Title
2025-26 CDBG Needs Staff Report
Body
Discussion with Nonprofit Organizations and Recommendation to Direct the Preparation of a Needs Statement to Confirm the Community Needs for the Fiscal Year 2025-26 Community Development Block Grant Action Plan; to Designate the President of the Social Service Human Relations Board and/or another Board Member to Review the Statement and Represent the Board at the December 5, 2024 City Council Needs Public Hearing; and to Determine that CDBG Public Services Funding Will Be Prorated for Fiscal Year 2025-26, based on available funds.
To: Honorable President Scott Means and Members of the Social Service Human Relations Board
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2020, the City of Alameda (City) prepared its Five-Year Consolidated Plan (Consolidated Plan), which identified the following priorities:
• Preserving and increasing affordable housing and supportive services;
• Reducing housing discrimination;
• Preventing and addressing homelessness; and
• Addressing non-housing community development needs such as neighborhood improvements, public services, accessibility improvements and economic development.
Each year, the City holds a public comment period on housing and community development needs to support the City’s effort to identify the community’s social service needs and to direct the preparation of the needs statement for the upcoming fiscal year (FY). The Needs Statement will be presented to City Council for approval at the public hearing, and this item is tentatively scheduled for December 5, 2024. The approved Needs Statement will be included in the upcoming Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) FY 2025-26 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)/ Request for Proposals (RFP). The Action Plan FY 2025-26 Schedule is attached as Exhibit 1.
In 2023, the Social Service Human Relations Board (SSHRB) completed the 2023 Community Needs Assessment (2023 CNA). The 2023 CNA was reviewed and accepted by the City Council at its May 2, 2023, meeting. The 2023 CNA confirmed the continued need for the CDBG-funded services. The next CNA will be conducted and brought to City Council in 2028.
BACKGROUND
As part of the annual CDBG process, the City holds a public comment period on housing and community development needs, concluding with a public hearing at a City Council meeting. The purpose of this staff report is to:
1. Provide an overview of the CDBG process,
2. Review priority needs,
3. Propose the schedule and timeline of CDBG activities, and,
4. Propose methodology for FY 2025-26 funding recommendations.
At the October 24, 2024 Social Service Human Relations Board (SSHRB) meeting, staff will briefly review the CDBG program and the process. After the presentation, SSHRB will hear public comment and direct the preparation of the Needs Statement for FY 2025-26, which will be presented to the City Council during the December 5, 2024 Public Hearing.
The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) is expected to announce CDBG allocations for FY 2025-26 in the winter or spring of 2025. At the October 24, 2024 SSHRB meeting, staff will also review the current CDBG funding amounts and propose methodology for FY 2025-26 funding recommendations. Staff will present the recommendations to City Council during its first meeting in May 2025.
DISCUSSION
Overview of the Community Development Block Grant Process
As an entitlement jurisdiction, the City receives CDBG funds from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). CDBG regulations require that an annual public hearing be held to obtain community input on current housing and community development needs. The October 24 Board meeting provides an opportunity for input on the Annual Action Plan for FY 2025-26. Alameda’s FY 2025-26 Action Plan will identify local priorities and uses of CDBG funds to address needs in eligible categories.
Every five years, the City is required to prepare a Five-Year Consolidated Plan, which outlines the housing and community development priority needs that will inform CDBG funding decisions for the upcoming five-year period. The City’s Consolidated Plan for FYs 2020-25 included the following priority needs:
• Preserving and increasing affordable housing and supportive services;
• Reducing housing discrimination;
• Preventing and addressing homelessness; and
• Addressing non-housing community development needs such as neighborhood improvements, public services, accessibility improvements and economic development.
Alameda’s FY 2025-26 Action Plan will identify local priorities and uses of CDBG funds to address needs in eligible categories. Eligible activities include property acquisition and rehabilitation, public facilities improvements, public services, accessibility improvements, economic development, and planning and administrative activities. At least 70 percent of CDBG funds must benefit low- and moderate-income residents or neighborhoods. A limited amount of funds may also be used to eliminate blight in selected areas.
