Article
8. Mobile Homeless Connect Pilot Program
13040.
This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the Mobile Homeless Connect Pilot Program.13041.
The Legislature finds and declares the following:(a) California has the largest number of residents experiencing homelessness, with over 171,000 people experiencing homelessness on a given night, almost 30 percent of the nation’s number, according to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2022 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report.
(b) The vast majority of people experiencing homelessness in California are from California or lived in California for years before becoming homeless.
(c) Homelessness is solvable with sustained investments in proven
solutions and accountability in solving homelessness to the people of the State of California.
(d) Persons experiencing homelessness must have a state-issued identification card, among other documents, in order to access a range of key services, including permanent supportive housing, affordable housing, and rental subsidy programs.
(e) Assisting persons experiencing homelessness with obtaining identification cards will enable homeless service providers to move people into permanent housing more expeditiously.
13042.
For purposes of this article:(a) “Continuum of care” has the same meaning as defined in Section 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(b) “Department” means the Department of Motor Vehicles.
(c) “Full-time employee” means an individual who meets both of the following requirements:
(1) Performs at least 70 percent of the employee’s services for the Mobile Homeless Connect Pilot Program.
(2) Is paid qualified wages and works not less
than an average of 35 hours per week.
(d) “Homeless services provider” includes:
(1) A governmental or nonprofit agency receiving federal, state, or county or municipal funding to provide services to persons experiencing homelessness or that is otherwise sanctioned to provide those services by a local homeless continuum of care organization.
(2) A human services provider or public social services provider funded by the state to provide homeless children or youth services, health services, mental or behavioral health services, substance use disorder services, or public assistance or employment services.
(e) “Persons experiencing homelessness” has the same
meaning as “homeless” as defined in Section 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as that section read on January 10, 2019.
(f) “Pilot program” means the Mobile Homeless Connect Pilot Program.
13043.
(a) Upon appropriation, the department shall establish a pilot program in the Counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and Sacramento and the City and County of San Francisco to assist persons experiencing homelessness with obtaining an identification card, subject to all of the following requirements:(1) The department shall develop guidelines for the pilot program in each county and city and county in collaboration with the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. The guidelines for each pilot program shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
(A) (i) The
number of full-time employees.
(ii) The hiring of full-time employees shall begin no later than April 1 of the fiscal year for which an appropriation is made for purposes of this article.
(B) Targets for the number of encampments, interim housing sites, and people experiencing homelessness to be engaged per quarter.
(C) A target for the total number of Mobile Homeless Connect Pilot Program services per quarter.
(D) Recommended trainings for Mobile Homeless Connect Pilot Program
employees prior to engaging in field work, including, but not limited to, training in trauma-informed care.
(2) The department shall provide direct outreach in collaboration with local homeless services providers that contract with the local continuum of care.
(3) The department shall
collaborate with the local continuum of care to identify and prioritize locations, including, but not limited to, interim housing and homeless encampment sites.
(b) On or before January 1 of the third year of the pilot program, and on or before each January 1 thereafter, the department shall submit an annual report to the Legislature that includes information on the number of persons experiencing homelessness engaged, the number of identification cards issued,
and any other metrics determined by the department and the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. The reports required by this subdivision shall be in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(c) This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2031, and as of that date is repealed.