City Council Staff Report Page 1 of 7 September 23, 2025 Agenda Item No. 5.1
DATE: September 23, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Joan Malloy, City Manager
SUBJECT: Hold a Public Hearing and Adopt a Resolution Approving the 2024- 2025 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) and
Authorizing the City Manager to Submit the 2024-2025 CDBG CAPER to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Staff recommends that the City Council hold a public hearing on the 2024-2025 Community Development Block Grant (“CDBG”) Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (“CAPER”) and adopt a resolution (Attachment 1) approving the 2024- 2025 CAPER (Exhibit A) and authorizing its submittal to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”).
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
This agenda item does not have alignment with a specific goal or strategy; however, it is required to receive federal Block Grant funds that support a variety of City programs, which support the City’s overall mission to create and provide effective, quality services that foster a high quality of life and economic vitality.
BACKGROUND
Union City receives CDBG funding on an annual basis from HUD. In addition, the City of Union City receives HOME Investment Partnership Program (“HOME”) funds annually through participation in the Alameda County HOME Consortium. As part of the requirements to receive this funding, the City must prepare and submit a CAPER to HUD every year. The CAPER describes how CDBG and HOME-funded activities addressed the City’s housing and community development needs and compares its accomplishments to the goals the City set in the PY24 (i.e., FY 2024-2025) Annual Action Plan and the 5th and final year of the City’s 2019-2024 Consolidated Plan. The CAPER also provides a comprehensive accounting of all CDBG and HOME funds allocated and expended during PY24.
Agenda Item No. 5.1
City Council Staff Report Page 2 of 7 September 23, 2025
DISCUSSION
PY24 CDBG Expenditure Overview
In PY24, the City expended $429,518.00 in CDBG capital projects and public services funding and $98,754.00 in CDBG administration funds to cover administrative costs and staff time, including the application of $108 in CDBG program income, with total expenditures of $528,272.00. See Table 1 below for an overview of the funds expended.
The City also supplemented CDBG funds and supported public services programming by expending $248,606.80 in General Fund dollars to support public service programs.
Table 1: Overview of PY24 Funding Expenditures
Service Type Program Year Total CDBG Funding
Expenditures
Public Services 2024 $71,050.32
Micro-Enterprise Program 2024 $19,935.02
Minor Home Repair Program 2024 $65,392.05
Public Facilities 2023 $118,715.00
Public Facilities 2024 $104,317.61
Small Business
Assistance(CARES Act) 2021 $50,000.00
HOME Funds 2024 $0.00
Program Income 2024 $108.00
Total Program Funds $429,518.00
Administration 2024 $98,754.00
Total Admin Funds $98,754.00
Grand Total $528,272.00
Public Service Grants
The City spent $71,050.32 in PY24 CDBG funds and $248,606.80 in General Fund dollars to support eleven (11) public service programs. See Table 2 below for an overview of PY24 public service activities and the total number of residents served by the service providers. There are some limited instances where the public service providers did not utilize all of their grant funding. The unexpended amounts ranged from $150.00 to $2,200.00. City staff continually works with these public service providers during the program year to understand their issues and work with them to utilize all of their funding promptly for both CDBG and General Fund monies. Staff provide technical assistance to service providers, helping them review budgets and identify eligible CDBG expenditures that may not be fully utilized. City staff works with the public service providers on updating their budget and allowing them to create a spending plan to maximize the use of their CDBG funding while maintaining program compliance.
