17 - Laserfiche WebLink

BACKGROUND The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) process is conducted annually in cooperation with the Human Services and Housing Commission in an attempt to develop recommendations to the City Council for CDBG funding.. Staff has completed that process and the City's Housing Commission and Human Services Commission have made recommendations regarding project funding. Due to activity related to the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009 (Recovery Act), the City has not yet been notified by HUD of its total CDBG funding allocation for FY 2009 (last year's allocation was $274,664). However, it has been informed that the program will receive $74,608 from the Recovery Act to supplement to amount awarded as part of the annual CDBG allocation. For planning purposes, staff is assuming a total grant amount for FY 2009 of $250,000 (individual project allocations can be adjusted once the final amount is received which should occur prior to the July 1 start of the fiscal year). Nevertheless, in anticipation of a total funding amount in excess of $250,000, both City Commissions made recommendations for funding which allows allocations to occur as soon as funding verification has been received. In accordance with HUD guidelines, only 15% of the revenue received ($37,500 based on a total estimated grant amount of $250,000) can be used for public services projects. Of the remaining amount, $162,500 is available for capital projects and $50,000 is available to the City for grant administration. Due to the significant administrative requirement of this grant, the City has historically used the administrative allocation to offset staff costs. Because the trend for CDBG funding continues to decrease, it may be appropriate for the Council address whether the General Fund should support this activity, rather than CDBG funding. We have not contemplated the use of General Fund dollars for this purpose in the coming fiscal year (2009-10). Planning for the FY 2009 CDBG program included the issuance of a public request for proposals and, in collaboration with the cities of Livermore and Dublin, two public workshops (one in Pleasanton and one in Livermore) that provided information on several funding programs for local nonprofit agencies, with particular emphasis on the CDBG program including the distribution of applications. Approximately 50 agencies and/or individuals attended the workshops and a total of sixteen new applications for FY 2009 federal CDBG funding were received. The individual agencies and application summaries are listed in Attachment 2. As part of the review process established several years ago, the Human Services Commission (HSC) reviewed non-housing and/or service-related applications, while the Housing Commission (HC) reviewed applications that are specifically related to housing or housing projects. Seven of the 16 new applications were reviewed by the HSC on Wednesday, March 4, while the remaining nine were reviewed by the HC at its meeting of March 19. As the citizen advisory bodies for the City's CDBG and HOME programs, the two commissions are forwarding their respective funding recommendations to the Page 2 of 15