Chapter 1. Organization Of The Department And General Powers of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 31. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 1.

The Department of Housing and Community Development is hereby continued in existence in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency.

Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, or any other provision of law, any money contained in the Rural Predevelopment Loan Fund created pursuant to Section 50516, the Predevelopment Loan Fund created pursuant to Section 50531, the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund created pursuant to Section 50661, the Homeownership Assistance Fund created pursuant to Section 50778, and the Rental Housing Construction Fund created pursuant to Section 50740, is hereby continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal year, for any purposes authorized by statute. It is the intent of the Legislature that this section also supersede the amounts appropriated pursuant to Items 2240-101-635, 2240-101-929, 2240-101-936, 2240-101-938, and 2240-101-980, respectively, of the Budget Act of 1984 (Ch. 258, Stats. 1984).

The department shall be administered by an executive officer known as the Director of Housing and Community Development. The director shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and shall hold office at the pleasure of the Governor. The director shall receive the annual salary provided for by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 11550) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

The provisions of Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11150) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code apply to the department, and the director is the head of the department within the meaning of such provisions. The director shall perform all duties, exercise all powers, discharge all responsibility, and administer and enforce all laws, rules, and regulations under the jurisdiction of the department. The director shall keep all books and records necessary for proper and efficient administration of the department. In order to assist in the administration of the department's loan and grant programs, the director may appoint committees of department employees and public representatives, the latter to serve without compensation except for reimbursement of expenses pursuant to law.

The Governor shall appoint, upon the recommendation of the director, a deputy director. The deputy director shall hold office at the pleasure of the director and shall receive a salary as shall be fixed by the director with the approval of the Department of Finance.

The work of the department shall be divided into the following three divisions:
  (a) The Division of Codes and Standards.
  (b) The Division of Housing Policy Development.
  (c) The Division of Financial Assistance.

Each division shall be in the charge of a chief, under the direction of the director. The chiefs shall be appointed, upon recommendation by the director, by the Governor. Such division chiefs shall hold office at the pleasure of the director, and shall receive a salary as shall be fixed by the director with the approval of the Department of Finance.

The Division of Codes and Standards shall be divided into two sections, the Housing Standards Section and the Manufactured Housing Section. Each section shall be in the charge of an assistant chief, under the direction of the chief. The assistant chiefs shall be appointed, upon recommendation by the director, by the Governor. Such assistant chief shall hold office at the pleasure of the director, and shall receive a salary as shall be fixed by the director with the approval of the Department of Finance.

