Laserfiche WebLink
8/9/23, 3:41 PM Fair and Secure Housing Project <br />https://www.zoomgrants.com/rapp2.asp?rfpid=3776&propid=380588&dtype=official&ftype=&f=9/10 <br />preserving affordable rental housing and reducing housing discrimination through fair housing and landlord/tenant <br />services. <br />Report 2 <br />Our project addresses two Strategic Goals: 1) Reduce housing discrimination through provision of fair housing and <br />landlord/tenant services; 2) Funding and supporting homeless services programs to end homelessness. It also addresses <br />one of the HUD Priority Needs: 1) Support housing needs, including increasing home ownership opportunities, creating and <br />preserving affordable rental and homeownership housing, and reducing housing discrimination. <br />Our tenant legal services directly support low-income Pleasanton tenants dealing with housing discrimination. We provide <br />fair housing and landlord/tenant services to low-income tenants on a variety of issues that involve a risk of displacement. <br />Additionally, our services focus on anti-displacement and homelessness prevention, and therefore aligns very well with the <br />second HUD Strategic Goal. One example that highlights how this program addresses these goals is a case where we <br />represented a Pleasanton tenant during the last Fiscal Year. In that case, a Pleasanton tenant was being evicted due to the <br />alleged actions of her child, whose actions were due to the child’s significant mental health disability. This tenant faced <br />discrimination by her landlord due to the actions of her child, and Centro fought back, asserting the need for the landlord to <br />reasonably accommodate the child’s disability, as well as the tenant’s. Centro was able to help the tenant preserve her <br />subsidized housing unit through our representation, thereby preserving an affordable housing unit and addressing housing <br />discrimination. <br />For the HUD Priority Needs, our project supports low-income Pleasanton tenants with legal housing issues, which includes <br />preserving affordable rental housing and reducing housing discrimination through fair housing and landlord/tenant <br />services. <br />15. Describe the original purpose for this grant. Will you spend your entire grant? If not, explain why your agency <br />did not spend the entire grant. <br />Report 1 <br />The original purpose of this grant was the following: Centro Legal proposes to provide legal consultations, representation, <br />outreach, and tenant education services to low-income Pleasanton tenants facing housing instability, eviction and potential <br />displacement. Additionally, we will advise and assist clients with other tenant/landlord related matters and provide legal <br />representation when appropriate. Our services model provides pre-eviction consultation in addition to eviction <br />representation, and through outreach and education, we are able to address threats to housing stability early. Information <br />sharing through know-your-rights workshops empowers communities to assert their rights. Centro Legal’s proposed <br />staffing pattern for this program reflects a multilingual/multicultural team of staff, ensuring access to interpretation <br />services for all residents participating in this program. <br />Pleasanton tenants will access this project with the help of outreach efforts including flyering and partnerships with <br />community-based organizations, Tri-Valley specific know your rights workshops that will include 1:1 consultations, and <br />through a position we created within the Tenants' Rights team to handle direct referrals from our ERAP staff when ERAP <br />applicants have questions about their rights. This helps us connect with tenants who are at increased risk of displacement, <br />and has already increased our ability to connect with Pleasanton tenants. <br />Alameda County’s housing crisis and its impact on low-income tenants is currently being exacerbated and amplified by the <br />COVID-19 pandemic. Even after the health impacts of COVID-19 diminish, the economic impacts will continue and low- <br />income tenants will be vulnerable to eviction when they can’t pay rent because they’ve lost income due to the pandemic. <br />This project will enable us to intervene early and provide advice and representation to prevent displacement. <br />We do anticipate that we will spend down this entire grant.