Housing.

(1) Existing law requires the Governor to create the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to, among other things, identify mainstream resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California and to serve as a statewide facilitator, coordinator, and policy development resource on ending homelessness in California. Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program, administered by the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, for the purpose of providing jurisdictions, as defined, with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. Existing law requires the agency, upon appropriation, to distribute $650,000,000 among cities, counties, and continuums of care, as provided. Existing law requires an applicant to submit an application containing specified information in order to apply for a program allocation. Existing law requires, as part of the application, an agreement from the applicant to participate in a statewide Homeless Management Information System, when available. This bill would require the applicant to also agree to provide data elements, including, but not limited to, health information, as defined, to the statewide Homeless Management Information System, when the system becomes available. The bill would require the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to specify the form and substance of these data elements, and authorizes the council to amend or modify these data elements, disclosure formats, or disclosure frequency, as may be required by operational necessity. The California Public Records Act requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies. The act declares that access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state. The bill would provide that any health information provided to, or maintained within, the statewide Homeless Management Information System is not subject to public inspection or disclosure under the California Public Records Act. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (2) Existing law prescribes various requirements for agencies and departments administering state programs that provide housing or housing-based services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. For programs in existence prior to July 1, 2017, existing law requires these programs to collaborate with the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations that incorporate the core components of Housing First, as defined. Existing law delays this requirement in the case of an agency or department that administers programs that fund recovery housing, as defined, until July 1, 2020. Existing law requires an agency or department that administers a recovery housing program to consult with specified stakeholders between July 1, 2019, and July 1, 2020, and to submit a report to specified committees of the Legislature by March 1, 2020, on ways to improve the provision of housing to individuals who receive funding from that agency or department. This bill would extend the date by which an agency or department administering a program funding recovery housing is required to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations that incorporate the core components of Housing First, as described above, to July 1, 2022. For these agencies and departments, the bill would require that they work in coordination with the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, require that they also consult with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and extend the period within which these efforts are to occur until January 1, 2022. The bill would prescribe requirements for recovery housing programs and would require an agency or department that administers a funding program for these programs to ensure that the programs meet the requirements. The bill would delete language requiring submission of a report to specified committees of the Legislature by March 1, 2020. The bill would revise the definition of recovery housing. (3) Existing law creates the National Mortgage Special Deposit Fund in the State Treasury, which is continuously appropriated and subject to allocation by the Department of Finance, for the receipt of moneys from the National Mortgage Settlement. Existing law authorizes the Director of Finance to allocate or otherwise use the funds in the National Mortgage Special Deposit Fund to offset General Fund expenditures in the 2011–12, 2012–13, and 2013–14 fiscal years. Existing law requires the Department of Finance to submit an expenditure plan to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee detailing the proposed use of the moneys, as specified. Existing law makes a statement of legislative confirmation and ratification regarding the allocations of funds from the National Mortgage Special Deposit Fund in the 2011–12, 2012–13, and 2013–14 fiscal years. Existing law, in accordance with a specified California appellate court decision, in 2019, transferred $331,044,084 from the General Fund to the National Mortgage Special Deposit Fund and specified the uses to which these moneys could be applied. This bill would allocate $300,000,000 from the National Mortgage Special Deposit Fund to be administered by the California Housing Finance Agency for the purpose of providing housing counseling services certified by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to homeowners, former homeowners, or renters and providing mortgage assistance to qualified California households, as specified. The bill would further allocate $31,000,000 to the Judicial Council for distribution through the State Bar to qualified legal services projects and support centers to provide eviction defense or other tenant defense assistance in landlord-tenant disputes, as specified. The bill would prohibit more than 5% of the allocations from being spent for the administration of these services. By providing new purposes for which an appropriation may be used, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would repeal obsolete provisions. (4) Existing law, the Deferred-Rehabilitation Loan Program, among other things, establishes the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund and continuously appropriates all money in the fund to the Department of Housing and Community Development for specified purposes, including, among others, making deferred-rehabilitation loans for financing the cost of rehabilitating existing housing, as specified. Existing law, the Rental Housing Construction Program, among other things, establishes the Rental Housing Construction Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, and requires a certain amount of money from the fund to be transferred