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Home My WebLink About10/04/2011, PH1 - CONSIDERATION OF THE HUMAN RELATION COMMISSION'S RECOMMENDED PRIORITIES FOR THE 2012 COMMUNITY DEVE C council M ft ICA Itm N O j acEnba nEpout CITY O F SAN LUIS O B I S P O FROM: Kim Murry, Acting Community Development Director 4A Prepared By: Tyler Corey, Housing Programs Manager SUBJECT: CONSIDERATION OF THE HUMAN RELATION COMMISSION'S RECOMMENDED PRIORITIES FOR THE 2012 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) AND GRANTS-IN-AID (GIA) PROGRAMS. RECOMMENDATION As recommended by the Human Relations Commission, approve Community Development Block Grant and Grants-In-Aid funding priorities for 2012. DISCUSSION Background The City's annual Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) review process provides Council and the public with an opportunity to provide early input in the grant award process. Establishing funding priorities is the first step in the process, which helps to maintain an open, inclusive and fair grant application process. The Human Relations Commission (HRC) is the advisor to the Council on funding priorities and funding recommendations. The four steps in the CDBG review process include: 1. HRC hosts a "Needs Workshop": The HRC hosts a public hearing to inform the public about upcoming funding amounts and how to apply for grants, to hear community views on grant funding needs, and to recommend funding priorities (held on September 7, 2011). Attachment 1 contains the draft minutes from this hearing. 2. Council priority-setting hearing: Council holds a public hearing to set CDBG and GIA funding priorities. This is scheduled for October 4, 2011. 3. CDBG applications hearing: HRC holds a public hearing to review CDBG applications in light of the adopted funding priorities and forwards its funding recommendations to the County for Program Year 2012 (scheduled for December 7, 2011). 4. CDBG Program hearing: After the County releases the Draft One-Year Action Plan Council holds a public hearing; approves the City's 2012 CDBG Program; and forwards its recommendation to the Urban County for inclusion in the final One-Year Action Plan (tentatively scheduled for March 6, 2012). PH1-1 C . O Consideration of the HRC's Recommended Funding Priorities for 2012 Page 2 On September 7, 2011, the HRC completed the first step by holding its combined GIA and CDBG community needs hearing. An audience of about 15 persons attended the hearing and eight speakers addressed a wide variety of community needs. The testimony provided indicated to the Commission and staff that difficult economic conditions were continuing to drive an increase in service needs. Representatives from non-profits who spoke pointed to an increase in demand for services including emergency shelter, transitional housing, hunger prevention, child care, affordable housing and social programs, while funding at the state and local level has significantly decreased. In addition, donations are lower than normal as so many in the community are experiencing lower income due to job loss, furloughs, or other economic hardships. The increase in demand along with a decrease in donations and grant funding has strained providers' ability to deliver core services. The service providers stressed the importance of the GIA and CDBG programs and encouraged the HRC to continue its support. HRC Recommended CDBG Funding Priorities for 2012 The current 2011 CDBG funding priorities are: 1. Develop and enhance affordable housing for low and very-low income persons. 2. Emergency and transitional shelter, homelessness prevention and services. 3. Education concerning and/or removal of architectural barriers for the disabled and elderly. 4. Economic development (to include seismic retrofit, economic stability, low and moderate income jobs). After discussion of the current economy and testimony provided by the public, the Commission decided to re-order priorities to emphasize the current need for support of CAPSLO's new homeless services campus as well as job training and support for the unemployed. The HRC is recommending the following ranked priorities for 2012 CDBG funding: 1. Emergency and transitional shelter, homelessness prevention and services. 2. Develop and enhance affordable housing for low and very-low income persons. 3. Economic development (to include seismic retrofit, economic stability, low and moderate income jobs). C 4. Promote accessibility and/or removal of architectural barriers for the disabled and elderly. The priorities adopted by Council set the framework by which the HRC reviews grant applications and recommends funding choices to the Council. Generally, most applications for CDBG funds fit intuitively within one of the listed categories. PH1-2 C Consideration of the NRC's Recommended Funding Priorities for 2012 Page 3 HRC Recommended GIA Funding Priorities for 2012 The HRC also reviewed GIA funding priorities and decided to make minor modifications to the priorities. In addition, HRC requested community input on whether the GIA funding priorities should be ranked. The current priorities are shown below. The list is bulleted instead of numbered specifically because the HRC does not rank these recommended funding priorities. • Homeless prevention including supportive services and