State Partnership for Affordable Housing Registries in California Grant Program.

Existing law creates the Department of Housing and Community Development and requires the department to administer various programs relating to housing. This bill would establish, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, the State Partnership for Affordable Housing Registries in California Grant Program to provide technical assistance to eligible entities, as defined, for the purpose of creating a state-managed online platform of affordable housing listings, information, and applications. The bill would require the department to administer the program and to adopt guidelines for this purpose. The bill would require the department to develop a housing preapplication to standardize applications for affordable housing and to solicit participation of eligible entities no later than January 1, 2026, and to launch the platform no later than July 1, 2027. The bill would require the department to provide technical assistance to participating entities and to ensure equitable access to database users, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to coordinate with the Office of Data and Innovation to carry out the requirements of the program and to contract with vendors pursuant to existing provisions of state contract law, as specified. The bill would establish minimum requirements for the platform and would require a vendor selected to create and maintain the platform to demonstrate specified capabilities and implement those requirements. The bill would exempt from disclosure as a public record any personally identifiable information collected by the platform or shared between eligible entities and the department in administering 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.