Under existing law, various agencies administer programs for the support of homeless persons.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that requires all cities and counties in the State of California to hold public hearings to develop plans to reduce homelessness.

Date of Hearing: May 3, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Chris Holden, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 550

Author:(Schiavo) – As Amended Ver:April 5, 2023

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes

SUMMARY:

This bill requires a city or county to agendize its homelessness point-in-time (PIT) count results at a public meeting within 60 days of receiving the count and to discuss the results and steps being taken to prevent and end homelessness in the community.

Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires a city, including a charter city, county, or city and county, within 60 days after a local continuum of care (CoC) within the local agency’s jurisdiction releases the results of the local agency’s PIT count:
2. Agendize the PIT count results at a regular or special meeting of the local agency.
3. Present the steps the local agency is taking to prevent and end homelessness, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
4. Making publicly owned land available for development of affordable and supportive housing.
5. Zoning to allow for the development of affordable, supportive, and interim housing.
6. Creating appropriate eviction protections and other tenant protections.
7. Coordinating with neighboring cities, the county, or other governmental entities to ensure people in the local agency’s jurisdiction have access to services and housing.
8. Providing hygiene and sanitation services to people living unsheltered.

FISCAL EFFECT:

Local costs to each city and county of an unknown amount, but likely ranging from minor to significant, and potentially substantial statewide, to discuss its PIT count results at a regular or special public meeting, and prepare and discuss steps taken to prevent and end homelessness. This exercise could be relatively staff-intensive for some larger jurisdictions with significant homeless populations, but less so for smaller jurisdictions with relatively few homeless. These costs would recur every year and are potentially reimbursable by the state, subject to a determination by the Commission on State Mandates, should a city or county submit a claim.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. The author of this bill seeks to ensure that all jurisdictions are doing their part to end homelessness by requiring each jurisdiction to publically discuss its PIT count and to report steps being taken to address homelessness. According to the author:

[This bill] simply asks local governments to have a public hearing and consider input from the community on this issue. For those that already hold such hearings, there shouldn’t be any concern or opposition. In addition the bill simply asks local governments to discuss a plan as to how to address homelessness in their community. Again, if that’s already happening, then they are in compliance. [This bill] does not require any action in addition to what is already happening at the local level. [The bill] simply seeks to require communities that are not so engaged to get engaged.

1. Background. Over 173,000 individuals in California experience homelessness on any given night, based on the most recent annual PIT count conducted in January 2022. Of those individuals, over 115,000 are unsheltered, representing half of the country’s unsheltered population. California accounted for 30% of the country’s homeless population in 2022, despite our state making up less than 12% of the nation’s total population. Further, 30% of people experiencing homelessness in California identify as Black/African American, while comprising only 6% of the state’s overall population.

Studies suggest the homelessness crisis is driven in large part by the lack of affordable rental housing for lower-income people. According to the California Housing Partnership Corporation’s (CHPC)’s Housing Need Dashboard, nearly two million extremely low-income and very-low-income renter households are competing for roughly 683,000 available and affordable rental units in the state. Over three-quarters of the state’s extremely-low-income households and over half of the state’s very-low-income households are severely rent burdened, paying more than 50% of their income toward rent each month. CHPC estimates the state needs an additional 1.2 million housing units affordable to very-low-income Californians to eliminate the shortfall.

1. PIT counts. The number of people experiencing homelessness each year is determined by a PIT count conducted on one night in January by local community CoC (local collaborative bodies, each led by a county or non-profit organization or, in a few cases, a city). The PIT count includes people experiencing homelessness who are “sheltered,” living in temporary shelters, and those who are “unsheltered” living out in the open. The PIT count is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a condition of receiving federal funding. The PIT count is also used to determine the funding a city, county, or CoC will receive from the state’s Homelessness Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program.

Analysis Prepared by: Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 19, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Buffy Wicks, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 550 (

Author:Schiavo) – As Amended Ver:April 5, 2023

SUBJECT: Homelessness: point-in-time count results: meetings

SUMMARY: Requires a city, county, or city and county to take certain steps 60 days after the local Continuum of Care (CoC) releases a point-in-time (PIT) count of the number of people experiencing homelessness in the community. Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires a city, county or city and county to do all of the following 60 days after a local CoC within the city, county or city and county’s jurisdiction releases a PIT count:
2. Agendize the PIT count results at a meeting of the city, county, or city and county. The results may be agendized at a regular or special meeting;
3. Designate a staff member to present the results at the meeting, if a staff member from the local CoC is unable to present the results; and
4. Present the steps the city, county, or city and county is taking to prevent and end homelessness, including, but not limited to, consideration of all of the following:
5. Making publicly owned land available for development of affordable and supportive housing;
6. Zoning to allow for the development of affordable, supportive, and interim housing;
7. Creating appropriate eviction protections and other tenant protections;
8. Coordinating with neighboring cities, the county, or other governmental entities to ensure people in their jurisdiction have access to services and housing; and
9. Providing hygiene and sanitation services to people living unsheltered.
10. Declares that this bill is a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution therefore this act applies to all cities, including charter cities.
11. Requires reimbursement of local agencies and school districts if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state.
12. Defines “continuum of care” and “point-in-time count” to have the same meanings as defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development at Section 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