The purpose of the public meeting is to support the City’s effort to identify the social service needs of the community and prepare a recommendation for the FY 2025-26 Needs Statement for approval by the City Council at the public hearing on December 5, 2024. The approved Needs Statement will be included in the upcoming CDBG FY 2025-26 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)/ RFP.
CDBG Past Performance
Listed below are the current, CDBG-funded public service providers, their service offerings, annual goal of people served, and number of persons who benefited from the program in FY 2020-21, FY 2021-22, FY 2022-23 and FY 2023-24:
|
Service Provider |
Service Offering |
Annual Goal of People Served |
FY 2020-21 Persons |
FY 2021-22 Persons |
FY 2022-23 Persons |
FY 2023-24 Persons |
|
Alameda Family Services |
Mental Health Counseling |
45 |
55 |
32 |
44 |
39 |
|
Alameda Food Bank |
Emergency Food Distribution |
2,200 |
10,537 |
11,731 |
6,302 |
8,921 |
|
Building Futures |
Shelter & Counseling |
85 |
120 |
62 |
66 |
95 |
|
Eden Council for Hope & Opportunity (ECHO) |
Fair Housing & Housing Counseling |
65 |
69 |
67 |
103 |
149 |
|
Eden Information & Referral |
Information & Referral |
350 |
397 |
402 |
459 |
495 |
|
Family Violence Law Center |
Family Violence Prevention |
25 |
43 |
62 |
37 |
37 |
|
Legal Assistance for Seniors |
Legal Assistance for Alameda Seniors |
333 |
43 |
294 |
39 |
55 |
The Statement of Work Progress Reports from the last quarter of the two-year contracts are attached as Exhibit 2 for reference and provide additional information to supplement the data shown above. While all of the service providers were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in some way, most exceeded their annual goals. Following is a brief summary of some of the challenges that they faced.
Alameda Family Services (AFS) met their annual goal of providing school-based mental health services to 55 youth in the City of Alameda throughout FY 2023-24. The program goals are to decrease hospitalizations, reduce mental health crisis, and provide individual therapy to students. In Quarter 4, AFS provided services to 9 youth although they did not reach their annual goal for previous fiscal year. Additionally, there were no hospitalizations amongst youth, and an increase in functioning and stabilization.
Although Building Futures BF faced challenges meeting their goals in FY 2022-23, they exceeded their goal by serving 95 homeless clients in FY 2023-24. In Quarter 4, Midway Shelter assisted 26 clients, providing 2,241 bed nights and 6,723 meals per day. In addition to providing bed nights and 3 meals a day, the staff at Midway conducts weekly meetings that covers various and vital topics such as parenting, domestic violence support, housing workshops, employment workshops, basic life skills and children activities.
Legal Assistance for Seniors (LAS) program scope of work for FY 2023-24 is to provide free legal services to 45 seniors in the City of Alameda in the areas of health law, public benefits, guardianship, naturalization, housing and general legal services for those that may need assistance in other areas of law. Also, LAS is to reach 300 or more individuals through its Community Education Program by providing community education presentations and outreach events geared towards the senior community of the City of Alameda. Lastly, 50 seniors are to be provided with free, unbiased health insurance counseling through Alameda County’s Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP). During Quarter 4 of FY 2023-24, LAS reached a total of 9 seniors through the legal program which means that they exceeded their goal by 10 more clients served. Cases ranged between housing, health law and elder abuse. HICAP Program has counseled a total of 110 individuals allowing LAS to have doubled its contracted goal.
LAS’s Community Education Program held 15 group presentations for senior service providers and care givers and reached a total of 122 individuals. The department staff are actively working to increase the number of people reached at the City of Alameda.
