Bill Text: CA SB1380 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)

Status: (Passed) 2016-09-29 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 847, Statutes of 2016. [SB1380 Detail]

Download: California-2015-SB1380-Introduced.html

---

BILL NUMBER: SB 1380	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Mitchell
   (Coauthors: Senators Allen, Hertzberg, Liu, and Wieckowski)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Campos and Thurmond)

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2016

   An act relating to homelessness.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1380, as introduced, Mitchell. Homelessness: coordinating
council.
   Existing law establishes various programs, including, among
others, the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program, to provide
assistance to homeless persons.
   This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to establish a coordinating council on homelessness.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) California leads the nation in the number of homeless
residents with 115,738 people experiencing homelessness at some
point, which is 21 percent of the nation's total. California also
leads the nation in the number and ratio of chronically homeless
residents with 29,178 chronically homeless residents at any point in
time, which is 31 percent of the nation's total.
   (b) Homelessness is expensive to the state and local governments.
A homeless person receiving general assistance in Los Angeles County,
for example, incurs $2,897 per month in crisis response services.
   (c) Following the example of other states, as well as
jurisdictions within California, it is the intent of the Legislature
to adopt a housing first model for all state programs funding housing
for people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.
   (d) Housing first is an evidence-based model of ending all types
of homelessness and is the most effective approach to ending chronic
homelessness. Housing first offers individuals and families
experiencing homelessness access to permanent affordable or
supportive housing with a low-threshold for entry, as it does not
impose clinical prerequisites like completion of a course of
treatment or evidence of sobriety. The federal government recognizes
that housing first yields high-housing retention rates, low returns
to homelessness, and significant reductions in crisis or
institutional care.
   (e) Homelessness affects multiple systems in California. Though
almost every state with significant homeless populations has
established a council to coordinate a housing first oriented response
to homelessness, California does not have an entity to manage the
state's response.
   (f) California participated in a federally funded policy academy
to reduce chronic homelessness. That policy academy succeeded in
revising programs administered by the Department of Housing and
Community Development, and in attracting federal funding
opportunities requiring collaboration between the Department of
Housing and Community Development and the State Department of Health
Care Services. To implement additional successes, it is essential
that California has a coordinating council on homelessness.
   (g) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to establish a coordinating council on homelessness.