by the California Housing Finance Agency to the department and deposited in the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund, and utilized for specified purposes. Existing law, the Family Housing Demonstration Program, also known as the Families Moving to Work Program, requires the department to test innovative strategies of providing affordable housing combined with child care and a job training program, as specified, and requires certain funds within the Rental Housing Construction Fund to be transferred into the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund to be used only for the purposes of the Families Moving to Work Program. Existing law establishes the Multifamily Housing Program administered by the department. Existing law provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that the Multifamily Housing Program constitute an omnibus multifamily housing program, as specified, and that it is intended to take the place of the Deferred-Payment Rehabilitation Loan Program, the Rental Housing Construction Program, and the Family Housing Demonstration Program. This bill would, upon order of the Department of Finance, authorize any remaining funds deposited on or before July 1, 2020, into the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund from the Deferred-Payment Rehabilitation Loan Program, the Rental Housing Construction Program, and the Family Housing Demonstration Program to be transferred to the General Fund. (5) Existing law authorizes the Director of the Department of General Services, without regard to any other law, upon written request and consent, as specified, to sell, convey, or exchange specified properties that are not needed by any state agency at fair market value following a 30-day notice to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the applicable Members of the Senate and Assembly who represent the district in which the properties are located. This bill would authorize the Director of the Department of General Services, pursuant to the provisions described above, to exchange property for another property, or properties, if the properties proposed to be conveyed to the state are suitable for the purpose of affordable housing, as specified. (6) Existing law, known as the Special Occupancy Parks Act, generally regulates special occupancy parks, defined to mean a recreational vehicle park, temporary recreational vehicle park, incidental camping area, or tent camp. Existing law specifies that the act does not apply to any park or camping area owned, operated, and maintained by specified government agencies. This bill would additionally provide that the Special Occupancy Parks Act does not apply to any park or camping area owned, operated, and maintained by a non-profit entity under temporary, permanent, or emergency use, as determined by local government through an enabling ordinance. (7) The California Constitution prohibits the development, construction, or acquisition in any manner of a low-rent housing project by any state public body, as defined, until a majority of the qualified electors of the city, town, or county in which it is proposed to develop, construct, or acquire the same, voting upon such issue, approve the project by voting in favor at an election. The California Constitution, for purposes of this prohibition, defines low-rent housing project to mean any development composed of urban or rural dwellings, apartments or other living accommodations for persons of low income, financed in whole or in part by the federal government or a state public body or to which the federal government or a state public body extends assistance by supplying all or part of the labor, by guaranteeing the payment of liens, or otherwise. Existing law additionally excludes from this definition of "low-rent housing project" any development composed of urban or rural dwellings, apartments, or other living accommodations that meet specified criteria including, among others, that the development consists of existing dwelling units leased by the state public body from the private owner of these dwelling units. This bill would exclude from that definition of "low-rent housing project" a development that consists of the acquisition, rehabilitation, reconstruction, alterations work, or any combination thereof, of lodging facilities or dwelling units using moneys received from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, thereby excluding that development from the scope of that constitutional provision. (8) Existing law establishes the Local Government Planning Support Grants Program and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to allocate $250,000,000 in grants under the program to regions and jurisdictions for technical assistance, preparation and adoption of planning documents, and process improvements to accelerate housing production and facilitate compliance to implement the 6th cycle of the regional housing need assessment. Existing law requires that $125,000,000 of that amount be available to jurisdictions to assist in planning for other activities related to meeting the 6th cycle regional housing need assessment. Existing law authorizes a jurisdiction to request an allocation from that amount until July 1, 2020, by submitting an application that includes specified information. This bill would extend the deadline for a jurisdiction to request an allocation to January 31, 2021. (9) Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program, administered by the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges. Upon appropriation, existing law requires the agency to distribute $650,000,000 under the program among cities, counties, and continuums of care, as provided, and requires a recipient to expend those funds on evidence-based solutions that address and prevent homelessness among eligible populations. Existing law requires an applicant to submit to the agency an application that includes specified information no later than February 15, 2020, and the agency to make award determinations by April 1, 2020. Existing law requires a recipient of program funds to submit an annual report to the agency that includes specified information and, no later than January 1, 2026, a final report regarding the expenditure of program funds. This bill would provide for a 2nd round of funding under the program, to be administered by the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council. Upon appropriation, the bill would require the council to distribute $300,000,000 to cities, counties, and continuums of care, in a manner similar to existing provisions of the program and used for similar purposes. The bill would require an applicant to submit application according to a calendar established by the council consistent with specified requirements. Beginning 2021, the bill would require that a recipient provide the information with respect to both rounds of program allocations through a data collection, reporting, performance monitoring, and accountability framework, as established by the council. The bill would require all recipients of a program allocation to submit an annual report to the council based on this framework and, no later than January 1, 2027, a final report from each recipient that receives a round 2 program allocation. The bill would require certain client information and records of services provided to be maintained in compliance with specified confidentiality requirements and exempt those records from disclosure under the California Public Records Act. The bill would make various conforming changes to the program. