Strategy to Reduce & Prevent Homelessness

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

HB26-1202: Strategy and Tools to Reduce Homelessness

This law requires state officials to present a proposal for a statewide homelessness strategy in January 2027, creates new local groups called authorities that can ask voters to approve sales taxes for housing efforts, and lets counties use some property filing fees for affordable homeless housing.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Department of Local Affairs to present a proposal at its SMART Act hearing in January 2027 with a timeline, budget estimate, and plan for developing a statewide strategy on homelessness prevention and resolution.
• Mandates that the proposal identifies gaps in services, lists state housing resources and their usage rates, suggests ways for partners to work together, recommends funding policies, includes updates on regional navigation campuses, and improves data reporting systems.
• Creates a new type of special district called a multijurisdictional homelessness response authority that local governments can form through an agreement to reduce and prevent homelessness across their combined areas.
• Allows these authorities to ask voters in each participating government area to approve sales taxes specifically for planning, coordinating, and implementing regional strategies to reduce homelessness.
• Permits counties to set aside part of the fees collected when people file documents about buying or selling land to fund affordable housing available to individuals experiencing homelessness.

Who It Names or Affects

• The Department of Local Affairs, which must create and present the statewide strategy proposal after seeking feedback from diverse stakeholders.
• Local governments that choose to join together through an agreement to form a multijurisdictional homelessness response authority.
• Voters in local areas who may be asked to approve sales taxes for homelessness programs if their government forms an authority with tax powers.
• Counties that collect documentary filing fees on real property transactions and wish to designate funds for affordable housing.

Terms To Know

Multijurisdictional Homelessness Response Authority

A new type of special district created by an agreement between local governments to coordinate efforts, raise funds through taxes or bonds, and reduce homelessness across their combined areas.

Documentary Filing Fees

Charges collected when people file official documents related to the sale or transfer of real property, such as houses or land.

Limits and Unknowns

• The law requires a proposal for a strategy by January 2027 but does not set an effective date for the final statewide plan itself.
• Local governments are allowed to create authorities and ask voters about taxes, but they are not required to do so.
• Counties may choose to designate fees for housing, but the law does not specify how much of the fee must be used.

Official Summary Text

The act requires the department of local affairs, as part of its SMART Act hearing in January of 2027, to submit and present a proposal for the development of a statewide strategy on homelessness prevention and resolution. The proposal must include a plan that sets forth a timeline, an estimated budget, and a process for developing and implementing a statewide strategy on homelessness prevention and resolution. The proposal must set forth the following components that must be included in the statewide strategy on homelessness prevention and resolution:
Identification of gaps and barriers that impede access to operational services for individuals experiencing homelessness;
Identification of state agency-provided housing resources, including utilization rates;
Recommendations for collaboration between state and local partners to facilitate homelessness response;
Recommendations for funding and policies that could be implemented at the state level to support homelessness prevention and resolution;
Recommendations proposed in coordination with continuum of care organizations to improve the implementation of the homeless management information system, data reporting, and coordinated entry systems; and
Updates on regional navigation campuses.
When developing the proposal, the department shall seek and incorporate feedback from a diverse array of stakeholders.
The act creates a new type of special district, a multijurisdictional homelessness response authority (authority), which may be created when any combination of local governments enter into an intergovernmental agreement with one another to establish an authority. An authority must:
Be used by the contracting local governments to reduce and prevent homelessness; and
Have boundaries that contain the entirety of all the contracting local governments, but nothing more.
An authority has several discretionary powers that relate to its ability to coordinate and plan with departments and organizations to reduce and prevent homelessness, including the power to provide for the levy of sales or sales and use taxes by the contracting local governments. If the intergovernmental agreement that creates an authority provides for the levy of a sales or sales and use tax by the contracting local governments within the boundaries of the authority:
Each contracting local government shall submit to its registered electors a ballot question that relates to the tax and that requires any new tax revenue approved through the ballot question to be used solely for the planning, coordination, and implementation of regional strategies to reduce and prevent homelessness;
The intergovernmental agreement must provide for a case in which the electors in some but not all of the contracting local governments approve the collection of the sales or sales and use tax at the general election; and
The intergovernmental agreement must provide that all or part of the taxes levied are distributed to the authority.
An authority may seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, or donations from private or public sources for the purposes of planning, coordinating, and implementing regional strategies to reduce and prevent homelessness, may issue revenue or general obligation bonds, and may pledge its revenue and revenue-raising powers for the payment of such bonds.
The act allows a county to designate a portion of documentary filing fees, which are collected for filing documents associated with the grant or conveyance of real property, to be transferred to the county government or a housing authority for the purpose of developing, preserving, or acquiring affordable housing that:
Is within the jurisdiction of the county government or housing authority;
Is aligned with demonstrated community needs; and
Will be available to individuals experiencing homelessness.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)