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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

94

Introduced by Senator Becker

(Coauthor: Senator Blakespear)

February 20, 2025

An act to add Section 50224 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) program for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. Existing law provides for the allocation of funding under the program among continuums of care, cities, counties, and tribes in 6 rounds, with rounds 1 to 5, inclusive, administered by the Interagency Council on Homelessness and round 6 administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development, as provided. Existing law requires a program applicant to provide specified information through data collection, reporting, performance monitoring, and accountability framework, as established by the council.

This bill would enact the Functional Zero Unsheltered Act, which, beginning with round 7 of the HHAP program, the next round of HHAP program applications, or when updates to the regionally coordinated homeless action plan are next required to be submitted, would require an applicant to provide information relating to its efforts to address homelessness in its jurisdiction, including an assessment of what would be required for the applicant to achieve and maintain both functional zero, which the bill would define as a milestone indicating a community has measurably solved homelessness, as specified, and functional zero unsheltered, which the bill would define as a necessary milestone in the effort to achieve functional zero indicating that sufficient housing options of all types to accommodate a jurisdiction’s unsheltered, chronically homeless population based on its most recent homeless point-in-time count, and information regarding the applicant’s implementation of local homeless housing incentives, as provided. count. The bill would require, as part of the assessment of progress toward functional zero, applicants to include, at a minimum, an analysis of the number of housing units of all types needed to achieve functional zero in a jurisdiction, and as part of the assessment of progress toward functional zero unsheltered, applicants to include a financial model assessing the needs for investment in prescribed areas and further analysis of, among other things, funding programs that provide housing or services to persons experiencing homelessness. The bill would also require an applicant to provide information regarding the applicant’s implementation of local homeless housing incentives, as provided, and to demonstrate its efforts to include small cities, as defined, in its regionally coordinated homeless action plan, as specified.

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

SECTION 1.

Section 50224 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

50224.

(a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the Functional Zero Unsheltered Act.

(b) For the purposes of this section:

(2) “Functional zero unsheltered” means a necessary milestone in the effort to achieve functional zero indicating that sufficient housing options of all types to accommodate a jurisdiction’s unsheltered, chronically homeless population based on its most recent homeless point-in-time count.

(3) “Small cities” means the cities in a jurisdiction that are not Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program applicants.

(c) Beginning with round 7 of the program, When updates to the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan required by Section 50233 are next required to be submitted, or beginning with the next round of program applications as provided in Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 50230), in addition to the data required under Sections 50221, 50222, and 50223, applicants shall provide the following information for all rounds of program allocations: information:

(1) (A) An assessment of what would be required for the applicant to achieve and maintain functional zero unsheltered. zero.

(B) The assessment in subparagraph (A) shall include a financial model that will assess needs for investment in all of the following:

(i) Capital for the purpose of building permanent housing and interim interventions.

(ii) Operating supports in project-based housing and interim interventions.

(iii) Rental assistance with private-market landlords.

(iv) Service costs for purposes of moving persons experiencing homelessness into permanent housing. Services needed to assist persons in exiting homelessness and remaining housed.

(C) In order to meet the requirements of this paragraph, the assessment in paragraph (A) shall do all of the following:

(i) Identify federal, state, and local funding programs that provide housing or services to persons experiencing homelessness and describe all of the following for each program to the extent that data is available:

(I) The amount of funding the program receives each year and funding sources for the program.

(II) The number of persons the program serves each year, disaggregated by race and gender.

(III) The types of housing and services provided to the persons the program serves each year, disaggregated by race and gender.

(IV) Limitations, if any, on the length of stay for housing programs and length of provision of services for service programs.

(V) If applicable, reasons for the unavailability of data.

(ii) Identify the total number and type of permanent housing beds, units, or opportunities available to persons experiencing homelessness statewide and in geographically diverse regions across the state.

(iii) Analyze the need for permanent housing opportunities, including, but not limited to, supportive housing, rapid rehousing, and affordable housing.

(iv) Analyze the need for services to assist persons in exiting homelessness and remaining housed.

(v) Identify the number and types of interim interventions available to persons experiencing homelessness in geographically diverse regions across the state. The data shall also include, but is not limited to, all of the following:

(I) The number of year-round shelter beds.

(II) The average length of stay in or use of interim interventions, to the extent data is available.

(III) The exit rate from an interim intervention to permanent housing, to the extent data is available.

(vi) Analyze the need for additional interim interventions and funding needed to create these interventions, taking into consideration the ideal length of stay in or use of the intervention.

(3) All of the following information regarding the applicant’s implementation of local homeless housing incentives:

(A) Whether the applicant has a shelter crisis declaration that is currently valid and in effect, and, if so, whether the applicant has adopted California Building Code Appendix P or other local variations.

(B) What steps the applicant has taken to reduce the number of discretionary approvals required of interim and permanent housing projects.

(C) Whether the applicant has waived applicable zoning requirements.

(D) Whether the applicant has waived local fees charged to affordable housing projects serving low-income and homeless populations.

(E) Whether the applicant allows affordable housing project appeals to be heard, despite “by right” ministerial authority.

(4) A demonstration of the applicant’s efforts to include small cities in its regionally coordinated homeless action plan, pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 50230) of Part 1.