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Findings. | |
The CAAP Discontinuance Rental Assistance Pilot Project. | |
Annual Report to Board of Supervisors. | |
Promotion of General Welfare. | |
Sunset Provision. |
The San Francisco Human Services Agency ("HSA") administers the County Adult Assistance Programs (CAAP) for the City and County of San Francisco ("City"), which programs provide financial assistance and social services to indigent adults who have no other source of income or benefits. CAAP consists of General Assistance (GA), Personal Assisted Employment Services (PAES), Cash Assistance Linked to Medi-Cal (CALM), and Supplemental Security Income Pending (SSIP), as those programs are set forth in Articles VII through XI of Chapter 20 of the Administrative Code.
The San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing ("DHSH") manages and directs all housing, programs, and services for homeless persons in the City including, but not limited to, street outreach, homeless shelters, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing.
California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 17001.5, governing the operation of programs that provide aid and care for indigent persons, provides that a recipient's aid may be discontinued, or a sanction imposed, if the recipient fails or refuses without good cause to follow program requirements. Lack of good cause under State law may be demonstrated by a showing of either (a) willful failure or refusal to follow program requirements or (b) not less than three separate acts of negligent failure to follow program requirements.
For CAAP participants who are placed in supportive housing through the City's Care Not Cash program, benefits consist of placement in housing and a monthly cash grant paid directly to the participant, a portion of which is required to be used to pay rent to the housing provider. The City further subsidizes the cost of housing for Care Not Cash participants through direct contracts with the housing provider.
After the third instance in which HSA determines that a CAAP participant has engaged in a negligent failure to comply with program rules, HSA notifies the participant that his or her benefits will be discontinued. CAAP participants who face discontinuance of their benefits have the option to request an administrative hearing to challenge the grounds for the discontinuance, which may result in restoration of benefits without a break in cash aid. GA and PAES participants whose benefits are not restored are sanctioned and cannot reapply to CAAP for thirty days. But sanctioned clients typically have no source of income to pay rent. Therefore, CAAP discontinuances have the potential to threaten the housing security of CAAP participants.
As of the adoption of this Article XV, HSA practice is to provide advance notice to HSA-funded supportive housing providers when a CAAP participant in their building is at risk of discontinuance. Housing providers are contractually obligated to follow up with the participant to attempt to prevent the discontinuance of CAAP aid or to assist the participant to reinstate CAAP aid. HSA-funded supportive housing providers are also authorized to forgive one month of rent debt in such situations so that the client can reestablish benefits without jeopardizing their housing stability.
The City wishes to reduce the risk that CAAP participants who have negligently failed to comply with program requirements will be evicted or otherwise become housing insecure through the establishment of a pilot project. Under the CAAP Discontinuance Rental Assistance Pilot Project established in this Article XV, CAAP participants who reside in supportive housing funded by HSA or DHSH and have engaged in three acts of negligent failure to comply with program requirements will be ineligible to receive cash assistance for one month, but the agency funding the housing contract will make a rental payment during that month on their behalf directly to the housing provider if pilot criteria are met.
DHSH will collect and analyze data concerning the number of individuals who receive rental assistance under this pilot project and will submit an annual report to the Board of Supervisors describing the program's effectiveness and including recommendations for improvement as appropriate.
(a) The Board of Supervisors hereby establishes the CAAP Discontinuance Rental Assistance Pilot Project ("Pilot Project").
(b) The purpose of the Pilot Project is to preserve the housing security of individuals who participate in the County Adult Assistance Programs (CAAP) and who reside in HSA-funded or DHSH-funded supportive housing where such persons have engaged in three negligent acts of noncompliance with program requirements.
