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<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
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<ns0:MeasureType>AB</ns0:MeasureType>
<ns0:MeasureNum>474</ns0:MeasureNum>
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<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Assembly Member Ward</ns0:AuthorText>
<ns0:Authors>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>LEAD_AUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Ward</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Title>An act to amend Section 12927 of the Government Code, and to add Section 10007 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to housing. </ns0:Title>
<ns0:RelatingClause>housing</ns0:RelatingClause>
<ns0:GeneralSubject>
<ns0:Subject>Housing discrimination: nonprofit home-sharing program: eligibility for public social services.</ns0:Subject>
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<ns0:DigestText>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, prohibits housing discrimination based on specified characteristics. Existing law defines discrimination to include refusal to sell, rent, or lease housing accommodations. Under existing law, discrimination does not include refusal to rent or lease a portion of an owner-occupied single-family house to a person as a roomer or boarder living within the household if no more than one roomer or boarder is to live within the household, as specified.
</html:p>
<html:p>Under this bill, discrimination would additionally not include refusal to rent or lease a portion of an owner-occupied single-family house to a person as a roomer, boarder, or tenant living within the household if, among other things, the owner is renting the portion of their home as a landlord in a nonprofit
home-sharing program, as defined.</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Existing law establishes various public social services programs that are administered by counties to provide eligible recipients with certain benefits, including, but not limited to, cash assistance under the Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Program for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled (SSI/SSP) and the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, nutrition assistance under the CalFresh program, and health care services under the Medi-Cal program.
</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would exempt income received through renting bedrooms or units as a landlord in a nonprofit home-sharing program, as defined, from consideration as income or assets for purposes of determining eligibility and benefit amounts for public social services,
to the extent permitted by federal law.</html:p>
<html:p>The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to seek all available federal waivers and approvals necessary for the exemption under CalFresh and SSI/SSP. The bill would, for purposes of Medi-Cal eligibility, require the State Department of Health Care Services to implement the exemption no sooner than January 1, 2027, and only to the extent consistent with federal law, upon any necessary federal approvals, and if federal financial participation under the Medi-Cal program is available and not otherwise jeopardized.</html:p>
<html:p>By expanding the scope of eligibility for public social services, thereby increasing duties on counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.</html:p>
<html:p>
(3)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.</html:p>
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<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
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<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Californians who are older or experience disabilities, many of whom live on fixed incomes, face increasing housing cost burdens, with roughly 8 out of 10 extremely low income older renters paying more than one-half of their monthly income on rent. Fair market rents in California for an efficiency range from $770 per month to $3,056 per month, far more than an older adult or adult with a disability on a fixed income can afford, particularly when the maximum Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payment for an individual in 2025 is $1,206.94 per month. The SSI payment in 2019
covered only 40 percent of the basic cost of living for a senior living alone. In the County of Los Angeles, the SSI individual payment level has not been enough to afford an apartment since 2008.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Older adults are at the epicenter of California’s housing affordability and homelessness crisis, with over 40,000 people 55 years of age or older experiencing homelessness. In the four-year period from 2017 to 2021, the number of older Californians, 65 years of age or older, accessing homeless services increased by 138 percent.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
California is experiencing an extreme housing shortage with an estimate of nearly 1,300,000 affordable units needed to meet the demand for affordable units. At the same time, California has enough unoccupied bedrooms in existing housing units that, if rented
out, could address this shortfall.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The Master Plan for Aging has a key goal of preventing and ending older adult homelessness as well as expanding housing options for older adults.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(e)
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Home sharing, when people rent out extra rooms in their house or apartment, has great potential to help address California’s housing and homelessness crisis, especially among older adults. Across California, there are dozens of organizations, including many area agencies on aging, that facilitate home sharing. Incentivizing home sharing is a powerful, relatively low-cost way to increase housing supply and address the housing and homelessness crisis, especially among older adults.
