Housing assistance.

(1) Existing law establishes the CalHome Program under the administration of the Department of Housing and Community Development and authorizes funds appropriated for purposes of the program to be used to enable low- and very low income households to become or remain homeowners. The program authorizes the use of grant funds for, among other things, home rehabilitation. Existing administrative regulations require installation of an ignition resistant construction system only when a manufactured home, mobilehome, multifamily manufactured home, or commercial modular is installed in designated areas. This bill would provide that home rehabilitation includes the installation or retrofit of ignition resistant exterior components on existing manufactured homes, mobilehomes, and accessory structures required pursuant to specified administrative regulations. The bill would prohibit rehabilitation funding for these purposes under a specified circumstance. (2) Under the CalHome Program, the department provides the program funds to local public agencies or nonprofit corporations as either grants or loans to assist home ownership and requires them to meet prescribed criteria. In administering the program, the department is authorized to permit local public agencies and nonprofit corporations to apply their own guidelines with respect to the use of CalHome funds. This bill would prohibit a local public agency and a nonprofit corporation from denying funding or applying different underwriting guidelines to a housing program or project solely on the basis that the home is a manufactured home or mobilehome or the home is located in a mobilehome park or a manufactured housing community. (3) Existing law requires the California Housing Finance Agency to administer the California Homebuyer's Downpayment Assistance Program for the purpose of assisting first-time low- and moderate-income home buyers utilizing existing mortgage financing. Under the program, the amount of the downpayment assistance is due and payable at the end of the term or upon sale of or refinancing of the home. This bill would authorize the agency, in its discretion, to permit the downpayment assistance loan to be subordinated to refinancing if it determines that certain criteria have been met. The bill would authorize the agency to permit subordination on those terms and conditions as it determines are reasonable. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.