For the purposes of this division, the department has all of the following powers:
  (a) To sue and be sued in its own name.
  (b) To have an official seal and to alter it at pleasure.
  (c) To make and execute contracts and all other instruments necessary or convenient for the exercise of its powers and functions.
  (d) To employ architects, planners, engineers, attorneys, accountants, experts in housing construction, management and finance, and any other advisers, consultants, and agents necessary for the performance of its functions and to fix their compensation in accordance with applicable law.
  (e) To provide advice, technical information, and consultative and technical services as provided in this division.
  (f) To establish, revise from time to time, and charge and collect fees and charges for services provided pursuant to this division.
  (g) To accept gifts, grants, or loans of funds or property, or financial or other aid, from any federal or state agency or private source and to comply with conditions thereof not contrary to law.
  (h) To enter into agreements or other transactions with any governmental agency, including an agreement for administration of a housing or community development program of the governmental agency by the department, or for administration by another governmental agency of a program of the department, either in whole or in part.
  (i) To enter into any agreements and perform any acts necessary to obtain subsidies for use in connection with the exercise of powers and functions of the department, and to transfer those subsidies to others as required by the agreement.
  (j) To appear in its own behalf before boards, commissions, departments, or other agencies of local, state, or federal government.
  (k) To establish any regional offices necessary to effectuate the department's purposes and functions.
  ( l) To acquire real or personal property, or any interest therein, on either a temporary or long-term basis, in its own name by gift, purchase, transfer, foreclosure, lease, option, or otherwise, including easements or other incorporeal rights in property.
  (m) To provide bilingual staff in connection with services of the department and make available departmental publications in a language other than English when necessary to effectively serve groups for which the services or publications are made available.
  (n) To do any and all things necessary to carry out its purposes and exercise the powers expressly granted by this division.
  (o) (1) To sell real property acquired by the department in a foreclosure, by deed in lieu of foreclosure, or sale under a power of sale on a deed of trust, lien, or by exercise of any other security interest on real property securing repayment of a loan or performance under a grant or loan made by the department. Real property so acquired shall be sold for market value and sale proceeds shall be placed in the fund from which the secured loan or grant was made.
  (2) The department may establish terms, conditions, and restrictions for the sale of real property, including a requirement that the real property be used for housing for persons and families of low or moderate income, and those terms, conditions, and restrictions shall be set forth in the deed or other instrument of conveyance.
  (3) The department may conduct the sale, utilize the assistance of any local public agency authorized to conduct sales of real property, contract with a licensed real estate broker to conduct the sale, or utilize other reasonable marketing methods if the department determines that one of these options will result in a more prompt or cost-efficient sale.
  (4) If the director offers to sell residential real property directly pursuant to this subdivision, the department shall close escrow within 120 days after both of the following have occurred: a qualified buyer has received approval of the department; and the buyer has obtained adequate financing for the purchase. If the deadline set forth in this paragraph is not met, the director shall employ a licensed real estate broker in connection with the proposed sale. The department may exceed the time requirements of this paragraph if the director finds that this is necessary due to factors outside the control of the department, including death of the buyer, inability of the borrower to qualify for financing from a lender, substantial damage to the property resulting from a natural disaster or other act of God, or extraordinary procedural requirements or conditions imposed by the lender or title and escrow company.
  (5) The director shall perform all of the actions specified in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) within 30 days after both of the following have occurred: a qualified buyer has received approval of the department; and the buyer has obtained adequate financing for the purchase.
  (A) Identify repair work needed to be performed on the property.
  (B) Cause an appraisal of the property to be completed.
  (C) Determine whether it is appropriate to rent the property until it is sold.
  (6) Sales of real property made pursuant to this section are not subject to the requirements of Sections 11011 and 11011.1 of the Government Code.
  (7) Failure to comply with this subdivision shall not invalidate any right, title, or interest acquired by a bona fide purchaser or encumbrancer for value.

Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, the department may enter into long-term contracts or agreements for not more than 30 years for the purpose of servicing loans or grants or enforcing regulatory agreements or other security documents entered into pursuant to this part.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department may make advance payments to eligible borrowers and grantees under any loan or grant programs for housing established pursuant to this part, if the department makes all of the following determinations:
  (1) The advance payments are necessary to meet the purposes of the housing program.
  (2) The advance payments are necessary for the feasibility of the assisted housing.
  (3) The use of the advanced funds is adequately regulated by contract or budgetary controls so that the opportunity to accrue interest on the funds is not unnecessarily reduced.
  (b) The department may enter into regulatory agreements to ensure that there is adequate financial security for the funds from which those advance payments are made.

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the department is authorized to reduce the interest rate on any loan issued by the department to a rental housing development to as low as forty-two hundredths of 1 percent per annum, or a rate determined by the department that is sufficient to cover the costs of project monitoring described in subdivision (c) of Section 50675.6, whichever is greater, if the development meets all of the following requirements:
  (1) The development has no other debt with regularly scheduled or amortizing debt service payments. The department reserves the right to impose a default interest rate of 3 percent should amortizing debt be placed on the project.
  (2) The development will utilize low-income housing tax credits.
  (3) The sponsor determines that the loan issued by the department is not eligible to be treated as debt for federal or state low-income housing tax credit purposes without a reduction in the interest rate of the loan. The determination must be acceptable to the department. The department may contract with a third-party tax professional for verification, the cost of which shall be borne by the sponsor.
  (4) The development has no debt in a senior lien position to the department's debt.
  (5) The development has 35 percent or more of the total units in the project serving households with income not exceeding 30 percent of the area median income.
  (6) The new department loan shall not be used to supplant or replace an existing department loan.
  (b) The department is authorized to change the current interest rate for any loan for which it receives a loan extension request associated with an award of federal or state low-income housing tax credits made on or after January 1, 2014, to the applicable federal rate most recently published by the United States Internal Revenue Service. The additional tax credit equity generated by the change in interest rate shall be used for rehabilitation of the development. If the total amount of debt and accrued interest at the end of the loan term would be greater after making this change than it would have been under the original interest rate, the department may forgive an amount of accrued interest equal to the lesser of either the amount necessary to make the expected principal and accrued interest the same as it would have been using the original interest rate, or the total amount of interest accrued at the time of the sponsor's request.
  (c) The department shall charge a fee in an amount sufficient to cover administrative costs associated with a loan modification requested by a borrower pursuant to this section.

