Board of Directors
John Start, President Nancy Melendez, Member
FAIR
Frank McCloud. Vice President Bryce Hudson, Member
HOUSING Dr. Jacqueline Long, Treasurer Keith Morrison, Member Levonzo Gray, Secretary Dr. Anthony Jerry, Member
COUNCIL Matthew Rundle, Member
of Riverside County Rose Mayes, Executive Director Janet Green, Emerita Dr. Lulamae Clemons, In Memoriam
April 8, 2024
David Razo
City of Cathedral City
68-700 Avenida Lalo Guerrero
Cathedral City, CA 92234
Dear Mr. Razo:
Thank you for the opportunity to submit a proposal to provide fair housing services for Cathedral City for fiscal year 2024-2025. We look forward to formally serve the city, as we already regularly receive calls from Cathedral City and serve your residents to the best of our ability. Included is the summary of our agency, our qualifications, the services that we will provide, and a budget for $20,000.
Again, thank you for this opportunity and we look forward to serving Cathedral City for many years to come.
Sincerely,
Pose Mai
Rose Mayes
Executive Director
PO Box 1068, Riverside, CA 92502 Phone (951) 682-6581 Toll Free (800) 655-1812 www.fairhousing.net FAIR
HOUSING
COUNCIL
of Riverside County
CATHEDRAL CITY CDBG APPLICATION 2024-2025
Organizational Experience
Fair Housing Council of Riverside County, Inc.'s (FHCRC) program has been in existence since 1986. FHCRC has a staff of 16 full-time and 1 part-time employees that include executive, management, professional, and support level individuals. FHCRC has experienced housing professionals and counselors, many of whom have been in the housing industry for more than 14 years as either real estate professionals, housing counselors or property managers. The Executive Director, Rose Mayes, has been in the housing industry for over 34 years and has led many ground breaking initiatives in affirmatively furthering fair housing. These efforts have been recognized on a local, state, and national level.
The services for FHCRC have been primarily funded with CDBG funds from municipalities requiring a fair housing program. These municipalities include but not limited to: County of Riverside, cities of Riverside, Palm Springs, Corona, Moreno Valley, Palm Desert, Perris, Temecula, Menifee, Jurupa Valley and Hemet. FHCRC has also secured non-CDBG contracts to provide other services, which are directly related to fair housing and other housing issues. The team has multiple years of experience in fair housing counseling, foreclosure prevention, community outreach, creating, and administering federal grants related to our mission. Through the vision and leadership of Rose Mayes, FHCRC regularly sets high goals each fiscal year and achieves them.
Services to be Provided
FHCRC proposes to offer a variety of fair housing services that affirmatively promotes fair housing rights and obligations as defined and articulated under the Federal Fair Housing Act and the California State Law Enactments under the Rumford and Unruh Civil Rights Acts.
The Agency's mission is to provide comprehensive services that affirmatively address and promote fair housing (anti-discrimination) rights. It is also our mission to further other housing opportunities for all persons without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status (presence of children), disability, ancestry, marital status, or other arbitrary factors.
FHCRC's mission is accomplished through three component areas under both anti- discrimination and landlord tenant services. The three specific components are:
1. Education
2. Training and Technical Assistance
3. Enforcement
Education Component, Anti-Discrimination
Educating the general population, more particularly, those persons covered under the seven federally protected classes and others under State law, ranks among the most important activity conducted by FHCRC. Without knowledge about rights and responsibilities under fair housing laws, many persons in our society will not be aware of the protection, which they are afforded, or the standards that must be maintained.
Through outreach and education activities, victims of past or future illegal housing activities will be empowered to assert their individual rights. They will be further armed with personal knowledge that will enable them to either prevent their own victimization or pursue appropriate remedies when faced with discriminatory housing practices.
All major studies continue to document that, for the most part, housing discrimination is more often directed to those persons in our society representing very low, low, and moderate income households or other special-needs groups.
Training and Technical Assistance Component, Anti-Discrimination Services There is a limited understanding held by the general public and professionals about how to conform their housing practices to comply with the law. Laws continue to be subject to judicial interpretation and the development of regulations of non-judicial entities such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the State of California Civil Rights Department. Therefore, training and technical assistance continues to be a need in our community.
Training and Technical Assistance activities provide access to information which facilitates a broader and more meaningful understanding of fair housing laws by property owners, property managers, and maintenance personnel, real estate professionals, lending institutions, government/social service organizations and media professionals. This technical assistance enables these segments of the community to act in pro-active ways -- thereby preventing violation of the law and costly legal liabilities.
