Adult Reentry Grant Program.

Plain English Breakdown

The exact process and criteria for evaluating success are not provided in the official source material.

Adult Reentry Grant Program

This law transfers the Adult Reentry Grant Program from the Board of State and Community Corrections to the Department of Housing and Community Development, starting July 1, 2026. It changes how grants are awarded and sets new rules for funding housing and support services for people coming out of prison.

What This Bill Does

• Moves the Adult Reentry Grant Program from the Board of State and Community Corrections to the Department of Housing and Community Development starting July 1, 2026.
• Changes the grant program to give five-year renewable grants to regional administrators who will fund housing and support services for people coming out of prison.
• Requires the department to work with other state agencies and local groups to help connect eligible individuals with the program.
• Sets rules on how funds should be used, including for permanent supportive housing, rental assistance, and voluntary multidisciplinary services.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who are coming out of prison or have recently been released from state prisons.
• Community-based organizations that help people reenter society after being in prison.
• Regional administrators responsible for funding housing and support services.
• State agencies like the Department of Housing and Community Development, Health Care Services, Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Terms To Know

Grant Program

A program that gives money to organizations or individuals to help them achieve certain goals.

Regional Administrators

People in charge of managing and distributing funds within specific areas or regions.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much money will be available for the program.
• It is unclear if this bill will become law since it was ordered to an inactive file by a senator.

Official Summary Text

AB 1229, as amended, Schultz.
Adult Reentry Grant Program.
The Budget Act of 2018 appropriated $50,000,000 to the Board of State and Community Corrections for a grant program, known as the Adult Reentry Grant Program, for the purpose of awarding competitive grants to community based organizations to support offenders formerly incarcerated in state prison. The Budget Act of 2018 allocated a specified amount of those funds for, among other things, rental assistance, rehabilitation of existing property or buildings, and to support the warm hand-off and reentry of offenders transitioning from prison to communities. Subsequent budget acts have continued to fund the program.
This bill, instead, commencing July 1, 2026, and upon appropriation of funds, would transfer the administration of the grant program to the Department of Housing and Community Development. The bill would require the department, on or
before December 1, 2026, to modify the grant program to provide 5-year renewable grants to geographically diverse regional administrators responsible for funding permanent supportive housing and reentry services for eligible people, as specified. The bill would require the department to issue proposed guidelines or a draft notice, as specified, establishing the grant program and require the department to competitively score applicants applying for grant funds as regional administrators. The bill would require the department to work collaboratively with the State Department of Health Care Services, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and homeless continuums of care, and seek to work collaboratively with county probation departments, to establish a process for referrals of people eligible to participate in the program, as specified. The bill would also require the department to establish specified benchmarks to promote and track ideal outcomes from the program.
This bill would require the department to distribute program funds by executing contracts with awarded regional administrators and would impose certain requirements on those regional administrators. The bill would prescribe eligibility requirements for a person scheduled for release from, or who has been be formerly incarcerated in, state prison, to participate in the program. The bill would require program funds to be used for specified purposes, including specified administrative fees, permanent housing, rental and operating subsidies, incentives to landlords, and voluntary multidisciplinary services, as specified. The bill would require the department, upon implementation of the program, to design an evaluation and hire an independent evaluator to assess outcomes from the program, and would require the evaluation to be submitted to specified committees of the Legislature.
This bill would require the board to continue to
oversee and administer existing program grants that have not yet expired, using resources allocated to the board through funds allocated by the Budget Act of 2025.
This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish a process to engage an individual scheduled for discharge, within at least 210 days of the scheduled release date, for the purpose of assessing the individual’s risk of homelessness upon discharge, as specified.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF