1.       Briefly describe how the grantee followed its citizen participation plan regarding this proposed substantial amendment (limit 250 words).

The City of Irvine followed the regulations for HPRP funding (posted on HUD’s website) and provided a 30-day review period of the Substantial Amendment by publishing a legal notice on April 9, 2009 in the Orange County Register.  In addition, the City developed a Notice of Funds Available and invited public service agencies to submit applications for HPRP funds.   The City received funding applications from five non-profit organizations.  

On April 9, 2009, a public meeting notice was published inviting the public to attend a Community Services Commission public meeting scheduled for  May 6, 2009.  Also on April 9, 2009, a public hearing notice was published inviting the public to provide comments on the Substantial Amendment and to attend a City Council public hearing on May 12, 2009.

A copy of the 30-day notice in the Orange County Register is attached to this application.  

The notice was posted on the City web-site and sent to local non-profit organizations involved with homeless prevention and assistance programs.   Follow- up measures included phone calls and direct e-mails. 

At the legally noticed City Council public hearing on May 12, 2009, the Substantial Amendment as approved and three public service agencies were recommended for partnership with the City of Irvine in the use of it’s HPRP funds.  Funding amounts were also identified and the Substantial Amendment mailed via Federal Express to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on May 13, 2009. 

2.       Provide the appropriate response regarding this substantial amendment by checking one of the following options:

                   Grantee did not receive public comments.

                   Grantee received and accepted all public comments.

 Grantee received public comments and did not accept one or more of the comments.

3.       Provide a summary of the public comments regarding this substantial amendment. Include a summary of any comments or views not accepted and the reasons for non-acceptance.

Response:   To be completed at the end of the comment period and public hearing on May 13, 2009.

C.  Distribution and Administration of Funds

Reminder: The HPRP grant will be made by means of a grant agreement executed by HUD and the grantee. The three-year deadline to expend funds begins when HUD signs the grant agreement.  Grantees should ensure that sufficient planning is in place to begin to expend funds shortly after grant agreement.

1.       Check the process(es) that the grantee plans to use to select subgrantees. Note that a subgrantee is defined as the organization to which the grantee provides HPRP funds.

 Competitive Process  

 Formula Allocation

 Other (Specify:  ___________________________________________)

2.       Briefly describe the process(es) indicated in question 1 above (limit 250 words).

Response: 

The City conducted a widely publicized Notice of Funding Available (NOFA) process and published notices of the funds and the Substantial Amendment to the 2008 – 09 Consolidated Plan, Annual Action Plan.  Applications were accepted between April 9 and April 16, 2009.  The City received five proposals for the expenditure of HPRP funds.  Applications were evaluated for HPRP program eligibility, administrative costs in proportion to direct assistance and consistency with the City’s Consolidated Plan goals and objectives pertaining to homelessness. The recommendations were forwarded to the Community Services Commission who interviewed applicants, and provided recommendations to the City Council.   The City Council will conduct a legally noticed public hearing to consider the Substantial Amendment at its regularly scheduled public hearing on May 12, 2009.  

3.       Briefly describe the process the grantee plans to use, once HUD signs the grant agreement, to allocate funds available to subgrantees by September 30, 2009, as required by the HPRP Notice (limit 250 words).

Response:  In an effort to expedite the expenditure of HPRP funds, the City has already conducted a competitive Notice of Funding Available process.  Five applications were received and screened for eligibility.  The City Council approved the allocation to of funds to _______partnering non-profit organizations that will quickly distribute the emergency assistance.  As soon as HUD adopts the City’s Substantial Amendment to the Annual Action Plan, the City will prepare contracts and begin the expenditure of funds.

4.       Describe the grantee’s plan for ensuring the effective and timely use of HPRP grant funds on eligible activities, as outlined in the HPRP Notice.  Include a description of how the grantee plans to oversee and monitor the administration and use of its own HPRP funds, as well as those used by its subgrantees (limit 500 words).

Response: 

A) As indicated above, by the time the substantial amendment was adopted by the City Council, a competitive process had already been conducted to allocate HPRP Funds.  As soon as HUD adopts the City’s Substantial Amendment, the City will prepare legally binding contracts. As soon as those contracts are signed, funds may be expended.     

The City will fund non-profit organizations that are best equipped to efficiently and expeditiously administer the distribution of HPRP Funds by providing the following services:

Financial Assistance Programs:

·         Tenant Based Rental Assistance – the program will consist of a declining rental subsidy over a maximum period of 18 months to assist families and individuals to remain housed.

·         Rapid Re-housing Program – This function will meet the needs of homeless families and individuals by appropriately assessing their needs and targeting housing and service interventions based on that assessment.  The program provides short-term or medium-term rental assistance; housing search assistance; time-limited case management; and supportive services to help homeless families and individuals access appropriate housing more quickly.

Housing Relocation and Stabilization Services: 

·         Housing Locater Assistance -  This service will involve the identification of housing opportunities, and the recruitment and outreach to property owners and other housing providers.

·         Intake Assistance – this service will include the establishment and/or enhancement of a centralized call center and the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) intake point for homeless or at-risk families and individuals from homelessness into permanent housing.  Families and individuals are assessed and referred to the appropriate provider for financial assistance and case management.

Data Collection and Evaluation:

·         HMIS support for HPRP implementation, data collection and analysis.

Administration:

·         As allowed, 5% of the funding will be utilized for administrative activities and shared with partnering organizations.

B)         The City will fund organizations with experience providing HPRP –type services for the homeless and persons at risk of homelessness.  In addition, the organizations will be required to have experience administering HUD (or other federal grant funds.

