Today's Law As Amended


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AB-589 Homeless youth: transitional housing.(2023-2024)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.

 Chapter 6.1 (commencing with Section 13710) is added to Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

CHAPTER  6.1. Unicorn Homes Transitional Housing for Homeless LGBTQ+ Youth Program
13710.
 To the extent that an appropriation is made by the Legislature for these purposes, the Department of Housing and Community Development shall establish the Unicorn Homes Transitional Housing for Homeless LGBTQ+ Youth Program as a three-year pilot program. The program shall be administered by local community-based organizations providing a majority of their services to the LGBTQ+ community in the Counties of San Diego and Sacramento.
13711.
 The program shall meet all of the following requirements:
(a) Fund the community-based organizations providing emergency transitional housing for LGBTQ+ youth between 18 and 24 years of age, inclusive, experiencing homelessness due to family rejection, with the ultimate goal of the program being reunification with the youth’s family when possible.
(b) Place eligible youths with volunteer host families. Any individual in the host family who is 18 years of age or older and with whom the youth would be living shall meet all of the following criteria, pursuant to the results of a background check conducted via Live Scan:
(1) Has not been convicted of driving under the influence within the past 10 years.
(2) Has not been convicted of a crime for which registration is required under Section 290 of the Penal Code.
(3) Has not been convicted of domestic violence, child abuse, or human trafficking.
(4) Has not been convicted of a violent felony as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 of the Penal Code.
(c) Place eligible youths with families who are able to provide crisis intervention with a trauma-informed approach to their care.
(d) Comply with the core components of Housing First outlined in subdivision (b) of Section 8255.
(e) For purposes of this section, a “trauma-informed approach” includes all of the following:
(1) Ensuring the physical and emotional safety of the youth by understanding, recognizing, and responding to the effects of trauma.
(2) Preventing retraumatization to ensure that the youths feel physically, psychologically, and emotionally safe in their placement with a host family.
(3) Demonstrating trustworthiness and transparency when making decisions with the aim to build and maintain trust between the host family and the youth placed in their care.
(4) Leveling power differences for shared decisionmaking by ensuring that those impacted by decisions have a voice in the decisionmaking process.
(5) Empowering the youths to build on their strengths and identify strategies that will help them heal from trauma.
13712.
 (a) Each community-based organization that receives funding shall prepare an annual report, to be submitted to the Department of Housing and Community Development on or before December 31, 2024, and December 31, 2025, with the final report due on or before June 30, 2026. The report shall contain the following information, to the extent available:
(1) The number of times the community-based organization was contacted by an LGBTQ+ youth potentially eligible for the program created by this chapter.
(2) How many of those initial contacts became participants in the program.
(3) How many of those initial contacts became repeat contacts.
(4) How many of those initial contacts were referred to other resources and services.
(5) How many of those initial contacts left the program for permanent housing.
(b) The Department of Housing and Community Development shall compile the annual reports into a final report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2026. A report to be submitted under this section shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
13713.
 This chapter shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2027, and as of that date is repealed.