Title
Discussion with Nonprofit Organizations and Recommendation to Direct the Preparation of a Needs Statement to Confirm the Ongoing Needs for the Fiscal Year 2023-24 Community Development Block Grant Action Plan; and 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 January 3, 2023 City Council Needs Public Hearing.
Body
To: Honorable President Sarah Lewis 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.
The Consolidated Plan Priorities & Goals are attached as Exhibit 1. 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, which is tentatively scheduled for January 3, 2023. The approved Needs Statement will be included in the upcoming Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) FY 2023-24 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)/ Request for Proposals (RFP). The Action Plan FY 2023-24 Schedule is attached as Exhibit 2.
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, and
3. Propose the schedule and timeline of CDBG activities.
At the December 1, 2022 Social Service Human Relations Board (the Board) meeting, staff will briefly review the CDBG program and the process. After the presentation, the Board will hear public comment and direct the preparation the Needs Statement for FY 2023-24, which will be presented to the City Council during the January 3, 2023 Public Hearing.
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 December 1 Board meeting provides an opportunity for input on the Annual Action Plan for FY 2023-24. Alameda’s FY 2023-24 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 2023-24 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 2023-24 Needs Statement for approval by the City Council at the public hearing on January 3, 2023. The approved Needs Statement will be included in the upcoming CDBG FY 2023-24 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 and FY 2021-22:
|
Service Provider |
Service Offering |
Annual Goal of People Served |
FY 2020-21 Persons |
FY 2021-22 Persons |
|
Alameda Family Services |
Mental Health Counseling |
45 |
55 |
32 |
|
Alameda Food Bank |
Emergency Food Distribution |
2,200 |
10,537 |
11,731 |
|
Building Futures |
Shelter & Counseling |
85 |
120 |
62 |
|
Eden Council for Hope & Opportunity (ECHO) |
Fair Housing & Housing Counseling |
65 |
69 |
67 |
|
Eden Information & Referral |
Information & Referral |
350 |
397 |
402 |
|
Family Violence Law Center |
Family Violence Prevention |
25 |
43 |
62 |
|
Legal Assistance for Seniors |
Legal Assistance for Alameda Seniors |
333 |
50 |
294 |
The Statement of Work Progress Reports from the last quarter of the two year contracts are attached as Exhibit 3 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) exceeded their goal in FY 2020-21 and experienced difficulty meeting the goal in the second year of their contract for two reasons. AFS was short-staffed and had difficulty finding staff because the demand and need for therapists grew exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, because AFS offers mental health counseling in the schools, AFS had limited access to key students while Island High was closed and students were relocated.
While Building Futures (BF) far exceeded its goal in FY 2020-21 due to the provision of hotel rooms to supplement the beds offered at Midway Shelter, BF faced challenges meeting their goals in the second year of their contract due to COVID outbreaks and the resulting need to limit shelter capacity to comply with State mandated regulations. In addition, in FY 2020-21, virtual learning and isolation allowed the shelter to keep the number of people infected with COVID-19 to a minimum. When in-person instruction returned in FY 2021-22, the number of outbreaks at the shelter increased substantially. Due to the increase number of outbreaks, the Alameda County Health Department closed the shelter for three weeks, which also limited BF’s physical capacity and ability to serve additional community members.
Legal Assistance for Seniors (LAS) effectively accomplished its goals of providing legal assistance and offering the Health Insurance Counseling & Advocacy Program (HICAP) by serving 128 individuals in these areas. In addition, LAS hosted outreach events and provided community education to 166 clients, which was short of its goal of 253 for this activity. Ultimately, they served 294 persons or 88% of their goal.
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:
|
Service Provider |
Service Offering |
2020-21 Persons |
2021-22 Persons |
|
Alameda Food Bank |
Emergency Food Distribution |
19,305 |
6,625 |
|
Building Futures |
Emergency Case Management |
24 |
41 |
|
Family Violence Law Center |
Emergency Shelter |
5 |
11 |
|
Village of Love |
Safe Parking Services |
21 |
80 |
|
Village of Love |
Day Center Operations |
32 |
118 |
Priority Needs
The Board conducts a citywide community needs assessment as part of its chartered mandate. The last needs assessment was conducted in 2017. In 2019, Community Development Department staff conducted a short, three-question survey to review and reify the community and social service priorities identified by community members from the 2017 Community Needs Assessment. The Board is currently preparing a new community needs assessment, which will be completed in 2023. Consequently, staff will recommend that:
1) The FY 2023-24 NOFA/RFP award funds for two years; and
2) The Community Needs Assessment align with the HUD CDBG schedule.
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 2023-24 and FY 2024-25 NOFA is tentatively scheduled to be released in January 2023. In 2019, the Board recommended that the two-year funding cycle for the City’s CDBG public services funding recipients resume with the adoption for the Five Year Consolidated Plan. In 2021, the Board recommended that the contracts be for a single year so that the data from the 2022 Community Needs Assessment could be used to inform the priority needs for the final two years of the Consolidated Plan. The expectation is that the NOFA that will be released in January 2023 and would accept applications for two year agreements that cover FYs 2023-24 and 2024-25. Given that the results of the 2022 Community Needs Assessment are expected to be presented to Council after the NOFA is announced, staff recommends that SSHRB allow staff to enter one-year agreements with the option of extending them for a second year provided that the results of the 2022 Community Needs Assessment do not introduce new priority needs beyond those that will be presented in the SSHRB Needs Statement that will be presented to Council in January 2023.
In the past few years, the NOFA has been published prior to HUD’s announcement of the funding allocations for the upcoming FY. Based on past funding allocations, we estimate that the total funding allocation will be approximately $1,150,000. Assuming that the City receives Program Income of $80,000 in the current FY, the total funds available for public services in FY 2023-24 will be approximately $184,500, which is down 14.5% for the current FY.
The proposed schedule is attached as Exhibit 2. 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. SSHRB members will be asked to review and score all other public service applications. Assuming that the NOFA/RFP is due on February 9, 2023, then the members of the Board will be asked to submit their scoring for the public service applicants by February 27, 2023 by 9:00 am so that staff may present recommendations at the Board’s March 23, 2023 public meeting in time to be published by March 31, 2023.
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 2023-24 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 January 3, 2023 City Council Needs Public Hearing.
Respectfully submitted,
Eric Fonstein, Development Manager
By,
Lisa Fitts, Community Development Program Manager
Amanda Olson, Program Manager
Exhibits:
1. Consolidated Plan Priorities & Goals
2. Action Plan FY 2023-24 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