transitional housing • Hunger prevention • Supportive health services (including mental health) • Services for seniors and/or people with disabilities • _ Supportive services for youth; especially targeted to youth at risk After hearing public testimony, the Commission recommended minor language modifications to several of the bulleted priorities to clarify intent. Based on community input, the Commission unanimously agreed to not rank these funding priorities in order to allow maximum flexibility when making recommendations in response to the applications.received. The revised list for the 2012 GIA grants consideration is shown below: • Homeless prevention including supportive services and transitional housing • Hunger and malnutrition prevention • Supportive physical and mental health services • Services for seniors and/or people with disabilities • Supportive services for youth and their development; especially targeted to youth at risk Next Steps The next step in the CDBG program cycle is for the Council to consider the NRC's recommendations and to affirm or revise the City's CDBG and GIA funding priorities. This step is important because these priorities will guide the HRC's actions when it reviews grant applications. These priorities will also guide Council's final funding decisions when it considers CDBG and GIA funding recommendations on March 6 and June 6, 2012, respectively. FISCAL IMPACTS Decisions made regarding priorities will affect how CDBG and GIA applications are evaluated and chosen for support. The City of San Luis Obispo receives CDBG funds through the County allotment and, while this does not directly impact the general fund, to the extent that projects can be funded through CDBG, they are not otherwise requesting money from the City's general fund. The City does designate a portion of general fund monies for the GIA program and the priorities PH1-3 O O Consideration of the NRC's Recommended Funding Priorities for 2012 Page 4 expressed by the Council will influence how those grants will be awarded. Establishing priorities . has no immediate fiscal impact but can be helpful in allocating the CDBG and GIA funding regardless of the amount. ALTERNATIVES 1. The Council may modify the proposed funding priorities. 2. The Council may continue consideration of funding priorities. Direction should be given to staff regarding additional information needed to make a decision on priorities. This alternative is not recommended because the deadline to submit a request for 2012 CDBG funds ends on.October 24, 2011, and applicants to the program benefit from knowing the City's funding priorities in advance. ATTACHMENT HRC Draft Meeting Minutes from 9-7-11 TACommunity Development\CDBG\CDBGCCfundingprioritiesI2.doc PHI-4 i Attachment. , HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION (HRC) MINUTES REGULAR MEETING September 7, 2011 5:00 P.M. 990 Palm St— Council Chambers CALL TO ORDER: 5:00 PM PRESENT: Chairperson: Charlene Rosales Commissioners: Ronald Tilley, John Rollefson, Hillary Trout ABSENT: Vice Chairperson: Louise Matheny, Commissioner: Norie Placak . STAFF PRESENT: Greg Zocher, Human Resources Manager; Tyler Corey, Housing Programs Manager CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES: ACTION: Moved by Tilley/Trout to approve the minutes of August 3, 2011 as amended; motion carried 3:0 (Rosales abstained). PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment. BUSINESS ITEMS Item 1. REVIEW 2010-2011 GRANTS IN AID YEAR END REPORTS (ROSALES) Chairperson Rosales and Commissioners Trout and Rollefson summarized the 2010-11 year-end reports and were complimentary of the programs. Item 2. OVERVIEW OF THE 2011-12 GRANTS IN AID AND CDBG PROCESS (ZOCHER/COREY) Presentation given by Zocher/Corey. Item 3. TESTIMONY FROM M THE PUBLIC REGARDING HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICE NEEDS FOR RESIDENTS OF THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBIS_ PO (ROSALES) PH1-5 Attachment . Chairperson Rosales opened the item to Public Testimony. ACTION: Moved by Rosales/Trout to adopt the following non-ranked Grants-In-Aid funding priorities;motion carried 4-0. ■ Homeless prevention including supportive services and transitional housing • Hunger and malnutrition prevention ■ Supportive physical and mental health services ■ Services for seniors and/or people with disabilities ■ Supportive services for youth and their development; especially targeted to youth at . risk ACTION: Moved by Rosales/Rollefson to adopt the following ranked Community Development Block Grant funding priorities; motion carried 4-0. 1. Emergency and transitional shelter, homelessness prevention and services. 2. Develop and enhance affordable housing for low and very-low income persons. 3. Economic development (to include seismic retrofit, economic stability, low and moderate income jobs). 4. Promote accessibility and/or removal of architectural barriers for the disabled and elderly. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS There being no further business to come before the HRC, Rosales adjourned the HRC meeting at 6:45 p.m. to the regular meeting scheduled for Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. in the Council Hearing Room at 990 Palm St. Respectfully Submitted, Greg Zocher, Human Resources Manager PH1-6