Enforcement Component, Anti-Discrimination Services
Since the beginning of FHCRC's operations in 1986, the Enforcement Component has provided services that are designed to foster, effectuate and monitor compliance with Federal and State fair housing laws. FHCRC's enforcement component consists of, but not limited to the following:
• Initial intake, screening and interviewing of housing discrimination complainants to determine if the reported problem is a housing discrimination or a landlord/tenant complaint.
• Provide investigative and other supportive assistance to complainants in filing and processing of their complaints.
• Conduct additional verification and investigation of complaints, and perform testing of bona-fide complaints when required.
• Process complaints on individual merit upon determination that the threshold jurisdictional question is satisfied (that is, the complaint alleges facts which present a prima facie case of discrimination).
• Counsel complainants as to the available options of redress and resolution that include conciliation or referral to one of the following:
-State of California Civil Rights Department.
-U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
-Private or Public Attorney for initiation of litigation. -Conciliation.
• Increase the effectiveness of the enforcement component through FHCRC's staff participation in fair housing training sessions designed to strengthen the proficiency to verify and process bona-fide housing discrimination complaints. • Work towards the elimination of all identified illegal impediments to housing choices and opportunities in the County of Riverside.
Education Component, Landlord/Tenant Services
FHCRC operates on the belief that education serves to empower persons in the community and foster community self-reliance.
Activities include:
Educate the general public and increase its knowledge of landlord/tenant information of rights and responsibilities by providing comprehensive information and dissemination of literature on landlord/tenant rights and responsibilities pursuant to California Civil Code.
Distribute fair housing educational literature to various mobile home parks, apartment complexes and community centers located in Cathedral City.
Providing intense counseling to walk-in and telephone clients in response to inquiries regarding: Retaliatory and constructive evictions and proper eviction procedures. Rental agreement information and interpretations. Rent control/rent increases. Security deposits. Substandard housing. Duties to repair or maintain habitable units. Duties to respect property and follow reasonable rules of tenancy. Proper notice for requesting repairs. Explanation on types and terms of tenancy.
Other questions concerning (including but not limited to) guest rules, late charges, right of entry and inspection, duty of landlord to mitigate damages where notice requirements are not met, and code enforcement.
Responding to requests for landlord/tenant workshops.
Networking and forming partnerships with other community based organizations.
Providing referrals to clients as needed.
Training and Technical Assistance Component, Landlord/Tenant Services Respond to requests for Technical Training Workshops for housing professionals-- realtors, property owners, managers and maintenance personnel. Services under this component will be directed toward the provision of the technical knowledge required as a basis for proper problem resolution.
Enforcement (Mediation and Referral Component) Landlord/Tenant Services As the court system seeks to find new ways to relieve backlogs and meet the increasing demands placed upon it, MEDIATION and other non-litigious mechanisms are increasingly effective in problem solving and the enforcement of the parties' rights.
This is the main rationale for FHCRC's LANDLORD/TENANT MEDIATION SERVICES, and it has proven to be an essential and viable sub-component of the FHCRC's overall services. Significant activities of the mediation and referral component are to assist specific landlords and tenants with the following:
Resolve housing problems in a non-litigious atmosphere.
Avail themselves of the technical knowledge and resource information available through FHCRC staff.
Maintain effective communications between the parties and foster cooperative problem solving around specific issues.
Maintain and retain the tenancy, where possible, to the mutual benefit of both parties.
When it is clear that a client is in the legal process, having been served with a notice of termination or a notice to pay rent or quit, or after the client has become the plaintiff or defendant in an unlawful detainer proceeding, FHCRC will assist the client to:
Understand the procedures and process of the legal system.
Provide referrals to legal agencies where applicable. It is in this area that strong linkages are maintained between the Council and other community resources such as Inland Counties Legal Services and the private/pro bono segment of the Local Bar Association.
All activities are conducted without interruption throughout the contract period. 7/1/24 to 6/30/25.
PROPOSED PROGRAM/PROJECT OPERATING BUDGET
Proposed Cathedral City CDBG
Program/Project Operating Budget
Cost Category Organization
CDBG Funds Total Program / Operating Budget
Requested* Leveraged Funds Project Operating
Budget
Personnel Costs
$12,000 $0 $390,720 $1,150,000
(Salaries, Benefits, Other)
Non-Personnel Costs
$8,000 $0 $137,280 $400,000
(Supplies, Consultants, etc.)
Capital Improvement Costs
$ $ $ $
(Design, Construction, etc.)
Total Budget $20,000 $0 $528,000 $1,550,000