SECTIONS 50580-50582 - California Statutes

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE

SECTION 50580-50582

50580. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
Transitional Housing Participant Misconduct Act.

50581. In enacting this chapter, it is the intent of the
Legislature to prevent the recurrence of acts of substantial
disruption or violence by participants in transitional housing
programs against other such participants, program staff, or immediate
neighbors of the participants.

50582. The following definitions shall govern the construction of
this chapter:
(a) "Abuse" means intentionally or recklessly causing or
attempting to cause bodily injury, or sexual assault or placing
another person in reasonable apprehension of imminent serious bodily
injury to himself, herself, or another, where the injured person is
another participant, program operator's staff or a person residing
within 100 feet of the program site.
(b) "Homeless person" means an individual or family who, prior to
participation in a transitional housing program, either lacked a
fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence or had a primary
nighttime residence, that was one of the following:
(1) A supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed
to provide temporary living accommodations, including, but not
limited to, welfare hotels, congregate shelters and transitional
housing for the mentally ill.
(2) An institution that provides a temporary residence for
individuals intended to be institutionalized.
(3) A public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used
as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.
(c) "Participant" shall mean a homeless person under contract with
a program operator to participate in a transitional housing program
and to use a dwelling unit in the program site. For the purposes of
naming a defendant under this part, or a person to be protected under
this part, "participant" shall include a person living with a
participant at the program site. The contract shall specifically
include the transitional housing program rules and regulations, a
statement of the program operator's right of control over and access
to the program unit occupied by the participant, and a restatement of
the requirements and procedures of this chapter.
(d) "Program misconduct" means any intentional violation of the
transitional housing program rules and regulations which (1)
substantially interferes with the orderly operation of the
transitional housing program, and (2) relates to drunkenness on the
program site, unlawful use or sale of controlled substances, theft,
arson, or destruction of the property of the program operator,
persons living within 100 feet of the program site, program
employees, or other participants, or (3) relates to violence or
threats of violence, and harassment of persons living within 100 feet
of the program site, program employees, or of other participants.
(e) "Program operator" means a governmental agency, or private
nonprofit corporation receiving any portion of its transitional
housing program funds from a governmental agency, which is operating
a transitional housing program. "Program operator" also includes any
other manager or operator hired by a governmental agency or nonprofit
corporation to operate its transitional housing program.
(f) "Program site" means the real property containing a dwelling
unit, the use of which is granted to a participant, and other
locations where program activities or services are carried out or
provided, subject to the participant's compliance with the
transitional housing program rules and regulations.
(g) "Transitional housing program" means any program which is
designed to assist homeless persons in obtaining skills necessary for
independent living in permanent housing and which has all of the
following components:
(1) Comprehensive social service programs which include regular
individualized case management services and which may include alcohol
and drug abuse counseling, self-improvement education, employment
and training assistance services, and independent living skills
development.
(2) Use of a program unit as a temporary housing unit in a
structured living environment which use is conditioned upon
compliance with the transitional housing program rules and
regulations.
(3) A rule or regulation which specifies an occupancy period of
not less than 30 days, but not more than 24 months.