EXISTING LAW:

1. Defines “Continuum of Care” to mean the group organized to carry out the responsibilities required under this part and that is composed of representatives of organizations, including nonprofit homeless providers, victim service providers, faith-based organizations, governments, businesses, advocates, public housing agencies, school districts, social service providers, mental health agencies, hospitals, universities, affordable housing developers, law enforcement, organizations that serve homeless and formerly homeless veterans, and homeless and formerly homeless persons to the extent these groups are represented within the geographic area and are available to participate. (24 CFR 578.3)
2. Defines “point-in-time count” to mean a count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons carried out on one night in the last 10 calendar days of January or at such other time as required by HUD. (24 CFR 578.3)
3. Establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant to provide jurisdictions with funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges informed by a best-practices framework focused on moving homeless individuals and families into permanent housing and supporting the efforts of those individuals and families to maintain their permanent housing. Directs the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (CA-ICH) to administer HHAP. (Government Code (GC) Section 50216)
4. Requires HHAP to be used for evidence-based solutions that address and prevent homelessness among eligible populations, including any of the following:
5. Rapid rehousing, including rental subsidies and incentives to landlords, such as security deposits and holding fees;
6. Operating subsidies in new and existing affordable or supportive housing units, emergency shelters, and navigation centers. Operating subsidies may include operating reserves;
7. Street outreach to assist persons experiencing homelessness to access permanent housing and services;
8. Services coordination, which may include access to workforce, education, and training programs, or other services needed to promote housing stability in supportive housing;
9. Systems support for activities necessary to create regional partnerships and maintain a homeless services and housing delivery system, particularly for vulnerable populations, including families and homeless youth;
10. Delivery of permanent housing and innovative housing solutions, such as hotel and motel conversions;
11. Prevention and shelter diversion to permanent housing, including rental subsidies; and
12. Interim sheltering, limited to newly developed clinically enhanced congregate shelters, new or existing noncongregate shelters, and operations of existing navigation centers and shelters based on demonstrated need. Demonstrated need for purposes of this paragraph must be based on the following:
13. The number of available shelter beds in the city, county, or region served by a continuum of care;
14. The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the homeless point-in-time count;
15. Shelter vacancy rate in the summer and winter months;
16. Percentage of exits from emergency shelters to permanent housing solutions; and
17. A plan to connect residents to permanent housing. (GC 50220.7)
18. Requires, beginning with the third round of HHAP, applicants provide the following information for all rounds of program allocations through a data collection, reporting, performance monitoring, and accountability framework, as established by CA-ICH:
19. Data on the applicant’s progress towards meeting their outcome goals, which must be submitted annually on December 31 of each year through the duration of the program;
20. If the applicant has not made significant progress toward their outcome goals, the applicant shall submit a description of barriers and possible solutions to those barriers;
21. Applicants that do not demonstrate significant progress towards meeting outcome goals shall accept technical assistance from the council and may also be required to limit the allowable uses of these program funds, as determined by the council;
22. A quarterly fiscal report of program funds expended and obligated in each allowable budget category approved in their application for program funds; and
23. If the applicant has not made significant progress toward their outcome goals, then the applicant shall report on their outcome goals in their quarterly report. (GC 50220.7)
24. Requires CA-ICH to post a statewide report that aggregates each applicant’s outcome goals into a single statewide set of metrics. (GC 50220.7)
25. Requires each recipient that receives a round 3 HHAP program allocation to submit to CA-ICH a final report, as well as detailed uses of all program funds, no later than October 1, 2026. (GC 50220.7)
26. Requires each recipient that receives a round 4 HHAP program allocation to submit to CA-ICH a final report, as well as detailed uses of all program funds, no later than October 1, 2027. (GC 50220.7)

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.

COMMENTS:

Author’s Statement: According to the author, “AB 550 simply asks local governments to have a public hearing and consider input from the community on this issue. For those that already hold such hearings, there shouldn’t be any concern or opposition. In addition the bill simply asks local governments to discuss a plan as to how to address homelessness in their community. Again, if that’s already happening, then they are in compliance. AB 550, does not require any action in addition to what is already happening at the local level. AB 550 simply seeks to require communities that are not so engaged to get engaged.”

