Florida Senate - 2014                                    SB 1090
       
       
        
       By Senator Latvala
       
       
       
       
       
       20-00899-14                                           20141090__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to homelessness; amending s. 420.606,
    3         F.S.; revising legislative findings; requiring the
    4         Department of Economic Opportunity to provide training
    5         and technical assistance to certain designated lead
    6         agencies of homeless assistance continuums of care;
    7         requiring that the provision of such training and
    8         assistance be delegated to certain nonprofit entities;
    9         conforming provisions to changes made by the act;
   10         amending s. 420.622, F.S.; requiring the department to
   11         establish award levels for “Challenge Grants”;
   12         specifying criteria to determine award levels;
   13         requiring the department, after consultation with the
   14         Council on Homelessness, to specify a grant award
   15         level in the notice of solicitation of grant
   16         applications; revising qualifications for the grant;
   17         specifying authorized uses of grant funds; requiring a
   18         lead agency that receives a grant to submit a report
   19         to the department; amending s. 420.9073, F.S.;
   20         requiring the Florida Housing Finance Corporation to
   21         distribute to the department and the Department of
   22         Children and Families certain funds from the Local
   23         Government Housing Trust Fund for the purpose of
   24         providing support, training, and technical assistance
   25         to designated lead agencies of continuums of care;
   26         providing an effective date.
   27          
   28  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   29  
   30         Section 1. Subsections (1) through (3) of section 420.606,
   31  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   32         420.606 Training and technical assistance program.—
   33         (1) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.—In addition to the legislative
   34  findings set forth in s. 420.6015, the Legislature finds and
   35  declares that:
   36         (a) Housing in economically declining or distressed areas
   37  is frequently substandard and is often unaffordable or
   38  unavailable to homeless persons, very-low-income persons, and
   39  low-income persons;
   40         (b) Community-based organizations often have limited
   41  experience in development of quality housing for homeless
   42  persons, very-low-income persons, and low-income persons in
   43  economically declining or distressed areas; and
   44         (c) The staffs and board members of community-based
   45  organizations need additional training in housing development as
   46  well as technical support to assist them in gaining the
   47  experience they need to better serve their communities; and.
   48         (d) The staffs of state agencies and local governments,
   49  whether directly involved in the production of affordable or
   50  available housing or acting in a supportive role, can better
   51  serve the goals of state and local governments if their
   52  expertise in housing development is expanded.
   53         (2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to provide
   54  community-based organizations, and staff of state and local
   55  governments, and designated lead agencies of homeless assistance
   56  continuums of care with the necessary training and technical
   57  assistance to meet the needs of homeless persons, very-low
   58  income persons, low-income persons, and moderate-income persons
   59  for standard, affordable housing.
   60         (3) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—The
   61  Department of Economic Opportunity shall be responsible for
   62  securing the necessary expertise to provide training and
   63  technical assistance to:
   64         (a) Staff of local governments, to staff of state agencies,
   65  as appropriate, and to community-based organizations, and to
   66  persons forming such organizations, which are formed for the
   67  purpose of developing new housing and rehabilitating existing
   68  housing that which is affordable for very-low-income persons,
   69  low-income persons, and moderate-income persons.
   70         1.(a) The training component of the program shall be
   71  designed to build the housing development capacity of community
   72  based organizations and local governments as a permanent
   73  resource for the benefit of communities in this state.
   74         a.1. The scope of training must shall include, but need not
   75  be limited to, real estate development skills related to
   76  affordable housing, including the construction process and
   77  property management and disposition, the development of public
   78  private partnerships to reduce housing costs, model housing
   79  projects, and management and board responsibilities of
   80  community-based organizations.
   81         b.2. Training activities may include, but are not limited
   82  to, materials for self-instruction, workshops, seminars,
   83  internships, coursework, and special programs developed in
   84  conjunction with state universities and community colleges.
   85         2.(b) The technical assistance component of the program
   86  shall be designed to assist applicants for state-administered
   87  programs in developing applications and in expediting project
