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.
