House California Challenge Program.

Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. The department is responsible for administering various housing programs throughout the state, including, among others, the California Emergency Solutions and Housing Program, which, among other things, provides rental assistance and housing relocation and stabilization services to ensure housing affordability to people who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness. This bill, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature, would establish the House California Challenge Program, to be administered by the department, in partnership with the California Health and Human Services Agency, for the purpose of providing direct rental assistance to help persons who are experiencing homelessness obtain housing. The bill would require the department, upon appropriation of those funds by the Legislature, to allocate $1,000,000,000 for purposes of the program each fiscal year for 5 years, beginning with the 2022–23 fiscal year. The bill would require 10% of the funds to be awarded as grants to recipients, as defined, for the purpose of helping participants locate and obtain permanent housing and would require 80% of the funds to be allocated by the department for specified uses, including long-term rental assistance, master leasing of units, and short-term funds for prevention, self-resolution, and diversion services, as specified. The bill would authorize up to 10% of the funds to be used for administrative costs. Under the bill, and to the extent allowable under federal law, any assistance, services, or supports received pursuant to the program would not be considered income or a resource of the participant for purposes of determining eligibility for, or benefits pursuant to, any public assistance program. This bill would require a recipient that receives grant funds under the program to submit an annual report to the department that includes specified information, including ongoing tracking of the specific uses and expenditures of grant funds, the number of homeless individuals and households served by the grant funds, and outcome data for households served through program funds. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, as specified, to submit a report to specified Senate and Assembly committees that includes a summary of the reports submitted to the department by recipients and an evaluation of the outcomes and status of the program.