Title
FY 2008 HOME Community Housing Development Organization Funding (NB)
The purpose of this item is to approve additional HOME Community Housing Development Organization funding in the amount of $28,032 for the Neighborhood Housing & Development Corporation.
Explanation
On July 26, 2007, the City Commission approved the allocation of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) funds for various local programs, including programs administered by nonprofit community organizations. At the time, the City had not received sufficient requests for the HOME "Community Housing Development Organization" (CHDO) funding category. The HOME Program requires that a minimum of 15% of the base grant received by a grantee must be allocated for qualified CHDO projects. In the case of the City's FY 2008 HOME grant, we needed to allocate at least $128,032 for CHDO projects. Since only $100,000 could be allocated at the time, due to a lack of qualified proposals, $28,032 was held in reserve to be readvertised.
Staff readvertised the additional $28,032 in October 2007, and received a single proposal from the Neighborhood Housing & Development Corporation (NHDC). NHDC proposed to use these funds to expand its homeownership program, currently funded at $100,000, that involves building or substantially rehabilitating homes in the Gainesville city limits to be sold to income-eligible homebuyers. The additional funds will assist one or two houses. Staff has determined that this is a CHDO-eligible activity and that NHDC qualifies as a CHDO under the HOME program.
To date, NHDC has used $34,605 from its original $100,000 FY 2008 HOME CHDO allocation to complete one new home in the North Point at Ironwood subdivision and purchase a house on NE 15 Street to be rehabilitated. Both houses will be sold to income-eligible families.
The NHDC proposal was submitted to the Citizens Advisory Committee for Community Development (CACCD) for review on January 15, 2008. The CACCD concurred with staff's recommendation and recommended to the City Commission that the additional $28,032 be awarded to NHDC.
Fiscal Note
Undesignated funds for this purpose are available in the FY 2008 HOME program (Fund 104) budget.
Recommendation
The City Commission: 1) award an additional $28,032 in HOME Community Housing Development Organization funds to the Neighborhood Housing & Development Corporation; and 2) authorize the City Manager to amend the FY 2008 subrecipient agreement between the City of Gainesville and Neighborhood Housing and Development Corporation to include these additional funds.
Alternative Recommendation A: The City Commission defer action on allocating the HOME Community Housing Development Organization funds.