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AB-963 The End the Foster Care-to-Homelessness Pipeline Act.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 04/27/2023 09:00 PM
AB963:v97#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 27, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 30, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 963

Introduced by Assembly Member Schiavo
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Bryan)
(Coauthor: Senator Cortese)

February 14, 2023

An act to add Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 63090) to Division 1 of Title 6.7 of the Government Code, relating to housing, and making an appropriation therefor.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 963, as amended, Schiavo. The End the Foster Care-to-Homelessness Pipeline Act.
Existing law, Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act, establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) in the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, that is governed by a board of directors. The act, among other things, authorizes the I-Bank to make loans, issue bonds, and provide financial assistance for various types of projects that qualify as economic development or public development facilities.
This bill, the End the Foster Care-to-Homelessness Pipeline Act, would establish the End the Foster Care-to-Homelessness Pipeline Program within the I-Bank to guarantee qualified loans made by financial institutions to qualified nonprofit and for-profit businesses for the construction, acquisition, and renovation of housing for current and former foster youth between 18 and 25 years of age and who qualify for specified programs. The bill would require authorize the bank, in determining whether to guarantee a qualified loan, to give preference to counties with high housing inelasticity and high rates of foster youth, as specified. The bill would require authorize the bank to reimburse up to 100% 80% of the guaranteed portion of principal and interest that result from a qualified loan that is in default, not to exceed $250,000,000, and would require the Controller to transfer moneys from the General Fund to the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Fund, at the direction of the bank, for that purpose. By requiring the Controller to transfer moneys into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: YES   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the End the Foster Care-to-Homelessness Pipeline Act.

SEC. 2.

 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Despite efforts to ensure youth exit California’s child welfare system to family and other permanent connections, nearly 4,600 youth find themselves alone each year, often facing extreme housing precarity, according to the University of California, Berkeley’s California Child Welfare Indicators Project.
(2) One-quarter of former foster youth experienced homelessness in California between the ages of 21 and 23, inclusive, with an additional 28 percent reporting that they had “couch surfed,” according to seminal research. Of unsheltered adults identified in the 2022 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count alone, 35 percent had experienced the foster care or juvenile justice systems, a total of 15,612 individuals.
(3) Between the ages of 18 and 25, inclusive, young people in and exiting the foster care system have a myriad of benefits and housing subsidies. In 2008, Congress passed the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 693). The law offered states matching federal Title IV-E entitlement dollars to extend foster care through the age of 21.
(4) In 2010, California passed the California Fostering Connections to Success Act (Chapter 229 of the Statues of 2010) to extend foster care in the state, and has since drawn down many millions of dollars to support foster youth success.
(5) Alongside an array of transitional housing programs administered by the State Department of Social Services, youth who have experienced foster care have a network of housing opportunities, albeit frayed and insufficient to forestall the dire housing precarity they face.
(6) The need is to create more housing on a dramatic scale for this, a population to whom the state and every Californian has a deep responsibility.
(7) A key problem with most of the rental subsidies current and former foster youth receive is that they are portable, akin to tenant-based Housing Choice Vouchers administered by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(8) The federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-178) provided loan guarantees, low-interest financing, and lines of credit for major infrastructure projects. This strategy drew billions in private investment to build roads, bridges, and tunnels.

(9)Similarly, the Community Investment Guarantee Pool (CIGP), launched in 2019, has pulled together major names in philanthropy and impact investing, including, among others, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Arnold Ventures, the Annie E. Casey and Kresge foundations, to offer loan guarantees for a range of socially conscious private enterprises. In 2021, the CIGP used $15,000,000 in guarantees to leverage $131,000,000 in capital to develop affordable housing.

(10)The solution for foster youth is the stable, predictable, and affordable housing they need to find their footing and success. The state needs to create an unfunded loan guarantee pool, administered by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank), to spur private debt financing to develop housing for current and former foster youth. In conjunction with existing rental subsidies this strategy portends a dramatic ramp-up in housing for this particularly vulnerable population.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to help end the foster care-to-homelessness pipeline by providing loan guarantees for the development and acquisition of housing for the more than 4,600 youth who exit California’s child welfare system every year.

SEC. 3.

 Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 63090) is added to Division 1 of Title 6.7 of the Government Code, to read:
CHAPTER  7. The End the Foster Care-to-Homelessness Pipeline Program

63090.
 (a) This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the End the Foster Care-to-Homelessness Pipeline Program.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this division, this chapter shall not apply to any other activities, powers, and duties of the bank under any of the other chapters of this division.

63091.
 Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions in this section shall govern the construction of this chapter. The definitions provided in this section shall only apply to this chapter and not to any other chapter of this division.
(a) “Bank” means the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank.
(b) “Bank board” means the board of directors of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank.
(c) “Eligible costs” means the costs paid or incurred on or after January 1, 2024, for the construction, acquisition, and renovation of a qualified project.
(d) “Financial institution” means regulated banking organizations, including national banks and trust companies authorized to conduct business in California and state-chartered commercial banks, trust companies, credit unions, and savings and loan associations.
(e) “Qualified business” means a business that meets both of the following:
(1) Is a corporation, partnership, cooperative, or other entity, including both nonprofit and for-profit entities, and is authorized to conduct business in the state.
(2) Has its primary business location within the boundaries of this state.
(f) “Qualified loan” means a loan or a portion of a loan made by a financial company or financial institution to a qualified business for eligible costs to construct, acquire, and renovate a qualified project.
(g) “Qualified project” means housing for current or former foster youth who are 18 to 25 years of age, inclusive, and qualify for one of the following programs:
(1) Independent Living Program (ILP).
(2) Transitional Housing Placement Program for Non-Minor Dependent (THPP NMD).
(3) Transitional Housing Program-Plus (THP-Plus).
(4) Family Unification Program, Youth Aging Out of Foster Care (FUP-Youth).
(5) Federal Foster Youth to Independence Initiative (FYI).

63092.
 (a) The bank board shall may establish one or more programs administered by the bank directly to guarantee qualified loans made by financial institutions to qualified businesses for the construction, acquisition, and renovation of qualified projects in accordance with this chapter.
(b) In determining whether to guarantee a qualified loan, the bank shall may give preference to counties with high housing inelasticity and high rates of foster youth, as defined by the rate per 1,000 children 0 to 21 years of age, inclusive, who are in out-of-home foster care.
(c) Any A financial institution that issues a loan that is guaranteed by the bank pursuant to this chapter shall may be fully reimbursed for up to 100 80 percent of the guaranteed portion of principal and interest that result from a loan or loans that are in default, not to exceed two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000).
(d) The Controller shall transfer moneys from the General Fund to the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Fund, at the direction of the bank, in an amount not to exceed the amount necessary to reimburse guaranteed qualified loans in accordance with subdivision (c).
(e) The board may adopt regulations to implement this chapter in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).