The California Department of Housing and Community Development (Department) has announced the availability of approximately $195 million dollars under the SB 2 Permanent Local Housing Allocation Program Formula Component from the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund for assistance to Cities and Counties (as described in Health and Safety Code section 50470 et seq.). This funding provides grants to Entitlement and Non-entitlement Local governments in California for housing-related projects and programs that assist in addressing the unmet housing needs of their local communities. The Cities of Rocklin and Roseville are both defined as Entitlement Communities under HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program and therefore eligible to apply for and obtain designated funds from the program. The Notice of Funding Availability indicates that Rocklin would be eligible for approximately $134,638 in funds in the first program year. The City of Roseville is eligible for approximately $313,366 in year one funds. Funding requests, awards and agreements will be implemented on a 5 year cycle.
The funds can be used for a variety of activities, however, due to limited staffing, the City of Rocklin does not have the programs in place or staff availability to develop a range of programs and administer the funds. However, it would also be unfortunate to not provide financial support to the south Placer area and to leave the funds unclaimed and have them revert back to the State for distribution elsewhere. The guidelines for the program allow agencies to partner with other entities to acquire and administer the funds. The City of Roseville has indicated that they intend to apply for the funds allocated to their agency for use in a program that they already have in place for Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing activities and that they would be willing to submit a joint application on behalf of Rocklin and Roseville. Under this scenario, the City of Roseville would administer the funds allocated to both agencies and ensure that they would be utilized in the south Placer area.
This arrangement would require Rocklin City Council approval of an Agreement with the City of Roseville.
Discussion:
The Agreement has been crafted to narrowly define how the funds will be used (i.e., Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing) and grant authority to the City of Roseville to administer the funds on Rocklin’s behalf. It also includes a provision for staff from the City of Rocklin’s Housing Division to participate on the Review and Ranking Committee that annually analyzes funding requests submitted by various non-profits and other entities. This Committee ultimately provides recommendations to the Roseville City Council regarding the issuance of grant awards. This provision will ensure that Rocklin has direct input on use of the funds.