DATE: March 12, 2019
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Delfino E. Neira, Director, Department of Social Services
SUBJECT: Substantial Amendments to the County Annual Action Plans for Program Years 2012-2016 and 2018
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Conduct public hearing to receive and consider testimony from citizens on proposed Substantial Amendments to 2012-2016 and 2018 Annual Action Plans.
2. Approve the Substantial Amendments to the County Annual Action Plans for Program Years 2012-2016 and 2018.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended actions will allow the County to comply with the Citizen Participation Plan requirement to ensure citizen participation and consultation. Approval will provide additional homeless services using reallocated Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds with no Net County Cost. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
There are no viable alternative actions. Should your Board elect not to approve the recommended actions, the additional homeless services will not be provided and the reallocated ESG funds will be recouped by HUD.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. The $173,766 in reallocated funds will be available for homeless services in Fresno County through August 31, 2019. There is a dollar for dollar match that is required for the reallocated funds that will be provided by the selected subrecipients. Sufficient appropriations are included in the FY 2018-19 Adopted Budget for the Department of Social Services, Org 5610, and will be included in the FY 2019-20 Requested Budget.
DISCUSSION:
As required by HUD, the County composes an Annual Action Plan outlining the activities that will be provided with the annual award of various HUD grants, including ESG. Additionally, as required by HUD the Department receives recommendations from the Fresno Madera Continuum of Care on an annual basis to determine what activities are lacking in the community and whether they could be fulfilled using ESG funds. Through this collaboration, the Annual Action Plan is developed and ESG funds are used to meet the needs of the community by providing services to house homeless individuals as quickly as possible.
Due to the ever-changing nature of homeless services, some of the ESG activities included in the Annual Action Plans for 2012 through 2016 were not provided, while other activities not included in the plan, were provided to the community during this time. The Annual Action Plans for 2012 through 2016 are being amended to comply with the ESG Citizen Participation Plan to reflect the actual services provided during this time. Additionally, due to time constraints and contractual obligations on the ESG funding, $173,766 went unspent during this period. HUD has approved reallocation of these funds to be used by August 31, 2019.
The 2018 Annual Action Plan is also being amended in accordance with the ESG Citizen Participation Plan to reflect the addition of the reallocated ESG funds. The reallocated funds will be used for additional ESG homeless activities including emergency shelter, homeless prevention, rapid rehousing, and administration. The reallocated funds will have a short expenditure period due to funding sunset dates set by HUD. Upon approval of the substantial amendments, the reallocated funds will become available and amendments to various agreements will be brought to your Board for approval as appropriate. As required by HUD, the FMCoC has been consulted and is in agreement with this plan.
In the future, substantial amendments to Annual Action Plans will be brought before your Board earlier by the Department.
A public notice was published in The Fresno Bee on Friday, February 8, 2019 and the substantial amendment was made available via the County website for public review and comment on Monday, January 28, 2019. As of February 22, 2019, no comments have been received.
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Substantial Amendments to County Annual Action Plans for Program Years 2012-2016 and 2018
CAO ANALYST:
Sonia M. De La Rosa