Chapter 3. Assistance Activities Of The Department of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 31. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 3.

The department may, upon receipt of a request of a local public entity, provide advisory assistance or staffing for development of new and rehabilitated housing for persons and families of low or moderate income, the elderly, and persons displaced by governmental action, and in the development of programs to correct or eliminate blight and deterioration and to effect community development or redevelopment. In providing such advisory assistance, the department shall encourage, to the extent possible, the location of housing developments in proximity to public transit service and, in assisting with programs of neighborhood rehabilitation, shall consider the availability of such services. The department may contract with a local public entity to provide any necessary staff services associated with, or required by, a local public entity and which could be performed by the staff of a redevelopment agency or housing authority. The department may provide technical assistance in developing housing for students and faculty of universities and colleges upon the request of a potential housing sponsor, or at the request of the governing board or other agency of a university or college.

The department may furnish counseling and guidance services to aid any governmental agency or any private or nonprofit organization or persons in securing the financial aid or cooperation of government agencies in the undertaking, construction, maintenance, operation, or financing of housing for Indians, farm laborers and their families, persons and families displaced by action of any state or local public entity, workers engaged in cutting, processing, milling, handling, or shipping lumber or lumber products, the families of such workers, veterans, the elderly and handicapped, and persons and families of low or moderate income. The department may contract for or sponsor, subject to the availability of federal funds, experimental or demonstration projects for permanently fixed or mobile housing designed to meet the special needs of agricultural workers, persons displaced by action of any local public entity, the handicapped, the elderly, veterans, Indians, and persons and families of low or moderate income. Such contracts or sponsorship agreements may be between the department and local public entities, private enterprise, or nonprofit organizations.

The department shall encourage research and demonstration projects to develop new and better techniques, including techniques of rehabilitation, for increasing the quality and supply of housing for persons and families of low or moderate income and may make grants or loans, with or without interest, in connection therewith.

The department may adopt rules and regulations establishing a mutual self-help housing technical assistance program providing grants to nonprofit housing sponsors for carrying out programs of technical and supervisory assistance to aid persons and families of low or moderate income to develop mutual self-help housing.

The department may make grants to nonprofit housing sponsors and local public entities for operating, administrative, and other expenses of planning, constructing, rehabilitating, and operating assisted housing and may make grants to housing sponsors for the benefit of residents of assisted housing in order to achieve lower rentals for some or all of the units within the assisted housing. Such grants may not be made with moneys derived from the sale of bonds.

The department may enter into agreements to provide staffing to assist government agencies in the conduct of federal loan and grant programs for the provision of housing for veterans and persons and families of low or moderate income in this state.

The department may conduct programs of subsidies for occupants of existing housing pursuant to Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, or other federal programs, but may not submit any competitive application for operation of an existing housing program in a geographic area which includes a local public entity that has applied. However, in conducting subsidy programs pursuant to this section, the department shall not operate housing developments or engage in the purchase, lease, or sublease of housing developments.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to accomplish both of the following:
  (1) To prevent the unnecessary separation of children from their families because of homelessness or the lack of adequate shelter.
  (2) To assist in the reunification of foster children and their families when housing remains a problem.
  (b) The department may, upon the request of a local public entity, provide technical assistance for the purpose of developing applications and plans from the local public entity for federal funding under the Section 8 housing certificate program created by Section 553 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (P.L. 101-625).
  (c) As used in this section, "Section 8" means Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (Sec. 1437 et seq., Title 42, U.S.C.).

The department may, upon request by a local public entity, provide technical assistance of staffing for the purpose of developing applications and plans for community development funding pursuant to the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-383) or other federal programs.

The department shall endeavor to obtain community development funds available under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-383) or other federal programs. The department may, if federal funds are available, conduct an innovative neighborhood preservation program in cooperation with a local public entity.