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (10) Existing law establishes the Building Homes and Jobs Act and imposes a specified fee to be paid at the time of the recording of every real estate instrument, paper, or notice required or permitted by law to be recorded, per each single transaction per single parcel of real property, which is deposited in the Building Homes and Jobs Fund. Existing law, upon appropriation by the Legislature, requires 50% of the moneys collected on and after January 1, 2018, and until December 31, 2018, deposited in the fund be made available to local governments to update planning documents and zoning ordinances in order to streamline housing production. Existing law requires the department to hold funds allocated under these provisions until a local government submits a request for use, and authorizes the department to make funds not allocated within the first two years available for the Multifamily Housing Program. This bill would specify that each recipient of funds under the program is required to encumber the funds by December 31, 2020, and to expend the funds no later than December 31, 2023. (11) The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan that includes various mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law requires that the housing element, among other things, sets forth a schedule of actions during the planning period that the local government is undertaking or intends to undertake to implement the policies and achieve the goals of the housing element, as provided. Existing law authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to allow a city or county to substitute the provision of units for up to 25% of the community's obligation to identify adequate sites for any income category in its housing element pursuant to this schedule of actions if the community includes in its housing element a program committing the local government to provide units in that income category within the city or county that will be made available through the provision of committed assistance to low- and very low income households. Existing law requires a unit to meet specified requirements to qualify for inclusion in the program. Existing law defines "committed assistance" for these purposes to mean that the city or county enters into a legally enforceable agreement during the period from the beginning of the projection period until the end of the 2nd year of the planning period that obligates sufficient available funds to provide the assistance necessary to make the identified units affordable and that requires that the units be made available for occupancy within 2 years of the execution of the agreement. The Planning and Zoning Law requires the planning agency of a city or county to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to the legislative body of the city or county, the Office of Planning and Research, and the Department of Housing and Community Development that includes, among other specified information, the status of the general plan and progress in its implementation. Existing law requires, in the 3rd year of the planning period, each city or county that has included in its housing element a program to provide committed assistance, as described above, to include specified information about the program in its annual report, including identifying the specific units for which committed assistance has been provided or which have been made available to low- and very low income households. This bill would revise the requirements for a unit to qualify for inclusion in a committed assistance program, including extending long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available at affordable housing costs for at least 55 years, as specified. The bill would additionally authorize units in a motel, hotel, or hostel that are converted from nonresidential to residential if specified conditions are met, including that the unit is part of a long-term recovery response to COVID-19, and would authorize spaces in specified mobilehome parks. The bill would revise the definition of "committed assistance" to instead require the city or county to enter into a legally enforceable agreement during the period from the beginning of the projection period until the end of the 3rd year of the planning period that obligates sufficient available funds or other in-kind services. The bill would specify that the program to provide committed assistance may be executed throughout the planning period, and would revise specified report deadlines related to these provisions. The bill would include findings that these proposed changes address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. (12) Existing law establishes the Multifamily Housing Program administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development. Existing law requires assistance for projects under the program to be provided in the form of deferred payment loans to pay for eligible costs of the development, as provided. This bill would require that funds appropriated in the 2020 Budget Act or an act related to the 2020 Budget Act, including moneys received from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, to provide housing for individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness and who are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, be disbursed in accordance with the Multifamily Housing Program for specified uses, and would provide that the above-described deferred payment loan requirement under the program would not apply to assistance provided pursuant to these provisions, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to adopt guidelines for the expenditure of funds appropriated to the department under these provisions. The bill