DATE: May 21, 2024
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT
Title
Approve the State Department of Housing and Community Development’s Requested Action and Adopt a Resolution Authorizing Joint Application to and Participation in the State Homekey Program for the Project Reclamation Scattered Site Program in a Total Not-To-Exceed Amount of $10 Million
End
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
That the City Council will approve the State Department of Housing and Community Development’s requested modifications and adopt a resolution authorizing joint application to and participation in the State Homekey Program for the Project Reclamation Scattered Site Program in a total not-to-exceed amount of $10 million.
End
SUMMARY
On June 20, 2023, Council adopted Resolution 23-154 authorizing a joint application with Bay
Area Community Services (BACS) and the Cities of Livermore, Piedmont, and Union City for the State Homekey Program to fund the City’s Scattered Site Housing program, called Project Reclamation. As a scattered site program, Project Reclamation involves acquiring multiple single-family homes and converting them to supportive shared housing, bringing housing for those experiencing chronic homelessness into existing residential communities with proximity to services, transport, and social connections.
In addition to applying for State Homekey funding to support Project Reclamation, the City
received a State earmark of $5.4 million for the program as part of the most recent State
budget, Assembly Bill 179. Council adopted Resolution 22-299 on December 6, 2022,
authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute a loan agreement with Bay Area
Community Services for acquisition, rehabilitation, and operations associated with the
scattered site program, using the AB 179 funding.
In November 2023, the City and its co-applicants received notice from the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) that Project Reclamation received a
conditional Homekey award. HCD laid out specific threshold requirements the City and its co-applicants had to meet by February 2, 2024, to be considered for a final award. After
submitting these subsequent materials, HCD staff identified an inconsistency in language used
across the application to refer to BACS and directed city applicants to amend applicable
resolutions, changing references from “Bay Area Community Services” to “Bay Area
Community Services Housing Corporation,” as the Bay Area Community Services Housing
Corporation is the entity that will be making the capital transactions and managing the
properties for Project Reclamation.
On March 5, 2024, Council adopted Resolution 24-035 amending Resolution
numbers 22-299 and 23-154 to address HCD’s feedback and clarify that the loan and Homekey partnership is with Bay Area Community Services Housing Corporation. Furthermore, the resolutions were amended to reflect that Council authorizes the City Manager or her designee to negotiate and execute all documents related to the Homekey program.
On May 8, 2024, HCD staff notified the City that the associated resolutions do not properly name all co-applicants and has requested a new resolution to clarify all applicants participating in the join application to and the participation in the State Homekey Program. This report provides staff’s recommendation in response to the State’s request.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment I Staff Report
Attachment II Resolution