility, but could live independently with rental subsidies and appropriate services or supports.
(E) The household is staying with family or friends, but has been told by the leaseholder to vacate.
(F) The household recently experienced a death of a family member or separation or divorce from an adult partner.
(f) “Continuum of care” has the same meaning as defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to Section 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(g) “Department” means the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
(h) “Eligible population” means an older adult or an adult with a disability whose household meets either of the following criteria:
(1) The household is experiencing homelessness.
(2) The household is at risk of homelessness.
(i) “Experiencing homelessness” has the same meaning as “homeless” and “homelessness,” as those terms are each defined in Section 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as that section read on January 1, 2022, except that people who were homeless upon admission to an institutional setting shall continue to be considered homeless upon discharge, regardless of the length of time spent residing in the institutional setting.
(j) “Holding fees” and “vacancy costs” mean payment to private-market landlords as incentives to hold a housing unit as available to an eligible program participant while the participant or landlord is waiting for approval to rent the housing unit.
(k) “Housing Choice Voucher” means the program described in subsection (o) of Section 1437f of Title 42 of the United States Code.
(l) “Housing first” means adhering to the core components described in subdivision (b) of Section 8255 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(m) “Homeless Management Information System” means the information system designated by a continuum of care to comply with federal reporting requirements as defined in Section 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The term “Homeless Management Information System” also includes the use of a comparable database by a victim provider or legal services provider that is permitted by the federal government under Part 576 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(n) “Housing navigation” means services that assist program participants with locating permanent housing with private-market landlords or property managers who are willing to accept rental assistance or operating subsidies for the program participants to assist those program participants in doing any of the following:
(1) Obtaining local, state, or federal assistance or subsidies.
(2) Completing housing applications for permanent housing or housing subsidies.
(3) Move-in assistance, if applicable.
(4) Obtaining documentation needed to access permanent housing and rental assistance or subsidies.
(o) “Housing subsidy” means a tenant-based rental subsidy provided to a tenant, landlord, or property manager to assist a tenant in paying the difference between 30 percent of the tenant’s household income and the reasonable rent for the unit.
(p) “Master lease” means a single lease that covers multiple properties leased from a landlord or property manager to a recipient or subrecipient that the recipient or subrecipient sublets to program participants. The single lease shall comply with all applicable provisions of this part and shall be subject to the rights and responsibilities of tenancy under the laws of this state.
(q) “Older adult” means an individual or head of household who is 50 years of age or older.
(r) “Permanent housing” means a structure or set of structures with no limit on length of stay, even if accompanied by a time-limited rental subsidy, that is subject to applicable landlord-tenant law and has no requirement to participate in supportive services as a condition of access to or continued occupancy in the housing.
(s) “Program” means the Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Program established pursuant to this part.
(t) “Public housing authority” means the same as “public housing agency,” as defined in Section 5.100 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(u) “Reasonable rent” means an amount of rental payments that does not exceed 120 percent of the fair market rent and is consistent with the market rent in the community in which the affordable housing is located. For purposes of this subdivision, “fair market rent” means the rent, including the cost of utilities, as established by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to Parts 888 and 982 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as those parts read on January 1, 2022, for units by number of bedrooms, that must be paid in the market area to rent privately owned, existing, decent, safe, and sanitary rental housing of nonluxury nature with suitable amenities.
(v) “Severely rent burdened” means a condition in which a household pays more than 50 percent of their total household income for rent and utilities.
(w) “Tenancy acquisition services” means services provided by staff dedicated to engaging property owners to rent housing units to the eligible population through a housing subsidy.
(x) “Tenancy sustaining services” means any of the following:
(1) Early identification and intervention of behaviors that may jeopardize housing security.
(2) Education and training on the rights and responsibilities of the tenant and the landlord.
(3) Coaching on developing and maintaining key relationships with landlords and property managers.
(4) Assistance in resolving disputes with landlords and neighbors to reduce the risk of eviction.
(5) Advocacy and linkage with community resources to prevent eviction when housing may become jeopardized.
(6) Care coordination and advocacy with health care professionals.
(7) Assistance with a housing recertification process.
(8) Coordinating with the tenant to review and update a housing support and crisis plan.