COVID-19 and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act
On March 27, 2020, the President of the United States signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law. The City received two allocations in the amounts of $683,116 and $597,112 for a total of $1,280,228. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City expanded capacity or launched new programs to assist impacted, low-income households. Listed below are the service providers, their service offerings, and number of persons who benefited from the program in FY 2020-21, FY 2021-22, FY 2022-23 & FY 2023-24. The table below only lists program, which still had CARES funds available in FY 2023-24:
|
Service Provider |
Service Offering |
2020-21 Persons |
2021-22 Persons |
2022-23 Persons |
2023-24 Persons |
|
Family Violence Law Center |
Emergency Shelter |
5 |
11 |
37 |
4 |
Priority Needs
The Social Service Human Relations Board (SSHRB) conducts a citywide community needs assessment every three to five years as part of its chartered mandate. SSHRB’s most current needs assessment was conducted in 2022. In 2023, Community Development Department staff conducted a short, three-question survey to review and verify the community and social service priorities identified by community members from the 2023 Community Needs Assessment. The next citywide community needs assessment is planned to launch in 2028. Consequently, staff will recommend that:
1) FY 2025-26 NOFA/RFP award funds for a single year; and
2) NOFA/RFP for the following year consider offering agreements with two-year terms.
Exhibit 1 contains the Consolidated Plan goal and activities that the Board previously determined to address the identified priority needs. Those priority needs include Affordable Housing, Homelessness, and Non-Housing Community Development, which is addressed through Public Services, Economic Development and Public Facilities and Infrastructure.
Proposed Schedule and Timeline
The FY 2025-26 NOFA is tentatively scheduled to be released in January 2025. In 2022, SSHRB recommended that the two-year funding cycle for the City’s CDBG public services funding recipients resume with the adoption for the 2020-25 Five Year Consolidated Plan. With the 2020-25 Five Year Consolidated Plan concluding, staff recommends that the service provider agreements for the upcoming NOFA/RFP be for a single year. The 2020-25 Five Year Consolidated Plan is expected to be completed by June 30, 2025.
The proposed schedule is attached as Exhibit 1. Depending on the number of applications received, staff may once again recommend that either fair housing or information & referral services be classified as an Administrative expense in order to expand the funding made available to local nonprofit organizations. SSHRB members will be asked to review and score all other public service applications. Assuming that the NOFA/RFP is due on February 7, 2025, then the members of the Board will be asked to submit their scoring for the public service applicants by February 27, 2025 by 9:00 am so that staff may present recommendations at the Board’s March 27, 2023 public meeting in time to be published by April 1, 2025.
Funding Availability
Funding for the next fiscal year is derived from two sources: entitlement funds that are allocated by HUD and program income that is generated from CDBG loan repayments. HUD requires that Public Services funding be capped at 15 percent of the current year’s grant allocation plus program income received in the previous fiscal year. At the time the staff report was written, the federal government had not yet adopted the budget for the next fiscal year. As a result, the HUD had not yet published its allocations for CDBG FY 2025-26. Therefore, the amount of entitlement funds that will be available is not known at this time. Because the program income will continue to be received through June 30, 2025, the actual amount of program income will not be known before the end of the current fiscal year.
In January 2018, HUD published guidance that entitlement jurisdictions continue to adhere to the CDBG regulations and requirements, including the timeline for submitting the Action Plan, even absent confirmed funding amounts. Consequently, staff is proposing funding allocations, using the following assumptions:
|
Funding Type |
Assumed Amount |
15% of Amount |
|
City of Alameda Entitlement |
$1,100,000 |
$165,000 |
|
FY 2024-25 Program Income |
$130,000 |
$19,500 |
|
Total Estimated Funds Available |
$1,230,000 |
$184,500 |
The actual funding recommendations for FY 2025-26 will be determined after HUD announces CDBG allocations for FY 2025-26, if any. Furthermore, staff will continue to monitor the receipt of program income and adjust the numbers accordingly prior to submitting the final Action Plan to HUD in May 2025.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Board hear the presentation, receive public comments, and direct the preparation of a Needs Statement to confirm the ongoing needs for the FY 2025-26 CDBG Action Plan. The Board should also designate the President and/or another Board member to review the statement and represent the Board at the December 5, 2024, City Council Needs Public Hearing.
Respectfully submitted,
Andre Fairley, Management Analyst
By,
Marcie Johnson, Social Services Manager
Exhibits:
1. Community Needs Feedback
2. Action Plan FY 2025-26 Schedule
3. Statement of Work Progress Reports
a. Alameda Family Services
b. Alameda Food Bank
c. Building Futures with Women and Children
d. EDEN I & R
e. Eden Council for Hope and Opportunity
f. Family Violence Law Center
g. Legal Assistance for Seniors