Title
Amendment to the Interlocal Agreement between the City of Gainesville and Alachua County to Operate a Rental Assistance Program (B)
This item requests City Commission approval to amend an Interlocal Agreement with Alachua County to reprogram unencumbered funds from the Rental Assistance Program. The City’s unencumbered funds from the Rental Assistance Program will be reallocated to the GNVCares for Neighbors Initiative.
Explanation
Each year the City receives funding from the State through the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) Program. Consistent with SHIP Program rules, the City uses this funding for several programs that preserve and increase access to housing for very low, low and moderate income households. These programs include Down Payment Assistance, Home Repair, Mortgage Foreclosure Intervention, Counseling and Disaster Assistance.
In 2016, SHIP Program rules were amended to also allow Cities and Counties to use up to 15% of each year’s allocation for Rental Assistance Programs that work to reduce homelessness. In response to the amended SHIP Program rules, the City of Gainesville and Alachua County formed a funding partnership authorized through an interlocal agreement to implement a Rental Assistance Program. Consistent with the interlocal agreement, the Rental Assistance Program is housed in, and staffed by, the County’s Community Support Services Department.
With the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic, both the City and County reviewed current and future budgets to identify funds that could be available to mitigate the impacts of this emergency. Review of the Rental Assistance Program indicated that, due to social distancing requirements, a portion of the funds budgeted for the current Fiscal Year could not be spent within the time period required by the SHIP Program. In addition, the State has specifically allowed Cities and Counties to reprogram SHIP Funds to address the COVID-19 emergency.
As proposed, the amendment to the interlocal agreement will simply reduce the City and County SHIP Program funding levels for the Rental Assistance Program to the amount already committed. That change would allow the City to reprogram $51,000 from the Rental Assistance Program to the GNVCares About Neighbors Program.
Fiscal Note
The City’s SHIP Program Rental Assistance allocation for FY 2017/2018 was $84,000. Based on SHIP Program rules, that money must be spent by June 30, 2020. Currently, however, only $33,000 has been spent or encumbered. Approval of the proposed amendment will facilitate moving the remaining $51,000 to the GNVCares for Neighbors Program. These funds will be included in the total SHIP Program funding of $556,000 that was reprogrammed to the GNVCares for Neighbors, as approved by the City Commission on April 23, 2020, File #191154.
Recommendation
The City Commission authorize the Mayor to execute an amendment to the Interlocal Agreement between the City of Gainesville and Alachua County for the Rental Assistance Program, subject to review by the City Attorney as to form and legality.