(9) Training in being a good tenant and lease compliance.
(10) Benefits advocacy.
(11) Employment services.
(12) Services connecting individuals to education.
(13) Any other service that supports individuals and families to promote housing stability, foster community integration and inclusion, and develop natural support networks, and that are offered through a trauma-informed, culturally competent approach.
(y) “Tenancy transition services” means using evidence-based service models to provide any of the following:
(1) Screening and assessing the tenant’s preferences and barriers to successful tenancy.
(2) Developing an individualized housing support plan that includes motivational interviewing and goal setting.
(3) Assistance with the housing application and search process.
(4) Identifying resources to cover expenses for one-time costs associated with move-in, including first month’s rent and security deposits, home modification, utility connection, and furniture costs.
(5) Ensuring that the living environment is safe and ready for move-in.
(6) Assisting and arranging for the details of the move.
(7) Developing a housing supports crisis plan that includes prevention and early intervention when housing is jeopardized.
(8) Engagement services.
(9) Any other evidence-based services that an individual tenant may require to move into permanent housing.
19905.6.
(a) (1) Upon appropriation by the Legislature pursuant to Section 19905.14, the department shall, commencing January 1, 2024, begin developing the Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Program. In administering the program, the department shall offer competitive grants, as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), to administer a housing subsidy program for the eligible population.
(2) The Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Fund is hereby established within the State Treasury. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department shall allocate program funds to eligible recipients through December 31, 2028, in accordance with this part.
(3) The department may use up to 5 percent of program funds to administer and oversee the program.
(4) The department shall ensure that at least 30 percent of overall program funding shall be awarded to grantees that serve people experiencing homelessness among their populations served and have experience and competency in serving people experiencing homelessness, as determined by the department.
(b) In developing the guidelines and competitive application for the program, the department shall do all of the following:
(1) Prioritize communities in which a higher proportion of renters face severe rental cost burden than the state average. In awarding grants, the department may issue grants to select counties, if the department ensures geographic diversity in awards.
(2) Award funding on a competitive basis to any of the following types of recipients, or a combination of partnering recipients:
(A) Nonprofit community-based organizations.
(B) Continuums of care.
(C) Public housing authorities.
(D) Area agencies on aging.
(3) Prioritize grant awards to applicants that demonstrate all of the following:
(A) Cultural sensitivity and specificity in serving eligible populations in an equitable manner.
(B) Capacity to administer grant funds expeditiously.
(C) Expertise and experience administering Housing First housing subsidy programs.
(D) Expertise and experience providing tenancy acquisition, housing navigation, and tenancy transition services.
(E) Ability to use cross-sector partnerships with local agencies, including aging service providers, aging disability resource centers, and homeless continuums of care to achieve the ability to help eligible populations access available housing opportunities and needed services by doing all of the following, as needed by each participant:
(i) Linking people to tenancy sustaining services.
(ii) Assisting people in navigating local coordinated entry systems.
(iii) Providing a “no wrong door” approach through cross-sector partnerships.
(c) Grant recipients shall use grant funds for housing subsidies up to the amount of reasonable rent for a unit that is master leased, private-market rentals within individual units, or for affordable or supportive housing projects that need operating support, until the participant is able to access a longer-term subsidy, no longer requires the housing subsidy, or the expenditure period expires pursuant to subdivision (f). Subsidies provided pursuant to this paragraph include either or both of the following:
(1) Subsidies for households at risk of homelessness to remain stably housed in their current housing or to relocate to a housing unit that is more affordable or appropriate to the household.
(2) Subsidies for households experiencing homelessness to access housing units.
(d) A grant recipient may use grant funding for the following additional costs:
(1) Relocation costs if a landlord decides not to continue participating in the program, evicts a tenant, or refuses to accept a Housing Choice Voucher.
(2) Up to a total of 15 percent of a grantee’s allocation for all of the following:
(A) Landlord recruitment and tenancy acquisition services.
(B) Landlord incentives, including, but not limited to, holding or vacancy fees, security deposits, and repair and improvement costs to meet housing quality standards required by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for Housing Choice Vouchers.
(C) Housing navigation and tenancy transition services.
(D) Any other grantee administrative costs.
