City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: INFORMATION REPORTS
Lead Department: Planning and Development Services
Meeting Date: March 16, 2026
Report #:2601-5797
TITLE
Summary of Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program Accomplishments — Review of the CDBG Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). CEQA Status: Not a Project.
RECOMMENDATION
This is an informational report and no action is required.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City is required to annually report its accomplishments achieved through its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This annual report to HUD is called the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). In accordance with the City’s CDBG Citizen Participation Plan, the City’s Human Relations Commission (HRC) conducts a public hearing on the draft CAPER to allow for public review and discussion. The City then submits the draft CAPER to HUD by the annual September deadline. Afterwards, staff typically provides City Council with an informational report disseminating the draft CAPER submitted to HUD. Rather than providing a copy of the draft CAPER to City Council in November, this year staff is providing City Council with a copy of the final CAPER for CDBG Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-2025 (Attachment A). This updated process ensures that City Council has the opportunity to view the HUD-approved version of the document.
The CAPER was accepted by HUD on January 13, 2026. No action is required by City Council to receive the CAPER.
During FY 2024-2025, the City’s CDBG subrecipients provided projects, programs, and activities that benefited extremely low-, very low-, low-, and moderate-income individuals and households in Palo Alto. Through CDBG and CDBG-CV funds, 7,320 persons and 15 microenterprises were assisted in FY 2024-2025. Of the 7,320 persons and microenterprises assisted by CDBG, 447 were extremely low-income and 6,918 were low-income. CDBG-CV
funds, in 2020, were awarded to entitlement jurisdictions to prevent, prepare for and respond to the spread of COVID-19.
BACKGROUND
The City of Palo Alto receives funds annually from HUD as an entitlement city under the CDBG program. As a recipient of CDBG funds, the City is required to prepare a CAPER at the end of each fiscal year. The CAPER describes the City’s progress on implementing the projects, programs, and activities identified in the City’s CDBG FY 2024-2025 Annual Action Plan (AAP) and the goals and objectives of the 2020-2025 Consolidated Plan (ConPlan).
The HRC reviewed the draft CAPER on September 12, 2025, briefly discussed the findings, and asked a few clarifying questions. The HRC did not provide any comments on the draft CAPER that required any changes. Additionally, there were no members of the public that spoke to this item. The City submitted the draft CAPER for FY 2024-2025 to HUD by the September 30, 2025, deadline. The City also responded to minor comments from HUD and submitted minor typographical amendments to the draft CAPER in November and December, which were accepted by HUD on January 13, 2026.
ANALYSIS
During FY 2024-2025, the City’s CDBG subrecipients continued to provide vital services to extremely low-, very low-, low-, and moderate-income households while addressing the priorities and needs of the community and the City’s funding priorities. A total of $1,107,757 was available for CDBG projects, programs, and activities during FY 2024-2025.
As reported in the 2024-2025 Final CAPER, major FY 2024-2025 accomplishments from the City’s CDBG program are as follows:
Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County – Long Term Care Ombudsman Program [Goal:
Assist 37 individuals; Actual: 37 individuals]. The program provided advocacy and complaint investigation for elderly residents of long-term care facilities in Palo Alto, which included regular contact with Palo Alto Residential Care Facilities to observe and monitor conditions of care.
Alta Housing – SRO Resident Supportive Services [Goal: Assist 131 individuals; Actual:
516 individuals]. Alta Housing engaged a service coordinator to provide 40 hours of weekly services to provide case management and support counseling services to residents at Alma Place and Barker Hotel to help them maintain housing stability.
Activities included financial counseling, health maintenance, information, and referral problem-solving, employment assistance, crisis intervention, and case management.
Both Alma Place and Barker Hotel are single-room occupancy facilities. LifeMoves – Case Management [Goal: Assist 32 individuals; Actual: 47 individuals].
LifeMoves provided case management services to Opportunity Services Center and Hotel De Zink clients for locating housing and/or employment and be connecting clients to benefits.
Project Sentinel – Fair Housing Services [Goal: Assist 10 individuals; Actual: 7 individuals]. Project Sentinel provided fair housing services to City residents including community education and outreach regarding fair housing law and practices, investigation, counseling, and legal referral for victims of housing discrimination. Silicon Valley Independent Living Center (SVILC) – Case Management Services [Goal:
Assist 21 individuals; Actual: 12 individuals]. SVLIC provided assistance for individuals with disabilities and their families. This assistance helped these persons to transition from homelessness, health care facilities, unstable or temporary housing to permanent affordable, accessible, integrated housing involving emergency assistance, security deposits, rent, information, and referrals.