</html:p>
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<ns0:Num>SEC. 2.</ns0:Num>
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Section 12927 of the
<ns0:DocName>Government Code</ns0:DocName>
is amended to read:
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<ns0:Num>12927.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>As used in this part in connection with housing accommodations, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Affirmative actions” means any activity for the purpose of eliminating discrimination in housing accommodations because of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, or disability.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Conciliation council” means a nonprofit organization, or a city or county human relations commission, which provides education, factfinding, and mediation or conciliation services in resolution of complaints of housing discrimination.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Discrimination” includes refusal to sell, rent, or lease housing accommodations; includes refusal to negotiate for the sale, rental, or lease of housing accommodations; includes representation that a housing accommodation is not available for inspection, sale, or rental when that housing accommodation is in fact so available; includes any other denial or withholding of housing accommodations; includes provision of inferior terms, conditions, privileges, facilities, or services in connection with those housing accommodations; includes harassment in connection with those housing accommodations; includes the cancellation or termination of a sale or rental agreement; includes the provision of segregated or separated housing accommodations; includes the refusal to permit, at the expense of the disabled person, reasonable modifications of existing premises occupied or to
be occupied by the disabled person, if the modifications may be necessary to afford the disabled person full enjoyment of the premises, except that, in the case of a rental, the landlord may, where it is reasonable to do so condition permission for a modification on the renter’s agreeing to restore the interior of the premises to the condition that existed before the modification (other than for reasonable wear and tear), and includes refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when these accommodations may be necessary to afford a disabled person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Discrimination” does not include any of the following:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(A)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Refusal to rent or lease a portion of an owner-occupied single-family house
to a person as a roomer or boarder living within the household, provided that no more than one roomer or boarder is to live within the household, and the owner complies with subdivision (c) of Section 12955, which prohibits discriminatory notices, statements, and advertisements.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(B)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Where the sharing of living areas in a single dwelling unit is involved, the use of words stating or tending to imply that the housing being advertised is available only to persons of one sex.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(C)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Refusal to rent or lease a portion of an owner-occupied single-family house to a person as a roomer, boarder, or tenant living within the household, if all of the following apply:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(i)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The owner is renting the portion of their home as a landlord in a nonprofit home-sharing program, as defined in Section 10007 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(ii)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The owner rents to no more than two roomers, boarders, or tenants within the household.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(iii)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Living areas within the dwelling unit are shared between the owner and the roomer, boarder, or tenant.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(iv)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The owner complies with subdivision (c) of Section 12955, which prohibits discriminatory notices, statements, and advertisements.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Housing accommodation” means any building, structure, or portion thereof that is occupied as, or intended for occupancy as, a residence by one or more families and any vacant land that is offered for sale or lease for the construction thereon of any building, structure, or portion thereof intended to be so occupied. “Housing accommodation” includes a building, structure, or portion thereof that is occupied, or intended to be occupied, pursuant to a transaction facilitated by a hosting platform, as defined in Section 22590 of the Business and Professions Code.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(e)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Owner” includes the lessee, sublessee, assignee, managing agent, real estate broker or salesperson, or any person having any legal or equitable right of ownership or possession or the right to rent or lease housing
accommodations, and includes the state and any of its political subdivisions and any agency thereof.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(f)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Person” includes all individuals and entities that are described in Section 3602(d) of Title 42 of the United States Code, and in the definition of “owner” in subdivision (e), and all institutional third parties, including the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(g)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Aggrieved person” includes any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice or believes that the person will be injured by a discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(h)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Real estate-related transactions” include any of the following:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The making or purchasing of loans or providing other financial assistance that is for the purpose of purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing, or maintaining a dwelling, or that is secured by residential real estate.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The selling, brokering, or appraising of residential real property.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(3)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The use of territorial underwriting requirements, for the purpose of requiring a borrower in a specific geographic area to obtain earthquake insurance, required by an institutional third party on a loan secured by residential real property.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(i)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Source of income” means lawful, verifiable income paid directly to a tenant, or to a representative of a tenant, or paid to a housing owner or landlord on behalf of a tenant,
including federal, state, or local public assistance, and federal, state, or local housing subsidies, including, but not limited to, federal housing assistance vouchers issued under Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1437f). “Source of income” includes a federal Department of Housing and Urban Development Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing voucher. For the purposes of this definition, a housing owner or landlord is not considered a representative of a tenant unless the source of income is a federal Department of Housing and Urban Development Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing voucher.
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<ns0:Num>SEC. 3.</ns0:Num>
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Section 10007 is added to the
<ns0:DocName>Welfare and Institutions Code</ns0:DocName>
, to read:
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<ns0:Num>10007.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>
(a)
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Notwithstanding any other law, and to the extent permitted by federal law, income received through renting bedrooms or units as a landlord in a nonprofit home-sharing program shall not be considered as income or assets for purposes of determining eligibility and benefit amounts for public social services administered under this division.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The State Department of Social Services shall seek all available federal waivers and approvals necessary to exclude the income described in paragraph (1) for purposes of calculating household income under the CalFresh program and the Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Program for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled (SSI/SSP).
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
(1)
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For purposes of eligibility under the Medi-Cal program, the State Department of Health Care Services shall implement subdivision (a) no sooner than January 1, 2027.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
This subdivision shall be implemented only to the extent consistent with federal law, upon any necessary federal approvals, and if federal financial participation under the Medi-Cal program is available and not otherwise jeopardized.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(3)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the State Department of Health Care Services shall implement this subdivision by means of all-county letters, plan letters, plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions, without taking any further regulatory action.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Nonprofit home-sharing program” means a program that meets all of the following:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(A)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Administered by a nonprofit organization or governmental entity.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(B)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Provides a service that helps to match a person or household, who has one or more unoccupied bedrooms in their owner-occupied home, one or more unoccupied bedrooms in their rental unit of which they are the primary tenant, or up to two separate vacant units on an owner-occupied property with one or more unrelated tenants.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(C)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Services, including, but not limited to, case management, intake,
introductions, background checks, and third-party mediation, are delivered at no cost to participants.
“No cost” applies to, but is not limited to, fees for any aspect of participation in the program, revenue derived from facilitating payments between participants at any stage of the matching process, and fees for additional services beyond, but adjacent to, shared housing services
provided by the program.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(D)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Lease agreements executed as a result of a match, as described in subparagraph (B), is for the term of no less than 30 days.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(E)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Provides ongoing case management to mitigate conflict and promote housing stability for both participating tenants and landlords. Case managers shall be full-time staff who are available to provide support at least five days a week.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Nonprofit organization” means any private, nonprofit organization that qualifies for exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
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<ns0:Num>SEC. 4.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.</html:p>
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