C)        Sub-grantees will be monitored in accordance with HPRP requirements.  The City of Irvine will use its existing CDBG infrastructure and monitoring process to oversee and administer HPRP funds consistent with the policies and procedures described in the FY 2008-09 Annual Action Plan. 

D)        Each HPRP agreement will contain a Scope of Work that will include a grant expenditure plan and service goals (measuring outputs and outcomes).  This plan will be used by staff to track progress made by the sub-grantees.  The City will consider entering into 18 month contracts with sub-grantees with an option to renew for an additional 18 months.  At the end of the initial term, the City will evaluate the goal attainment and expenditure rate of the sub-grantee to ascertain if performance and expenditure goals will be met.  An 18-month term will allow the City a window in which to take corrective action if expenditures appear to be under the required 60% at the end of two years.  If the sub-grantee is on track to meet goals at the end of the initial term, an additional 18-month term may be awarded; however if funds will not be used in the required time period, the City reserve the right to reallocate HPRP funds.

E)         The City will require recipients to utilize the regional Homeless Management Information System (HMIS).  City staff will also ensure that quarterly reports are submitted to HUD and that the Integrated Disbursement and Information System are updated quarterly.

D.  Collaboration

1.       Briefly describe how the grantee plans to collaborate with the local agencies that can serve similar target populations, which received funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 from other Federal agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, HohOMHomeland Security, and Labor (limit 250 words).

Response: 

A) The City is currently a participant in the County of Orange Homeless Coalition, a countywide Continuum of Care and the Orange County Partnership and meets regularly with surrounding jurisdictions.  The Continuum is an umbrella organization that brings together government agencies and community based non-profit agencies and community based non-profit agencies.  Homeless needs are presented on a regional basis by the levels of service that form the Continuum.  Recently, the City participated in the Homeless Prevention Fund Roundtable, a conglomerate of Orange County cities, formed to coordinate efforts to ensure that HPRP funds are properly allocated toward eligible programs and service providers. 

The City also has a program within it’s police department “For Families” which serves as a crises intervention program for households and families seeking shelter.  For Families will provide a link to target populations and housing service providers. 

The City will continue to seek out new opportunities for collaboration for agencies receiving funding under HPRP.

B) To identify collaborative funding opportunities, the City will work with the Orange County Continuum of Care Forum.  The Community Forum is an entity comprised of agencies, individuals, and groups focused on eliminating homelessness in Orange County.  The Community Forum has an open membership – this structure encourages broad and diverse participation.  On average, 100 public and private agencies, attend quarterly meetings.  Approximately 70% of attendees are nonprofit agencies; the balance of attendees represent local, regional, state and federal agencies (e.g. Orange County Department of Education, Health Care Agency, Orange County Workforce Investment Board – all entities that may be direct recipients of sub-grantees of other ARRA funding.

It is noteworthy that the Community Forum is the primary regional planning entity for HUD’s annual Continuum of Care funding competition (Super NOFA). A primary function of the Community Forum is to identify gaps in the regional Continuum of Care and to prioritize these gaps for SuperNOFA funding.  This regional role makes the Community Forum an ideal medium to collaborate with other ARRA program administrators.

2.       Briefly describe how the grantee plans to collaborate with appropriate Continuum(s) of Care and mainstream resources regarding HPRP activities (limit 250 words). 

Response: 

The City of Irvine has been an active participant and will continue to participate in all Continuum of Care meetings and develop strategies to mainstream resources regarding the HPRP activities. 

At the forefront of the regional Continuum of Care process is the Continuum of Care Leadership Cabinet and the Community Forum Collaborative.  The Leadership Cabinet and the Community Forum Collaborative were created to address homeless issues on a comprehensive regional basis.  Key to this purpose is the identification of the resources available throughout the region that can be used to address and reduce homelessness. To this end, they provide leadership and direction for the regional planning process and the marshaling of mainstream resources, primarily in support of the region’s annual SuperNofa Continuum of Care grant application to HUD.  Other regional homeless-related initiatives addressed by the Leadership Cabinet and Community Forum include implementation of the biennial Point-In-Time homeless count, Ten-year Plan to end Homelessness, regional discharge planning efforts with jails, hospitals, and foster care, and implementation of Orange County’s HMIS.

The Community Forum and the Leadership Cabinet have a unique mix of members (comprised of representatives from the Housing and Community Development Commission, citizen representatives from the Housing and Community Development Commission, citizen representatives, representatives from nonprofit homeless service and shelter provides, the County’s Public Health Officer and the County’s Homeless Prevention Coordinator).  Because of this unique mix of members, the Forum and the Cabinet are ideally suited to work in partnership with the City of Irvine to collaborate on HPRP efforts in the most effective and efficient manner.

3.       Briefly describe how HPRP grant funds for financial assistance and housing relocation/stabilization services will be used in a manner that is consistent with the grantee’s Consolidated Plan (limit 250 words). 

Response: The City’s Consolidated Plan specifically identifies the following goal regarding homelessness and will make HPRP funding decisions based on a programs ability to accomplish this goal.   “Prevent homelessness of at-risk families through short-term rental and utility payments to stop evictions.”   The proposed activity to achieve this goal is to provide federal funding to local nonprofit organizations that provide prevention services that enable at-risk families to remain in their homes and maintain self-sufficiency.  

E.   Estimated Budget Summary

HUD requires the grantee to complete the following table so that participants in the citizen participation process may see the grantee’s preliminary estimated amounts for various HPRP activities. Enter the estimated budget amounts for each activity in the appropriate column and row. The grantee will be required to report actual amounts in subsequent reporting.