Rebuilding Together Peninsula – Safe at Home Program [Goal: Assist 5 households; Actual: 2 households]. Program preserved affordable housing by transforming homes through critical repairs and accessibility modifications, at no cost to the service recipient. The majority of the low-income homeowners served were elderly seniors and/or people with disabilities, who are physically and financially unable to maintain safe living conditions for themselves and their families. The program did not meet its anticipated goal due to program outreach and recruitment challenges. The City is working with Rebuilding Together Peninsula to determine new outreach methods. Palo Alto Public Works Department – 2023 ADA Curb Ramp Improvements [Goal:
2,090 individuals; Actual: 6,681 individuals]. The City intends to fund a major curb ramp improvement project that will bring an estimated 70 curb ramps up to current ADA accessibility standards.
Abode/Community Work Group – Alma Garden Rehabilitation [Goal: 10 individuals; Actual: 0 individuals]. Project activities include rehabilitating rental housing units in Alma Garden, an affordable multi-family housing complex for very low and low-income households, to address existing health and safety concerns. Funding is being spent on a project manager, bathroom upgrades, exterior repairs, and electrical and water utility upgrades. Construction continues with interior work as exterior work has concluded.
Rehabilitation is anticipated to be complete by May 2026, at which point the City will close the project out and update the outcomes to reflect 10 individuals served. LifeMoves – HomeKey Recreation Project [Goal: 100 individuals; Actual: 0 individuals].
Provider will manage the design and construction of recreation area and recreation equipment within the Homekey Palo Alto shelter property. The anticipated project completion timeframe is 12 months. The Homekey interim shelter project has experienced construction delays. The City plans to complete the recreation project by July 2026 - then update the program outcomes to reflect 100 individuals. WeeCare/Upwards – BOOST Program [Goal: 15 microenterprises; Actual: 15 microenterprises]. WeeCare worked with Family Child Care Home (FCCH) providers in Palo Alto who are already on the wait list for the BOOST program. These providers received staff training-learning best practices on how to grow and sustain their organization and how to better support the families they serve. Funds requested to pay WeeCare staff salaries for training providers on how to use Child Management System (CCMS) software. CCMS was developed for providers to create work plans, goals, capacity, and revenue, empowering them to reach service and operations goals. Move Mountain View (MMV) [Goal: 37 individuals; Actual: 6 individuals]. The program provides reserved off-street parking for participants, as well as permanent housing solutions through intensive case management. MMV operates four 24/7 RV Safe Parking lots and three Congregational Safe Parking locations. The total capacity of these lots in Palo Alto and Mountain View is 109 vehicles. A total of 159 vehicle dwellers are currently enrolled in the program. One of locations is located in Palo Alto at the Geng Road Safe Parking Lot. The Geng Road Safe Parking Lot is where MMV utilizes Palo Alto’s CDBG-CV funds. Funding pays for the salary of one full-time Client Counseling Case Manager and one full-time Client Case Manager Housing Specialist. The program has an ongoing vacancy at the Case Manager level. Despite active recruitment efforts, this vacancy has limited the programs ability to meet its anticipated goals.
If a subrecipient does not meet the anticipated performance outcomes identified in the funding agreement, the City may require corrective actions, modify the scope of services, or reallocate unspent funds to other eligible activities. Continued underperformance may be considered in future funding recommendations.
As required by HUD, the FY 2024-2025 draft CAPER was submitted by the September 30, 2025, deadline.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
This informational report has no fiscal impact. However, leveraging CDBG funds enables the City to support essential public services, capital improvements, and housing-related activities without reliance on the General Fund. The use of CDBG funds represents an effective strategy to secure and deploy outside resources to accomplish local goals and priorities.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
An advertisement was published in The Daily Post on August 30, 2025, announcing the availability of the draft CAPER for public review and comment. The draft CAPER was posted on the City’s CDBG webpage (www.paloalto.gov/CDBG) from September 9, 2025, through September 24, 2025, meeting the 15-day public comment period requirement. Hardcopies of the draft CAPER were also available for review at the City’s Development Center; Planning & Development Services Department at City Hall; and the City’s Downtown Public Library. The HRC held a public hearing on September 11, 2025, to discuss the draft CAPER and provide the public the opportunity to comment; the meeting fulfills the public hearing requirement for the CAPER. There were no public comments made during the hearing and the HRC did not provide comments necessitating changes to the contents and or metrics of the draft CAPER.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Council review on this item is not considered a project as defined by CEQA because the CAPER is for informational purposes only with no action required by City Council.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: 2024-2025 Final Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), as accepted by HUD.
APPROVED BY:
Jonathan Lait, Planning and Development Services Director