The Department of Housing and Community Development, upon appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, shall make funds available as matching grants to cities, counties, and cities and counties to increase staffing or capital expenditures dedicated to local building code enforcement efforts. The funds shall be subject to all of the following provisions:

(a)  Grants shall be made to grantees that operate local building code enforcement programs for more than three years.

(b)  The city, county, or city and county shall provide a cash or in-kind local match of at least 25 percent in the first year, at least 50 percent in the second year, and at least 75 percent in the third year.

(c)  The maximum grant to a single recipient shall not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000). The department may establish minimum grant levels and lower maximum grant levels, depending on the amount and uses of funding sources.

(d)  Funds may be used to supplement, but shall not supplant, existing local funding for code enforcement related to housing code maintenance. The applicants shall demonstrate an intent to ensure cooperative and effective working relationships between code enforcement officials and local prosecutorial agencies, the local health department, and local government housing rehabilitation financing agencies.

(e)  Within six months after completion of each program cycle approved by the department and funded by the Legislature, grant recipients shall submit a report to their local legislative bodies and to the department regarding the results of the expanded housing maintenance code enforcement efforts and recommendations for changes in state or local laws and regulations related to code enforcement. The department shall summarize the results and transmit the reports to the Legislature within six months after the grant recipient’s submission date. The department may require submission of interim progress reports.

(f)  The department may use up to 5 percent of the funds appropriated by the Legislature for administering the programs authorized by this chapter.

(g)  The department shall award the grants on a competitive basis with criteria to be established and specified in a “Notice of Funding Availability.” The criteria shall be weighted for local government applicants with neighborhoods populated by high percentages of lower income households, with significant numbers of deteriorating housing stock containing reported or suspected housing code violations and often owned by absentee owners. The criteria shall also be weighted for applications that propose to identify and prosecute owners with habitual, repeated, multiple code violations that have remained unabated beyond the period required for abatement. In addition to those criteria, the department shall attempt to award grants to cities, counties, and cities and counties in order to obtain a wide range of population sizes and compositions and geographical distribution. Eligibility criteria, applications, awards, and other program requirements implementing this chapter shall not be subject to the requirements of Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 723, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)