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.