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CITY OF SAN MATEO
Agenda Report
City Hall
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org
Agenda Number: 5 Section Name: {{section.name}} Account Number: 36-3133 File ID: {{item.tracking_number}} TO: City Council
FROM: Alex Khojikian, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Community Development Department
MEETING DATE: May 6, 2024
SUBJECT:
Permanent Local Housing Allocation – Grant Application
RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt a Resolution to reapply to the State of California for Permanent Local Housing Allocation grant program fund and approve an amendment to the five-year funding plan.
BACKGROUND:
The purpose of the Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) grant is to provide a permanent source of funding to all local governments in California to help cities and counties implement plans to increase housing affordability. This is a flexible funding source that can be used for a wide range of activities from increasing the housing supply to providing supportive services. The PLHA application requires the City to develop a Five-Year Plan to allocate spending. The City has received allocations of $341,894 in the first year (2019); $531,409 in the second year (2020); and $584,800 in the third year (2021). To receive the fourth year allocation (2022), the City needs to adopt a resolution (Attachment 1) to reapply for the PLHA fund, approve an amendment to the Five-Year Plan (Attachment 2) based on the new allocation, and submit an application to the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to receive the fourth year grant allocation of $293,103 (Attachment 3). The fourth year allocation is substantially lower than the third year, which drives the need for a plan amendment and funding adjustment. The PLHA entitlement allocation is based upon the previous year’s collection of title recording fees, which can vary from year to year, which resulted in the large discrepancy.
For the fourth year PLHA grant funding allocation, four subrecipient organizations have been identified: Bridge Housing, LifeMoves, HIP Housing and Samaritan House.
LifeMoves – Council directed staff to use PLHA funds for rapid rehousing during a special meeting study session on June 1, 2020. Rapid rehousing includes rent assistance for a period of approximately 6 to 12 months combined with supportive services to households who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. A rapid rehousing program was developed and the non-profit organization, LifeMoves, was selected to administer the program. The program provides clients who are at risk of homelessness and below 30% Area Median Income (AMI) with 10 months of rental stabilization and case management for a wide range of services including employment, education, mental health, and more. The program aims to serve 5 individuals and 5 families annually. The rapid rehousing program has been a PLHA grant fund recipient for the past three years.
BRIDGE Housing - The affordable housing development Montara, which was completed in 2020 and is located at 2775 S.
Delaware Street, includes 16 units for formerly homeless households. These targeted units include supportive services from Veterans Affairs and San Mateo County, in addition to rental assistance as part of the financing package provided by the County. In response to concerns raised at stakeholder meetings with neighboring properties, the City has worked with the developer, BRIDGE Housing, to expand its residence services at the property to make more services available as well as
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expanding onsite hours for all of the tenants. To achieve the expanded services, a full-time services coordinator, in place of a half-time position, was created. This cost was not anticipated when the developer initially sought its funding commitments and resulted in a gap in the operating budget for the first four years of the project. PLHA funding has been used to support the full-time services coordinator at Montara for the past three years.
HIP Housing - HIP Housing was a long-time recipient of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds through the City and has been a City partner in both providing affordable housing units and maintaining their home-sharing program, which matches tenants who are unable to afford the high rents in the City with home-owners who are willing to rent out spare rooms in their homes. The strict guidelines of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) forced HIP Housing to forgo participating in the CDBG Community Funding program and left a gap in funding. Staff recommends funding HIP Housing with a PLHA grant in order to return assistance to the home sharing program.
Samaritan House - Samaritan House operates the Safe Harbor emergency shelter, a facility that provides case management, site-based emergency and transitional housing support to the clients in their 105-bed facility. The City has provided consistent support to this program through local housing funds in the past in order to ensure they would not have to compete with other organizations in the limited CDBG Community Funding program. As a service that assists persons experiencing homelessness, funding this program would be compatible with the design of the PLHA program and would preserve flexible local housing funds that can be reserved for other long-term housing related projects.
To utilize these funds to support the aforementioned organizations, staff recommends that the Council approve an amended Five -Year PLHA Plan, as well as adopting a resolution to re-apply for PLHA funding for Year 4. The Five-Year Plan that is submitted to the State can be amended in the future if changes are desired.
BUDGET IMPACT:
Staff has set up a fund (referred to as Fund 36) for this grant. PLHA is a noncompetitive grant that the State allocates to the City over a course of five years. The grant amount for the fourth year (2022) is $293,103. These funds have not yet been received by the City, as they need to be requested through a release of funds after the approval of the Five-Year Plan amendment. The exact dollar amount for the final year will vary based upon the collection of the real estate recording fees, which is the revenue source for the PLHA fund. The total estimated dollar amount that the City will receive over five years is $2,051,364. Based on the funding available, the proposed budget for the fourth year of the PLHA grant is as follows:
PLHA Year 4 (2022) Budget Amount
LifeMoves (Rapid Rehousing) $181,907
BRIDGE Housing (Montara) $61,541
HIP Housing $20,000
Samaritan House (Safe Harbor Emergency Shelter) $15,000 City Administration $14,655
Total $293,103
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
This resolution is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines pursuant to Section 15378(b)(4); submitting an application for grant funding is not a project subject to CEQA to the extent that it is a funding activity that does not involve commitment to a particular project that will impact the environment. However, in accordance with Public Resources Code Section 21065, to the extent that the funds are committed to specific projects, the City’s commitment of those funds is not a project subject to CEQA because the funds will be used to subsidize operational expenses which will not impact the environment.
NOTICE PROVIDED:
All meeting noticing requirements were met. Notifications were sent to the Housing NotifyMe list for the City Council meeting on May 6, 2024. A public notice was published to announce the availability of the draft plan on the city website.
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The draft was open to a 30-day comment period from March 26, 2024 to April 25, 2024.
ATTACHMENTS
Att 1 - Proposed Resolution
Att 2 - PLHA Five-Year Plan Amendment
Att 3 - 2023 PLHA Formula Streamlined Application – Returning Applicants
STAFF CONTACT
Nicky Vu, Housing Specialist
[email protected]
(650) 522-7229