Amended  IN  Senate  June 14, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 25, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 10, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1961

Introduced by Assembly Member Gabriel
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Low and Wicks)
(Coauthors: Senators Becker, Hueso, and Newman)

February 10, 2022

An act to add Section 50408.2 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1961, as amended, Gabriel. Affordable housing: Department of Housing and Community Development.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and makes the department responsible for administering various housing programs throughout the state, including, among others, the Multifamily Housing Program, the Housing for a Healthy California Program, and the California Emergency Solutions Grants Program.
This bill would require the department to create an online database of affordable housing listings, information, and applications, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to contract with one or more vendors to carry out this requirement. The bill would also require the department to cooperate and coordinate with relevant stakeholders, including specified public and private parties, and local, state, and federal governmental entities. The bill would make these provisions operable only upon appropriation by the Legislature, and would require the department to make the database accessible no later than 24 months after the appropriation. By expanding the duties of local governments this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 50408.2 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

50408.2.
 (a) The department shall do both of the following:
(1) Create an online database of affordable housing listings, information, and applications, in coordination with state and local partners, including, but not limited to, the other departments and state entities within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, as well as councils of governments and metropolitan planning organizations. The database shall serve the purpose of improving access to affordable housing by making it easier for low-income low- and moderate-income households to find and apply for affordable housing across the state, and facilitate alignment in tenant preferences used in various jurisdictions to the extent possible. The database shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(A) Data necessary for prospective tenants to do all of the following:
(i) Submit electronic applications online.
(ii) Access instructional information in multiple languages, including, but not limited to, English and the languages specified in Section 1632 of the Civil Code.
(iii) Store information online for reuse in applying for multiple apartment listings.
(iv) Request automatic notification by email of new affordable housing vacancy listings.
(v) Receive notification and a confirmation number for their application.
(vi) Obtain an updated status of their place on eligibility lists.
(B) Data necessary for managers of affordable housing developments to do all of the following:
(i) Access the database through a user account.
(ii) Create and update current listings of affordable housing vacancy lists. units.
(iii) View View, rank, prioritize, and respond to individual applications submitted by a prospective tenant.
(iv) Facilitate the application process based on preferences established by each jurisdiction.
(C) Data necessary for the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to approve minimum housing application standards for coordinated entry service providers with an existing universal housing application system.
(D) Data necessary for coordinated entry service providers to find available affordable housing units that serve people experiencing homelessness without supportive service needs.
(2) Cooperate and collaborate with relevant stakeholders, including, but not limited to, local governments, public housing authorities, the federal government, operators of existing public and private affordable housing rental application platforms, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, the other state entities and departments within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, as well as councils of governments and metropolitan planning organizations, as necessary, to draft and carry out a strategy to integrate information.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if a city, county, or city and county maintains a database that meets or exceeds the requirements described in this section for the statewide online database created by the department, listings, information, and applications relating to affordable housing within that jurisdiction shall not be included in the statewide online database. Instead, the department shall include in the statewide online database a link to internet website where the database maintained by that city, county, or city and county can be accessed.
(b) This section shall become operative only upon appropriation by the Legislature of sufficient funds, including funds from private donations if available, to the department for the purposes of this section.
(c) For the purposes of this section “affordable housing” means any locally adopted inclusionary housing program, or multifamily deed-restricted rental housing accommodation which accommodation, that was constructed with financing from one or more of the following sources:
(1) State or federal low-income housing tax credits awarded pursuant to Section 50199.14, Section 12206, 17058, or 23610.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, or Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code.
(2) Project-based housing choice vouchers.
(3) Funding awarded by the department.
(4) Financing for a multifamily development from the California Housing Finance Agency.
(5) Local government funding.
(d) The department shall make the database accessible no later than 24 months after the appropriation of funds pursuant to subdivision (b).
(e) The department may contract with one or more vendors to carry out the activities required by this section and shall prioritize vendors able to provide open-source platforms.
(1) A vendor selected to create and maintain the database shall demonstrate sufficient capacity and experience to administer a program of this scope and scale, including all of the following capabilities:
(A) The technological capacity to develop and implement a central technology-driven application portal and system that serves managers of affordable housing units and prospective tenants, has mobile and multilanguage capabilities, and allows an applicant to track the status of their application. The application system shall have the capacity to handle the volume of expected use without disruption.
(B) User testing with a diverse range of potential tenant applicants and managers of affordable housing to ensure that the database is designed for ease of use and that all user-facing content is easy to comprehend.
(C) Once the database begins accepting applications it shall be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with 99 percent planned uptime rating and all of the following capacities:
(i) Support for at least 2,000,000 application records.
(ii) Support for at least 50,000 concurrent full-access users, allowing users to create, read, update, and delete transactions based upon their user role.
(iii) Support for, at a minimum, applications and affordable housing units to be viewed in English and the languages specified in Section 1632 of the Civil Code.
(iv) Support for hosting user guides, instructional resources, and step-by-step overviews of the application process on the database website.
(D) Compliance with all state protections related to the use of personally identifiable information, including providing any necessary disclosures and assuring the secure storage of any personally identifiable information generated, as part of the application process.
(E) Compliance with all state and federal fair housing laws and regulations.
(2) In carrying out or contracting to carry out promotion, education, and outreach activities related to the requirements of this section, the department shall ensure capacity develop materials that can be used by local governments, community partners, and other stakeholders to reach non-English-speaking and hard-to-reach households, with considerations for racial equity and traditionally underserved populations. These materials shall be developed for the initial launch of the publicly accessible version of the database.
(3) Affordable housing providers shall continue to provide housing applications in hard copy to prospective applicants at the applicant’s request, in accordance with minimum housing application standards to be determined by the department upon initial operability of the online database.
(4) For any affordable housing provider with an existing platform, the statewide portal shall not necessarily supersede its platform, but the provider shall be required to share data in accordance with minimum application standards set by the department.

SEC. 2.

  If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.