(c) To be eligible for rental assistance under the Pilot Project, a person must:
(1) be a recipient of financial assistance through General Assistance (GA), the Personal Assisted Employment Services (PAES) Program, Cash Assistance Linked to Medi-Cal (CALM), or Supplemental Security Income Pending (SSIP), as those programs are set forth in Articles VII through XI of this Chapter 20 of the Administrative Code;
(2) reside in HSA-funded or DHSH-funded Single Room Occupancy (SRO) buildings; and
(3) be facing the discontinuance of financial assistance resulting from three acts of negligent failure to comply with CAAP program requirements.
(d) Notwithstanding subsection (c), persons will be ineligible for rental assistance under the Pilot Project if the discontinuance of their assistance is due to fraud, willful noncompliance with program requirements or loss of program eligibility due to other reasons, including increased income or assets or eligibility for another cash assistance program.
(e) Individuals who receive rental assistance under the Pilot Project shall be required to:
(1) reinstate to CAAP during the first month of the sanction period in order to reestablish an income source that will allow the individual to resume rental payments for the following month; and
(2) re-establish participation in a third-party rent payment service upon reinstatement to CAAP.
(f) The Pilot Project shall be implemented as follows:
(1) The Human Services Agency ("HSA") and DHSH shall administer the Pilot Project.
(2) When a CAAP recipient satisfies the eligibility criteria set forth in Section 20.1501(c), HSA shall discontinue cash benefits, but DHSH shall pay the client's share of rent directly to the housing provider for a period of one month following discontinuance.
(3) Eligible CAAP recipients may receive rental assistance benefits under the Pilot Project no more than once every six months, provided, however, that an eligible CAAP recipient shall not receive rental assistance benefits more than once if he or she has not complied with the program requirements set forth in Section 20.1501(e).
By October 1 of each year, DHSH shall submit to the Board of Supervisors a report describing the number of individuals who received benefits under the Pilot Project during the prior fiscal year and estimating the effectiveness of the Pilot Project at preserving housing security, and including recommendations as appropriate.
In establishing the Pilot Project, the City is assuming an undertaking only to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it imposing on its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that such a breach proximately caused injury.
(Added by Ord. 74-16
, File No. 151279, App. 5/13/2016, Eff. 6/12/2016, Oper. 7/12/2016)
This Article XV shall expire by operation of law three years after the effective date of Ordinance No. 74-16 creating the Article. Upon expiration of the Article, the City Attorney shall cause it to be removed from the Administrative Code.
Definitions. | |
Coordinated Entry System; Priority Status. | |
Care Coordination. |
As used in this Article XVI, the following words or phrases shall have the following meanings:
“Department” means the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.
“Permanent Supportive Housing” means subsidized rental housing without time limits and with on-site supportive services to help tenants maintain housing.
“Rapid-Rehousing” means a housing program model that assists individuals who are homeless to move quickly into permanent housing, usually to housing in the private market.
“Residential Behavioral Health Program” means a residential program in which the patient receives treatment for a substance use disorder and/or mental health disability.
(Added by Ord. 130-18, File No. 180322, App. 5/30/2018, Eff. 6/30/2018, Oper. 8/29/2018)
(a) The Department shall implement a Coordinated Entry System designed to assess people experiencing homelessness, so as to prioritize and refer such people to housing programs. People experiencing homelessness with the greatest barriers to housing, the longest histories of homelessness, and/or the highest level of vulnerability shall be prioritized for housing or other appropriate placements. The Department shall be responsible for developing the process and standards used to screen and prioritize homeless persons for housing programs in accordance with the three factors identified in the preceding sentence.
(b) When assessing and assigning single homeless adults to Rapid-Rehousing, or Permanent Supportive Housing (collectively, “Housing”), the Department shall recognize discharge from a Residential Behavioral Health Program of a program participant who was homeless upon entry into the Residential Behavioral Health Program as a vulnerability that will confer upon the program participant a priority, as determined by the Department, for such Housing. An individual’s eligibility for this priority shall be verified by the Department of Public Health.
(Added by Ord. 130-18, File No. 180322, App. 5/30/2018, Eff. 6/30/2018, Oper. 8/29/2018)
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