   88  implementation. Technical assistance activities for the staffs
   89  of community-based organizations and local governments who are
   90  directly involved in the production of affordable housing may
   91  include, but are not limited to, workshops for program
   92  applicants, onsite visits, guidance in achieving project
   93  completion, and a newsletter to community-based organizations
   94  and local governments.
   95         (b) Designated lead agencies of homeless assistance
   96  continuums of care which receive operating or other support
   97  under s. 420.9073(7) from the Department of Children and
   98  Families to provide or secure housing, programs, and other
   99  services for homeless persons. Such training and technical
  100  assistance must be provided by a nonprofit entity that meets the
  101  requirements for providing training and technical assistance
  102  under s. 420.531.
  103         Section 2. Subsection (4) of section 420.622, Florida
  104  Statutes, is amended to read:
  105         420.622 State Office on Homelessness; Council on
  106  Homelessness.—
  107         (4) Not less than 120 days after the effective date of this
  108  act, The State Office on Homelessness, with the concurrence of
  109  the Council on Homelessness, may accept and administer moneys
  110  appropriated to it to provide annual “Challenge Grants” annually
  111  to lead agencies of for homeless assistance continuums of care
  112  designated by the State Office on Homelessness pursuant to s.
  113  420.624. The department shall establish varying levels of grant
  114  awards A lead agency may be a local homeless coalition,
  115  municipal or county government, or other public agency or
  116  private, not-for-profit corporation. Such grants may be up to
  117  $500,000 per lead agency. Award levels shall be based upon the
  118  total population within the continuum of care catchment area and
  119  reflect the differing degrees of homelessness in the catchment
  120  planning areas. The department, in consultation with the Council
  121  on Homelessness, shall specify a grant award level in the notice
  122  of the solicitation of grant applications.
  123         (a) To qualify for the grant, a lead agency must develop
  124  and implement a local homeless assistance continuum of care plan
  125  for its designated catchment area. The continuum of care plan
  126  must implement a coordinated assessment or central intake system
  127  to screen, assess, and refer persons seeking assistance to the
  128  appropriate service provider. The lead agency shall also
  129  document the commitment of local government and private
  130  organizations to provide matching funds in an amount equal to
  131  the grant requested.
  132         (b) Preference must be given to those lead agencies that
  133  have demonstrated the ability of their continuum of care to
  134  provide quality services to homeless persons and the ability to
  135  leverage federal homeless-assistance funding under the Stewart
  136  B. McKinney Act and private funding for the provision of
  137  services to homeless persons.
  138         (c) Preference must be given to lead agencies in catchment
  139  areas with the greatest need for the provision of housing and
  140  services to the homeless, relative to the population of the
  141  catchment area.
  142         (d) The grant may be used to fund any of the housing,
  143  program, or service needs included in the local homeless
  144  assistance continuum of care plan. The lead agency may allocate
  145  the grant to programs, services, or housing providers that
  146  implement the local homeless assistance continuum of care plan.
  147  The lead agency may provide subgrants to a local agency to
  148  implement programs or services or provide housing identified for
  149  funding in the lead agency’s application to the department. A
  150  lead agency may spend a maximum of 8 percent of its funding on
  151  administrative costs.
  152         (e) The lead agency shall submit a final report to the
  153  department documenting the outcomes achieved by the grant in
  154  enabling persons who are homeless to return to permanent housing
  155  thereby ending such persons’ episodes of homelessness.
  156         Section 3. Present subsection (7) of section 420.9073,
  157  Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (8), and a new
  158  subsection (7) is added to that section, to read:
  159         420.9073 Local housing distributions.—
  160         (7) Notwithstanding subsections (1)-(4), the corporation
  161  shall first distribute 4 percent of the total amount to be
  162  distributed each fiscal year from the Local Government Housing
  163  Trust Fund to the Department of Children and Families and the
  164  Department of Economic Opportunity as follows:
  165         (a) The Department of Children and Families shall receive
  166  95 percent of such amount to provide operating and other support
  167  to the designated lead agency in each continuum of care for the
  168  benefit of the designated catchment area as described in s.
  169  420.624.
  170         (b) The Department of Economic Opportunity shall receive 5
  171  percent of such amount to provide training and technical
  172  assistance to lead agencies receiving operating and other
  173  support under paragraph (a) in accordance with s. 420.606(3).
  174  Training and technical assistance funded by this distribution
  175  shall be provided by a nonprofit entity that meets the
  176  requirements for providing training and technical assistance
  177  under s. 420.531.
  178         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.