(e) Each award recipient shall, as a condition of receiving state funds, report data into the Homeless Management Information System and enter data elements into the Homeless Management Information System pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 8256 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(f) The department shall enter into a standard agreement with each award recipient. Recipients shall obligate all funding received within four years of signing the standard agreement, and shall expend all funding within six years of signing the standard agreement.
(g) An award recipient that is not a continuum of care shall collaborate with a continuum of care operating in the geographic area in which the recipient is serving participants, both in planning for the use of funds and in allocation of funding, to ensure that the program is consistent and coordinated with local homeless response.
19905.8.
In all designated geographic regions in which the department has awarded grants, the department shall establish partnerships with one or more public housing authorities to achieve both of the following:
(a) Create a plan for program participants to transition into a federally subsidized voucher or project-based housing subsidy program.
(b) Work with award recipients and recruited landlords to ensure recruited landlords meet the requirements of the Housing Choice Voucher Program.
19905.10.
The department shall conduct oversight of the program that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following activities:
(a) Requiring award recipients to report regularly on all of the following:
(1) The number and demographics, including age, race or ethnicity, and presubsidy housing status, of people being served, as compared to the number of demographics of people experiencing homelessness in the community.
(2) Housing retention rates of program participants one year, and if data is available, two years, following the commencement of assistance.
(3) The number and demographics of participants accessing Housing Choice Vouchers or other federally subsidized housing and the length of time each participant receives the program’s housing subsidies before accessing housing subsidies.
(4) Tenant satisfaction survey results, to include questions regarding the tenant’s choice in where to live.
(5) Monitoring to ensure that apartments meet the state’s habitability and safety standards while award recipients work with landlords to meet housing quality standards.
(6) The number of participants admitted to a licensed care or nursing facility, and the number of participants who were able to leave a licensed care or nursing facility as a result of the program.
(7) Activities to coordinate and collaborate with continuums of care and other local agencies.
(b) Requiring award recipients to establish a grievance process with adequate procedures for contesting denial or termination of subsidies for potential participants who did not receive subsidies for reasons other than lack of funding.
(c) Contracting for an evaluation that includes an assessment of all of the following:
(1) Where people were living when they received subsidies.
(2) Outcomes of the participants, including the number of participants who transition to Housing Choice Vouchers or other federal subsidies.
(3) Populations most impacted by the program.
(d) Assessing whether the program is advancing equitable outcomes, and revising policies to course-correct.
(e) (1) Contracting with an independent evaluator to conduct an interim evaluation of program outcomes and a final report within 12 months of the conclusion of the fourth year of the program. The department shall submit both reports to all of the following:
(A) The Assembly Committee on Budget.
(B) The Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care.
(C) The Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development.
(D) The Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review.
(E) The Senate Committee on Housing.
(F) The Senate Committee on Human Services.
(2) The requirement for submitting a report imposed pursuant to this subdivision is inoperative on January 1, 2034, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
19905.12.
Notwithstanding any other law, and to the extent allowable under federal law, assistance, services, or supports received pursuant to this part are not income of the participant for purposes of determining eligibility for, or benefits pursuant to, any public assistance program. Participation in other benefits or housing or housing-based services programs shall not disqualify an individual or household from being a participant for purposes of housing or services funded pursuant to this part.
19905.14.
This part shall become operative only upon appropriation by the Legislature of sufficient funds for the purposes of the program.

SECTION 1.
~~(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:~~
~~(1)California’s aging population is the largest demographic group and has been the fastest growing group since 2010.~~
~~(2)In many areas throughout the state, adults 55 years of age and older are the fastest growing demographic of people who are experiencing homelessness.~~
~~(3)Older adults are often on fixed incomes, and the number of older adults living in poverty continues to rise.~~
~~(4)California’s poverty rate for adults 65 years of age and older is the highest by age group, at 16.3 percent, according to the California Poverty Measure.~~
(5)California’s high cost of living, coupled with even a slight change in an older adult’s monthly expenses can result in an inability to make basic financial obligations, including their monthly rent.
(b)In order to protect older adults who are especially vulnerable to experiencing homelessness, it is the intent of the Legislature to subsequently amend this measure to include provisions that would enact meaningful tenancy reform to ensure that aging adults can remain safely housed.