Several Legislative Bills Concerning Homelessness Were Passed by the Legislature and Approved by the Governor in 2023 and Several Were Not
Governor Approved Several Legislative Bills Concerning
Homelessness During the 2023 California Legislative Session:
What’s in the Legislation?
Also
Several Legislative Bills Concerning Homelessness did not Make it
Through the 2023 California Legislative Process:
What was in the Legislation?
The last day for each house to pass bills was September 14. The last day the Governor could approve legislation was October 14. The Legislature is scheduled to reconvene in regular session on January 3, 2024 for the 2024 legislative session.
Approved legislative bills include:
- AB-271 Homeless death review committees
- AB-349 Patton State Hospital: lease: housing and mental health services for homeless individuals
- AB-1285 Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program and Encampment Resolution Funding program
- AB 1377 Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program
- SB-20 Joint powers agreements: regional housing trusts
- SB-125 Transportation budget trailer bill
Legislative bills that did not make it through the legislative process include:
- AB-67 Homeless Courts Pilot Program
- AB-745 Reentry Housing and Workforce Development Program
- AB-799 Homelessness: financing plan
- AB-1656 Homelessness: funding
- SB-7 The Homeless Housing Obligation Act
- SB-63 Homeless and Mental Health Court and Transitioning Home Grant Programs
Legislative Bills Approved
Note: Click on the title of each bill to read its entire contents.
AB-271 Homeless death review committees
This bill would authorize counties to establish a homeless death review committee for the purposes of gathering information to identify the root causes of death of homeless individuals and to determine strategies to improve coordination of services for the homeless population. The bill would establish procedures for the sharing or disclosure of specified information by a homeless death review committee.
Information gathered by the homeless death review committee and any recommendations made by the committee shall be used by the county to develop education and prevention strategies that will lead to improved coordination of services for the homeless population.
AB-349 Patton State Hospital: lease: housing and mental health services for homeless individuals
This bill would delete the 20-year lease maximum and would additionally authorize the Director of General Services to lease the building described above for the purposes of providing housing to homeless individuals and providing mental health services to those individuals.
This bill would require (a) regionally coordinated homelessness action plan to additionally include evidence and an explanation by a continuum of care that shares geographic boundaries with a city, county, or city and county that is using state funding allocated pursuant to the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program or is receiving state funding pursuant to the Encampment Resolution Funding program to provide services or housing for place-based encampment resolution, of collaboration with the city, county, or city and county that addresses how people served through encampment resolution have or will be included in prioritization for permanent housing within coordinated entry systems.
AB 1377 Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program
This bill would require applications or planning materials for additional state funding appropriated on or after July 1, 2024, as specified, to include data and a narrative summary of specific and quantifiable steps that the applicant has taken to improve the delivery of housing and services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness on transit facilities owned and operated by a transit agency, as defined.
SB-20 Joint powers agreements: regional housing trusts
This bill would authorize 2 or more local agencies, as defined, to create a regional housing trust for the purpose of funding housing to assist the homeless population and persons and families of extremely low, very low, and low income within their jurisdictions by entering into a joint powers agreement pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act. The bill would also authorize a federally recognized tribal government to enter into the joint powers agreement. The bill would require a regional housing trust created pursuant to these provisions to be governed by a board of directors consisting of a minimum of 5 directors, as specified. The bill would authorize a regional housing trust to fund the planning, construction, and acquisition of housing, receive public and private financing and funds, and authorize and issue bonds, as specified. The bill would require the joint powers agreement establishing the regional housing trust to incorporate specified annual financial reporting and auditing requirements.
SB-125 Transportation budget trailer bill
The sum of five million eight hundred two thousand dollars ($5,802,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Transportation to support statewide efforts addressing homelessness within the state highway system right-of-way.
On or before January 1, 2026, the Department of Transportation shall submit a report to the fiscal committees of the Legislature and the Legislative Analyst’s Office summarizing the outcomes associated with the activities undertaken by its encampment coordinators.
Legislative Bills That did not Make it Through the Legislative Process
Note: Click on the title of each bill to read its entire contents.
AB-67 Homeless Courts Pilot Program
The bill would require an applicant for grant funding under the program to submit a plan for a new homeless court program or expansion of an existing homeless court program, and would require any funding awarded to an applicant to be used in accordance with that plan. The bill would also require the Judicial Council, on or before July 1, 2027, to submit a report to the Legislature evaluating the programs funded and the success and challenges of those programs, along with recommendations for improving the programs.
AB-745 Reentry Housing and Workforce Development Program
Upon appropriation by the Legislature for this express purpose, this bill would require the department to create the Reentry Housing and Workforce Development Program, and would require the department to take specified actions to provide grants to applicants, as defined, for innovative or evidence-based housing, housing-based services, family reunification services, women services, and employment interventions to allow people with recent histories of incarceration to exit homelessness and remain stably housed.
AB-799 Homelessness: financing plan
This bill would require the council, in collaboration with continuums of care, counties, and big cities, as defined, and other stakeholders, to establish and regularly update a financing plan to solve homelessness by the year 2035.
It is the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to establish an ongoing funding source to address the state’s homelessness crisis.
SB-7 The Homeless Housing Obligation Act
The bill would require each city and county to develop a housing obligation plan that includes specified information to fulfill its housing obligation and post the plan to its internet website. describes how the city or county plans to increase housing opportunities in its jurisdiction so that it can offer at least one housing opportunity to each homeless individual, as specified. In this regard, the bill would require a housing obligation plan to include, among other things, goals and plans to fulfill the city or county’s housing obligation, including specific projects and completion timelines, and the city or county’s progress in reducing the number of homeless individuals in its jurisdiction.
SB-63 Homeless and Mental Health Court and Transitioning Home Grant Programs
This bill would establish two new grant programs until January 1, 2028: the Homeless and Mental Health Court Grant Program that would, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, be administered by the Judicial Council and provide grants to counties for the purpose of establishing or expanding homeless courts and mental health courts, as specified; and the Transitioning Home Grant Program that would, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, be administered by the board and provide grants to county sheriffs and jail administrators to fund programs aimed at reducing homelessness among inmates released from custody, as specified.
2024 Legislative Session
The Legislature is scheduled to reconvene on January 3, 2024. Over the next few months, legislators will use their time to cultivate new legislative proposals for next year, meet with their constituents in their district, and participate in select committee hearings that deal with various topics, including homelessness. Members of the Legislature will then begin submitting language to legislative counsel and start introducing bills to engage next year’s legislative process.