Agenda Item No. 5.1
City Council Staff Report Page 2 of 7 September 23, 2025 Agenda Item No. 5.1
City Council Staff Report Page 3 of 7 September 23, 2025 Table 2: Overview of PY24 CDBG and General Fund Expenditures - Public Service Providers
Organization Program Funding
Source
Grant
Amount
Grant
Expenditure
Amount
# of Union
City Residents
Served
City of
Fremont
Senior Support
Services
CDBG $10,000.00 $10,000.00 27
ECHO Fair Housing,
Tenant/Landlord
Counseling
CDBG $10,000.00 $10,000.00 129
Union City
Family Center
General Social
Services
CDBG $32,000.00 $32,000.00 1,657
Safe
Alternatives to
Violent
Environment
(SAVE)
Crisis
Intervention for
Domestic Abuse
Survivors
CDBG $10,000.00 $7,800.32 59
Spectrum
Community
Services
Senior Meals
Services
CDBG $12,000.00 $11,250.00 147
CDBG Subtotal $74,000.00 $71,050.32 2,019
Organization Program Funding
Source
Grant
Amount
Grant
Expenditure
Amount
# of Union
City
Residents
Served
Centro de
Servicios -
Decoto
General Social
Services
General
Fund
$145,000.00 $145,000.00 22,279
Community
Resources for
Independent
Living
Housing and
Independent
Living Skills
General
Fund
$10,000.00 $9,850.00 52
ECHO
Housing
Fair Housing,
Tenant/Landlord
Counseling
General
Fund
$20,000.00 $20,000.00 *
Immigration
Institute of the
Bay Area
Legal Services
for Immigrants
General
Fund
$10,000.00 $10,000.00 73
Legal
Assistance for
Seniors
Legal Services General
Fund
$10,000.00 $8,386.09 18
Safe
Alternatives to
Violent
Environment
(SAVE)
Youth Services
Program
General
Fund
$5,000.00 $5,000.00 1,297
Agenda Item No. 5.1
City Council Staff Report Page 4 of 7 September 23, 2025 SOS Meals on
Wheels
(formerly LIFE
Eldercare)
Senior Meals
services
General
Fund
$15,000.00 $15,000.00 135
Tiburcio
Vasquez
Health Center
Health Center General
Fund
$20,000.00 $20,000.00 865
Spectrum
Community
Services-Fall
Prevention
Fall Prevention
Program
General
Fund
$10,000.00 $10,000.00 28
Spectrum
Community
ServicesSenior Meals
Senior Meals
services
General
Fund
$3,000.00 $3,000.00 *
Union City
Family Center
General Social
Services
General
Fund
$3,000.00 $2,370.71 *
General Fund Subtotal $251,000.00 $248,606.80 24,747
*Note: These vendors were awarded both CDBG and General Fund monies. To avoid double-counting, the “number of Union City residents served” is included in the CDBG funding table listed above.
Microenterprise Assistance
The City spent $19,935.02 in PY24 to support the Community Child Care Council (4Cs).
They provide microenterprise assistance in the form of delivering business support, education, technical assistance, and incentives to help residents launch and operate inhome family childcare businesses. The program was able to assist eight (8) low-income, in-home childcare providers.
The provider was able to submit all of its reimbursement requests on time this year and has continued to work with staff on its invoice submissions and reporting. Although the service provider was not able to expend the remainder of its CDBG award, $64.98, this is considered an anomaly as they have consistently expended their full award every program year.
Housing Rehabilitation
The City expended $65,392.05 in PY24 CDBG funds to implement the City’s Housing Rehabilitation Program, which provides repair and rehabilitation grants to low-income homeowners. The City contracts with Alameda County through its Healthy Housing Services program, which provides the services for the Minor Home Repair Program. This year, the program provided 18 home repair grants. Rehabilitation projects included:
installation of shower grab bars, repair of subfloors in bathrooms and bedrooms, replacement of existing toilets with ADA-compliant toilets, installation of smoke alarms, repair of sealing around windows, repair of front steps, partial roof repair, and replacement of a water heater. The average cost of the repair per home was $3,633.
Agenda Item No. 5.1
City Council Staff Report Page 5 of 7 September 23, 2025 The City has been working with new Alameda County staff at Healthy Homes, as there has been recent staff turnover, to ensure the timely submission of invoices. County staff have responded positively, submitting timely invoices and almost entirely expending their CDBG award. Due to the nature of the program, it takes some time to complete the application and approval process for rehabilitation work, as well as to gather the necessary paperwork from residents. City staff will continue to work with the service provider to ensure that they can utilize their funding allocation fully. Staff look forward to the continued progress of this program as it helps many low-income senior residents to maintain and stay in their homes safely.
Public Facilities
Fred Castro Park Improvement Project
The City started the improvements to Fred Castro Park, which will include the replacement of the play equipment, rehabilitation of landscaping, replacement of fencing along the perimeter of the park, repair of pedestrian pathways, including resolving nonADA compliant grades, and lighting upgrades. The City spent $104,317.62 in CDBG funds for the purchase and installation of the play equipment. The project is estimated to be completed by Fall 2025. The use of CDBG funds to purchase equipment during the rehabilitation process is the most efficient way of utilizing funding and being able to meet the CDBG timeliness deadline for the program year.
