Homeless Emergency Aid program: funding.

Existing law establishes the Homeless Emergency Aid program for the purpose of providing localities with one-time flexible block grant funds to address their immediate homelessness challenges. Existing law requires the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to administer the program in consultation with the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council. Subject to appropriation by the Legislature, existing law requires the agency to distribute funds, in accordance with specified formulae, to administrative entities and to counties that meet certain requirements, including that the county or the jurisdictions represented by the administrative entity, as applicable, have declared a shelter crisis pursuant to specified law. Existing law requires that applications be submitted by December 31, 2018, and provides for an allocation of funds in up to 3 rounds. Existing law requires award recipients to expend program funds on one-time uses that address homelessness, including, but not limited to, prevention, criminal justice diversion programs to homeless individuals with mental health needs, and emergency aid, and to submit a report to the agency by January 1, 2020, pertaining to contract expenditures, the number of homeless individuals served by program funds, and progress toward state and local homelessness goals. This bill would continuously appropriate the sum of $250,000,000 from the General Fund to be used to provide an allocation of funds to administrative entities under the program. The bill would specify an allocation formula based on the homeless point-in-time count for each administrative entity and require administrative entities to apply for funding in a manner similar to existing provisions of the program. The bill would require that funds allocated pursuant to these provisions be used to fund programs and provide other assistance that prioritizes meeting the needs of veterans and homeless youth, as defined. The bill would require an administrative entity to report to the agency by January 1 of the year following the year in which it received an allocation pursuant to these provisions. The bill would authorize the agency to monitor expenditures and activities of an administrative entity that receives an allocation and to request the repayment of funds allocated from an administrative entity, or pursue any other remedies available to it by law for failure to comply with program requirements.