would require the department, in coordination with the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, to report to the Legislature on the use of the funds on or before April 1, 2021, including, among other things, an explanation of how funding decisions were made and the number of individuals housed, or likely to be housed, using the funds. This bill would provide that any project that uses funds received from the Coronavirus Relief Fund for specified purposes be deemed consistent, and in conformity, with any applicable local plan, standard, or requirement, and allowed as a permitted use, within the zone in which the structure is located, and not be subject to a conditional use permit, discretionary permit, or to any other discretionary reviews or approvals. Existing law, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment. This bill would, until July 1, 2021, exempt from CEQA a project described above to provide housing for individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness and who are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic if the initial application to the city, county, or city and county where the project is located was submitted on or before April 30, 2021, and if certain other requirements are met. (13) Existing law establishes the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee and, among other things, requires it to annually determine a state ceiling on the aggregate amount of private activity bonds, including bonds for qualified residential rental projects, that may be issued in accordance with federal law and allocate that amount among state and local agencies. Existing law establishes a low-income housing tax credit program pursuant to which California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (CTCAC) provides procedures and requirements for the allocation, in modified conformity with federal law, of state insurance, personal income, and corporation tax credit amounts to qualified low-income housing projects that have been allocated, or qualify for, a federal low-income housing tax credit, and farmworker housing. Existing law limits the total annual amount of the state low-income housing credit for which a federal low-income housing credit is required to the sum of $70,000,000, as increased by any percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for the preceding calendar year, any unused credit for the preceding calendar years, and the amount of housing credit ceiling returned in the calendar year. Existing law governing the taxation of insurers, the Personal Income Tax Law, and the Corporation Tax Law provided an allocation of $500,000,000 for the 2020 calendar year and, for calendar years beginning in 2021, also provides for an additional amount that may be allocated, up to $500,000,000, to specified low-income housing projects that are new buildings that are federally subsidized, as specified. Existing law provides that this additional amount is only available for allocation pursuant to an authorization in the annual Budget Act or related legislation and specified regulatory action by CTCAC aimed at increasing production and containing costs. Existing administrative law requires, for those housing projects financed with private activity bonds, except as specified, an applicant for low-income housing tax credits to have either applied for a bond allocation from the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee prior to or concurrently with submitting an application to CTCAC, if the applicant is not currently possessing a bond allocation for the proposed project. This bill would require, prior to the allocation of the additional amount described above, that the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee and the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee adopt regulations, rules, or guidelines to align the programs of both committees with the objective of increasing production and containing costs, which would include a scoring system that maximizes the efficient use of public subsidy and benefit created through the private activity bond and low-income housing tax credit programs, as specified. The bill would require the California Tax Credit Committee to accept applications for the 2021 calendar year no sooner than 30 days after these regulations, rules, or guidelines have been adopted. The bill would prohibit the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee from accepting application for the 2021 calendar year for bond allocations for an eligible project prior to issuing, reviewing, and publishing a new tax-exempt private activity bond demand survey. This bill would require, by April 1, 2021, the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee to report to the Assembly and Senate Budget Committees, the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, and the Senate Housing Committee on specified data from private activity bonds awarded during the 2020 calendar year. The bill would also require, by April 1, 2021, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee to report to the Assembly and Senate Budget Committees, the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, and the Senate Housing Committee on specified data on the federal and state low-income housing tax credits allocated from the 2019-2020 budget. (14) Existing law requires the Director of Finance to provide to the Legislature, on or before May 14 of each year, an estimate of General Fund revenues for the current fiscal year and for the ensuing fiscal year, any proposals to reduce expenditures to reflect updated revenue estimates, and all proposed adjustment to the Governor's Budget that are necessary to reflect required updated estimates of state funding, as specified, and to reflect caseload enrollment or population changes. Existing constitutional law also requires the Department of Finance, after the proposed adjustments to the Governor's Budget made in May, to submit the Legislature estimates of General Fund revenues for the ensuing fiscal year and for the 3 fiscal years thereafter and estimates of General Fund expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year and for the 3 fiscal years thereafter, as specified. This bill would, on December 31, 2021, suspend a specified allocation in the Budget Act of 2020 to help young adults secure and maintain housing, as provided, unless the Department of Finance makes a specified determination regarding the above-described estimates of General Fund revenues and expenditures required by existing constitutional law for the May budget revisions required to be released by May 14, 2021. (15) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.