Statewide homelessness prevention strategy., the official text

An act to add Section 8257.4 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to homelessness.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

Existing law establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness and requires the council to take various actions to prevent and end homelessness in California. Existing law establishes various programs to prevent homelessness or assist persons experiencing homelessness, including the No Place Like Home Program and the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program.
This bill would require the council, by July 1, 2027, to develop and publicly issue a statewide homelessness prevention strategy that includes specified elements, including a homelessness prevention action plan for certain state agencies and evidence-based model homeless prevention practices, as specified. The bill would require the council to annually review and update the strategy and publish any revisions. The bill would define various terms for these purposes.

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

SECTION 1.
Section 8257.4 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
8257.4.
(a) For purposes of this section:
(1) “At risk of homelessness” means the presence of multiple evidence-based homelessness risk factors for an individual, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(A) Prior experience of homelessness.
(B) Annual income below 30 percent of the area median income.
(C) Experiencing rent burden.
(D) Experiencing other household and social characteristics that are known to elevate the risk of homelessness.
(2) “Homelessness prevention” or “preventing homelessness” means reducing the inflow of individuals into the population of people experiencing homelessness.
(3) “Homeless prevention action plan” means a plan described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b).
(4) “Housing stability” means the ability of an individual or family to maintain housing that is consistent, safe, and affordable.
(5) “Relevant agency” means any state agency or department that affects, or has the potential to affect, housing stability and the prevention of homelessness, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) The council.
(B) The Department of Housing and Community Development.
(C) The State Department of Social Services.
(D) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
(E) The Division of Rehabilitative Programs, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
(F) The Office of Youth and Community Restoration, California Health and Human Services Agency.
(G) The California Health and Human Services Agency.
(H) The State Department of Public Health.
(I) The State Department of Health Care Services.
(J) The State Department of State Hospitals.
(K) The Employment Development Department.
(L) The State Department of Education.
(b) By July 1, 2027, the council shall develop and publicly issue a statewide homelessness prevention strategy that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(1) The identity of each relevant agency.
(2) An inventory of each definition of homelessness prevention employed by each relevant agency and how those definitions differ.
(3) The actions each relevant agency is taking to promote housing stability and homelessness prevention and the gaps in those actions.
(4) (A) A homelessness prevention action plan for each relevant agency that is developed by the council and the relevant agency that details specific actions, in addition to those described in paragraph (3), the agency will take to contribute to housing stability and homelessness prevention and the timeline for those actions.
(B) Each homelessness prevention action plan developed pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall consider available model practices developed pursuant to paragraph (12) and relevant evidence-based research and practice regarding the prevention of homelessness.
(5) Recommendations for legislation or executive action to implement the homelessness prevention action plans.
(6) A plan to coordinate and integrate the homelessness prevention action plans.
(7) A plan to annually evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the homelessness prevention action plans that includes, but is not limited to, both of the following:
(A) Accountability measures.
(B) An assessment of the impact of the homelessness prevention action plans on homelessness prevention.
(8) An inventory of state resources currently devoted specifically to preventing homelessness.
(9) A proposal for state resources and actions to prevent homelessness in addition to those described in paragraph (8).
(10) Statewide homelessness prevention goals and accountability measures.
(11) An annual agenda recommending third-party evaluations of selected local or state homelessness prevention programs other than the homelessness prevention action plans that test the impact of those programs on homelessness prevention.
(12) Evidence-based model homelessness prevention practices identified or designed and developed by the council that include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Identification of persons most at risk of homelessness through evidence-based risk factors, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(i) Prior experience of homelessness.
(ii) Annual income below 30 percent of the area median income.
(iii) Rent burden.
(iv) Other household and social characteristics that are known to elevate the risk of homelessness.
(B) The use of predictive models to identify individuals most at risk of homelessness.
(C) The targeting of resources to households most at risk of homelessness.
(D) The most effective and efficient interventions to prevent homelessness, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(i) Financial assistance to increase housing stability, including, but not limited to, the most effective methods of accelerating the delivery of emergency rental assistance.
(ii) Eviction defense and holistic legal services to increase housing stability.
(iii) Case management to increase housing stability.
(E) Specific homelessness prevention practices that address the needs of subpopulations.
(F) Successful integration of financial, legal, and case management assistance.
(G) Evaluation of the effectiveness of homelessness prevention strategies on preventing homelessness, including performance metrics.
(H) The most effective and efficient means of coordinating state and federal homelessness prevention efforts identified and proposed by the council.
(I) The most effective and efficient means of coordinating state and local homeless prevention efforts identified and proposed by the council.
(J) Evidence-based state and local homelessness prevention programs and systems that have received evaluations validating their effectiveness in preventing homelessness identified by the council and recommendations for scaling up those programs and systems to have a broader impact on homelessness prevention.
(K) The compilation, acquisition, and use of relevant data necessary to effectuate homelessness prevention, including, but not limited to, a universal system of data collection and reporting that facilitates access to data by all participants in a homelessness prevention system.
(c) The council shall do both of the following with the model homelessness prevention practices described in paragraph (12) of subdivision (b):
(1) Offer them as guidance to local programs.
(2) Propose methods to integrate relevant practices into state agencies and programs.
(d) The council shall annually review and update the strategy and publish any revisions.