Homelessness in California: Over 173,000 individuals in California experience homelessness on any given night, based on the most recent annual PIT Count conducted in January 2022. Of those individuals, over 115,000 are unsheltered, meaning they live on the streets, sleep in cars, camp in parks, or are otherwise staying in places not meant for human habitation. California accounted for 30 percent of the country’s homeless population in 2022, despite our state making up less than 12 percent of the nation’s total population. In addition, California is home to half of the country’s unsheltered people, and significant racial disproportionality exists among those experiencing homelessness, as 30 percent of people experiencing homelessness identify as Black/African American, while only comprising 6 percent of the state’s overall population.

The crisis is driven in large part by the lack of affordable rental housing for lower income people. According to the California Housing Partnership Corporation’s (CHPC)’s Housing Need Dashboard, in the current market, nearly 2 million extremely low-income and very low-income renter households are competing for roughly 683,000 available and affordable rental units in the state. Over three-quarters of the state’s extremely low-income households and over half of the state’s very low-income households are severely rent burdened, paying more than 50 percent of their income toward rent each month. CHPC estimates that the state needs an additional 1.2 million housing units affordable to very low-income Californians to eliminate the shortfall.

Continuums of Care and Point in Time Counts: The number of people experiencing homelessness each year is determined by a PIT conducted on one night in January, by local community CoC (local collaborative bodies led by a county or non-profit organization, and in a few cases a city). The PIT includes people experiencing homelessness who are “sheltered” – living in temporary shelters – and those who are “unsheltered” living out in the open. The PIT is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a condition of receiving federal funding. The PIT has limitations: it is conducted on one night of the year so it does not capture those people who cycle in and out of homelessness; it does not include people who are staying in a temporary situation or couch-surfing; and CoCs use different methodology to conduct their PIT, making it harder to compare data across the state.

The PIT is also used to determine how much funding a city, county, or CoC will receive from the Homelessness Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program (HHAP).

HHAP: The HHAP Program was created to provide jurisdictions with grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges informed by a best-practices framework focused on moving homeless individuals and families into permanent housing and supporting the efforts of those individuals and families to maintain their permanent housing. Large cities (with a population of 300,000 or more), counties, CoCs, and tribes can apply for HHAP funding. HHAP has received $2.95 billion in funding from 2019-23. Round 4 of the HHAP Program included robust accountability provisions, including the requirement that applicants develop a Local Action Plan and performance goals.

Local Action Plans required HHAP recipients to set outcome goals that prevent and reduce homelessness over a three-year period, informed by the findings from a local landscape analysis and the jurisdiction’s base system performance measure from 2020 calendar year data in the Homeless Data Integration System. The outcome goals included definite metrics, based on the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's system performance measures, to do the following:

• Requires that each applicant determine its outcome goals in consultation with CA-ICH, and shall not submit its final outcome goals before consulting with CA-ICH.
• Requires CA-ICH to assess outcome goals and determine whether the outcome goals adequately further the objectives of reducing and preventing homelessness.
• Requires that initial outcome goals be met no later than June 30, 2024, and requires outcome goals to be updated regularly, as funding continues.

Applicants are in the process of submitting applications for the Round 4 funding of HHAP. There is funding for a Round 5 of HHAP. Applications for Round 5 will be due sometime next year.

Not every city in the state is eligible for funding from HHAP, only cities with a population of 300,000 or more. There is no obligations on smaller cities to develop a homelessness action plan or proactively consider how to address homelessness within their jurisdiction. This bill would require all cities and counties to review the PIT count in a public meeting and present the steps that they are taking to reduce homelessness. The city or county would specifically be required to consider all of the following:

• Making publicly owned land available for development of affordable and supportive housing;
• Zoning to allow for the development of affordable, supportive, and interim housing;
• Creating appropriate eviction protections and other tenant protections;
• Coordinating with neighboring cities, the county, or other governmental entities to ensure people in their jurisdiction have access to services and housing; and
• Providing hygiene and sanitation services to people living unsheltered.

Arguments in Support: According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, this bill would help advance the state’s goals of ensuring that all jurisdictions are doing their part to end homelessness by agendizing the results of the latest PIT count, grounding the conversation in data, and by reporting what they are doing to address homelessness in key action areas.

Arguments in Opposition: None on file.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

National Alliance to End Homelessness

Western Center on Law & Poverty

Opposition

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Lisa Engel / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085