The department may compile, analyze, and report upon the use in redevelopment project areas, of federal funds granted under selected federal programs, including Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-383), as amended. The department may report the amounts and percentage of such funds used for the purpose of (1) principally benefiting persons of low and moderate income, (2) aiding in the prevention or elimination of slums and blight, or (3) meeting other community development needs having a particular urgency. Such analysis may include an assessment of the extent to which the application of such funds meet the specified purposes. Redevelopment agencies and other local agencies shall promptly respond to any requests for information from the department in connection with its duties under this section. The department shall publish its analysis and assessment as necessary.

The department may provide technical assistance to any public entity or public utility undertaking construction, maintenance, operation, or financing of replacement housing designed for persons displaced because of the acquisition or clearance of real property for public purposes.

The department shall develop and, subject to specific authorization and appropriation by the Legislature or the availability of federal subsidies, implement demonstration subsidy programs to test the effectiveness of one or more housing subsidy programs for veterans, very low income households, or other persons and families of low or moderate income. Such programs may include housing allowance payments, homeownership downpayment assistance, homeownership interest subsidy, leased housing subleased to very low income households, rent supplement payments on behalf of very low income households, or other types of subsidy programs.

The department may provide technical assistance to housing sponsors who are involved in any of the following activities:
  (a) The development of cooperatively owned mobilehome parks for persons and families of low and moderate income.
  (b) The development of mobilehome parks in which the rents charged for spaces are affordable to and occupied by persons and families of low and moderate income.
  (c) The development of manufactured housing subdivisions in which lots and mobilehomes will be purchased by persons and families of low and moderate income. The department may also provide technical assistance to cooperatives and nonprofit housing sponsors who are involved in the purchase of an existing mobilehome park which is placed on the market and which will be occupied primarily by persons and families of low and moderate income.

The department may provide potential housing sponsors and persons and families of low or moderate income such advisory consultative training and educational services as will assist them to become owners or tenants of housing financed under this division. Such training and services may include but are not limited to, technical and professional planning assistance, the preparation and promulgation of organizational planning and development outlines and guides, consultation services, training courses, seminars and lectures, the preparation and dissemination of newsletters and other printed materials, and the services of field representatives. The department shall, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, or the availability of private, local governmental, or federal funds establish a program of such home management training for persons and families of low or moderate income who are occupants or potential occupants of assisted housing. The department may provide potential housing sponsors of multiple-unit housing developments with advisory consultative training and educational services in the management of housing.

The department may provide technical assistance and aid to governmental agencies, nonprofit corporations, and housing sponsors for the purpose of providing the benefits of assisted housing to veterans, very low income households, and persons and families of low or moderate income which are handicapped or in which the head of household has been previously confined to institutional care. Subject to the availability of staff resources, the department shall coordinate its technical assistance activities and loan and grant programs in order to increase participation and understanding of those activities and programs by public and private groups and individuals seeking to expand or improve housing opportunities for veterans, the elderly, or the handicapped.

The department may provide comprehensive technical assistance to tribal housing authorities, housing sponsors, and governmental agencies on reservations, rancherias, and on public domain to facilitate the planning and orderly development of suitable, decent, safe, and sanitary housing for American Indians residing in such areas. Such assistance may include technical assistance in land use planning, natural and environmental resource planning, and economic resource planning. Upon request of the governing body of a reservation or rancheria, the department may act on behalf of the tribal housing authority and perform the functions thereof and for such purpose shall have all the powers granted to housing authorities by Part 2 (commencing with Section 34200) of Division 13.

The department shall take appropriate measures to assure that its services and publications are available to persons and families having limited fluency in the English language, in order to assure full participation by such persons and families in programs administered by the department. Where a significant number of persons in a community have limited fluency in the English language, services and essential publications of the department shall be provided in the native language of such persons.

Notwithstanding the proviso to subitem (b) of Item 190 of the Budget Act of 1976, sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) of the amount appropriated by subitem (b) of Item 190 of the Budget Act of 1976 shall not be allocated and expended as provided therein and shall instead be allocated by the Department of Finance to the Department of Housing and Community Development for a loan to a community nonprofit organization for technical assistance in the development of an industrial park in the city of Calexico. The loan shall be repaid upon the terms and conditions prescribed by the Department of Finance.