The department is the principal state department responsible for coordinating federal-state relationships in housing and community development, except for housing finance. The department is the principal state department responsible for implementation of the California Statewide Housing Plan. The department shall continually evaluate the impact upon the state of federal policies and programs affecting housing and community development and encourage full utilization of federal programs available for assisting the residents of this state, the private housing industry, and local public entities in satisfying housing and community development needs in this state. The department shall encourage and assist housing and community development in rural areas and among Indian residents of the state. The department shall encourage mutual self-help projects, home management training, and relocation assistance. The department shall promote maximum utilization of federal subsidies available to meet housing needs of very low income households and other persons and families of low or moderate income, or both. The department shall assist communities and persons to avail themselves of state housing programs.

Notwithstanding the transfer of the department from the Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency to the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, the department, the Department of Transportation, and the California Transportation Commission shall coordinate state housing and transportation policies and programs to help achieve state and regional planning priorities and to maximize cobenefits of infrastructure investments.

(a) On or before December 31 of each year, the department shall submit an annual report to the Governor and both houses of the Legislature on the operations and accomplishments during the previous fiscal year of the housing programs administered by the department, including, but not limited to, the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program and Community Development Block Grant activity.
  (b) The report shall include all of the following information:
  (1) The number of units assisted by those programs.
  (2) The number of individuals and households served and their income levels.
  (3) The distribution of units among various areas of the state.
  (4) The amount of other public and private funds leveraged by the assistance provided by those programs.
  (5) Information detailing the assistance provided to various groups of persons by programs that are targeted to assist those groups.
  (6) The information required to be reported pursuant to Section 17031.8.
  (7) (A) An evaluation, in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs, of any program established by the department pursuant to Article 3.2 (commencing with Section 987.001) of Chapter 6 of Division 4 of the Military and Veterans Code, including information relating to the effectiveness of assisted projects in helping veterans occupying any supportive housing or transitional housing development that was issued funds pursuant to that article.
  (B) The evaluation shall include, but is not limited to, the following information:
  (i) Performance outcome data including, but not limited to, housing stability, housing exit information, and tenant satisfaction, which may be measured by a survey, and changes in income, benefits, and education.
  (I) For purposes of this paragraph, the term "housing stability" includes, but is not limited to, how many tenants exit transitional housing to permanent housing or maintain permanent housing, and the length of time those tenants spent in assisted units.
  (II) For purposes of this paragraph, the term "housing exit information" includes, but is not limited to, the following:
  (ia) How many tenants left assisted units.
  (ib) The length of tenancy in assisted units.
  (ic) The reason those tenants left assisted units, when that information is readily obtainable.
  (id) The housing status of a tenant exiting an assisted unit upon exit when that information is readily available.
  (ii) Client data, which may include, but is not limited to, demographic characteristics of the veteran and his or her family, educational and employment status of the veteran, and veteran-specific information including, but not limited to, disability ratings, type of discharge, branch, era of service, and veterans affairs health care eligibility.
  (8) An evaluation of any program established by the department to meet the legal requirements of the Federal Housing Trust Fund program guidelines.

Except where the department is specifically vested by this part or by any other provision of law with the authority to adopt rules and regulations, and except as provided in Section 18930, the commission may adopt, amend, and repeal rules and regulations reasonably necessary to carry out this part or by any other provision of law. Any rules and regulations of the commission in effect on September 26, 1975, shall remain in effect until amended or repealed except that building standards, as defined in Section 18909, shall remain in effect only until January 1, 1985, or until adopted, amended, repealed, or superseded by building standards adopted and published in the California Building Standards Code pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18935) of Part 2.5 of Division 13, whichever occurs sooner.