Charles F. Kennedy Park Improvement Project
The City spent $148,303.00 in CDBG funds to support the Kennedy Park Project. Funds were spent on design work for the first phase of improvements, focusing on the renovation of the parking lot, including asphalt resurfacing. Design work included the creation of construction drawings and related preliminary engineering work. Other CDBG funds spent in PY24 included tree maintenance, irrigation system repair, and the purchase of wood fiber that will be used for the play area. The parking lot portion of the project is on schedule to begin work by the beginning of 2026. The rest of the rehabilitation of the park includes landscaping and irrigation replacement, repair and modification of pedestrian pathways to rehabilitate damaged asphalt and resolve non-ADA compliant grades, rehabilitation, and modification of the existing picnic area and park surface, incorporation of ADA compliant benches, modification of pedestrian access points to the park, miscellaneous improvements to Kennedy Center outdoor café amenities and the Teen Center building.
The expenditures associated with these projects resulted in the City expending adequate CDBG funds in order to allow the City to meet its timely expenditure deadline. The CDBG timeliness deadline occurs every year, 60 days prior to the end of the program year, and requires grantees to expend adequate CDBG funds to ensure the balance is no greater than one and one-half (1.5) times its annual allocation.
Agenda Item No. 5.1
City Council Staff Report Page 5 of 7 September 23, 2025 Agenda Item No. 5.1
City Council Staff Report Page 6 of 7 September 23, 2025 HOME Funding
Tenant-Based Rental Assistance
Union City allocated some of its HOME funds from the Alameda County HOME Consortium to Fremont’s Stay Housed Program, which is a Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) program that assists individuals and families in securing and/or staying housed by providing them with rental subsidies. This program offers rental assistance for up to 24 months to low-income families at risk of homelessness, helping them with long-term housing options. The program also enrolls participants in a selfsufficiency program to help achieve long-term financial stability.
The program was able to support three Union City families this year. Due to a large client caseload, the Fremont staff is in the process of preparing an invoice for submission, since it could not be submitted during the program year. Due to the delay, these expenditures will be reported in next year’s CAPER report. Also, due to this large caseload, the program was not able to expend all of the funds allocated by Union City. City staff is in conversation with Fremont staff to better understand where we can provide additional support to their team to help get more Union City clients into the program.
In the PY24 Annual Action Plan, staff reduced the HOME allocation to the TBRA program to reflect the level of participation for City residents in the program as well as to provide funding for the City’s new Homekey Scattered Site Program, which provides supportive housing for residents experiencing homelessness. Staff is currently working with its program partner, Bay Area Community Services (BACS), to help review applications and ensure candidates are a good fit for the program. The City was not able to expend funds in PY24 on this program due to the standard agreement with State HCD being finalized in late 2024, which was later than anticipated. The State HCD Homekey program has mandatory disbursement regulations that require that State HCD Capital Expenditure funds be fully expended before other funding sources. This meant that all State HCD funds needed to be drawn first, prior to any local funding that was allocated to the project, to meet the expenditure deadline. It is anticipated that PY24 funds will be expended by the end of 2025.
CARES Act CDBG Funds
Road to Recovery Small Business Assistance Program
In 2021, the City allocated CARES Act CDBG-CV and CDBG-EN funds to the City’s Road to Recovery Small Business Assistance Program to help businesses that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, the City has assisted 28 businesses for a total of $337,867.07 in grant funds expended, including $50,000.00 in PY24. City staff has faced difficulty disbursing all funds due to businesses not providing the necessary information to complete the application process, including required demographic information and financial documentation confirming no duplication of benefits, as required by HUD.
Additionally, there have been staffing changes with the third-party consultant hired to manage the program. Staff are exploring all options to finalize the utilization of the CARES Act funds' balance before the expenditure deadline at the end of 2026.
Agenda Item No. 5.1
City Council Staff Report Page 6 of 7 September 23, 2025 Agenda Item No. 5.1
City Council Staff Report Page 7 of 7 September 23, 2025 Administration
The City spent $118,335.67 in CDBG funding on administration of both the CDBG and HOME programs, which primarily covered staff costs, consultant support, and incidental supplies.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with the proposed action.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council hold a public hearing on the 2024-2025 CAPER and adopt the attached resolution (Attachment 1) approving the 2024-2025 CAPER (Exhibit A) and authorizing the City Manager to submit the CAPER to HUD.
Prepared by: Francisco Gomez, Housing and Community Development Manager Submitted by: Carmela Campbell, Economic & Community Development Director Attachments
1. Attachment 1: Resolution Approving the 2024-2025 CAPER
2. Exhibit A: 2024-2025 Union City CAPER