Item3b_FY 2021-22 Draft Action Plan with Attachments — original pdf

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CITY OF AUSTIN 2019 – 2020 2020 – 2021 2021 – 2022 2022 – 2023 2023 – 2024 FY 21-22 ACTION PLAN PREPARED BY Housing and Planning Department (HPD) PO Box 1088 Austin, Texas 78767 DRAFTCity of Austin, Texas Fiscal Year 2021-22 Annual Action Plan Prepared by: City of Austin Housing and Planning Department PO Box 1088, Austin, TX 78767 512-974-3100 www.austintexas.gov/housing DRAFT​ Austin City Council Steve Adler Mayor Natasha Harper-Madison, District 1 Mayor Pro Tem Council Members Vanessa Fuentes, District 2 Sabino “Pio” Renteria, Gregorio “Greg” Casar, ​ District 3 District 4 District 5 Ann Kitchen, ​ Mackenzie Kelly, ​ District 6 Leslie Pool, Paige Ellis, ​ District 7 District 8 Kathie Tovo, District 9 ​ District 10 Alison Alter, Spencer Cronk City Manager DRAFT​ ​ ​ FY 2021-22 Draft Action Plan AP-05 Executive Summary - 24 CFR 91.200(c), 91.220(b) PR-05 Lead & Responsible Agencies – 91.200(b) AP-10 Consultation – 91.100, 91.200(b), 91.215(l) AP-12 Participation – 91.105, 91.200(c) AP-15 Expected Resources – 91.220(c)(1,2) AP-20 Annual Goals and Objectives AP-35 Projects – 91.220(d) AP-38 Project Summary AP-50 Geographic Distribution – 91.220(f) AP-55 Affordable Housing – 91.220(g) AP-60 Public Housing – 91.220(h) AP-65 Homeless and Other Special Needs Activities – 91.220(i) AP-70 HOPWA Goals– 91.220 (l)(3) AP-75 Barriers to affordable housing – 91.220(j) AP-85 Other Actions – 91.220(k) AP-90 Program Specific Requirements – 91.220(l)(1,2,4) Attachment I: Citizen Participation A: Citizen Participation Plan B: Public Notice and Comments Attachment II: Grantee Unique Appendices A: Resale and Recapture Policy B: ESG Program Standards C: Monitoring Plan D: Relocation Policy E: City of Austin Home Sale Price Data F: Funding Summary & Production Table 2 10 12 29 41 48 56 59 81 82 89 93 101 102 106 113 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 1 DRAFTExecutive Summary AP-05 Executive Summary - 24 CFR 91.200(c), 91.220(b) 1. Introduction The City of Austin submits this FY 2021-22 Action Plan as the third of five Action Plans within the FY 2019-24 Consolidated Plan. The following section provides a concise summary of the FY 2021-22 Action Plan. It is anticipated the Austin City Council (Council) will approve the plan on July 29, 2021. The final document will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) no later than August 16, 2021. In FY 2021-22, the City of Austin expects to receive approximately $13.7 million from HUD through four entitlement grants: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG); HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME); Emergency Solutions Grant Program (ESG); and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA). In addition to federal funding from HUD, the City of Austin (City) appropriates local funds to the Housing and Planning Department (HPD), formerly the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department, for affordable housing and community development activities. HUD's guidance regarding the inclusion of non-federal funding sources in a Consolidated Plan and Annual Action Plan is that non-federal sources are to be included if they are reasonably expected to be made available to address the needs outlined in the plan. For this reason, HPD has included the 2018 General Obligation Bond [https://www.austintexas.gov/2018bond] allocation of $53 million. This Action Plan is not intended to confer any legal rights or entitlements on any persons, groups, or entities, including those named as intended recipients of funds or as program beneficiaries. The terms of this Consolidated Plan and Annual Action Plan are subject to amendment and to the effect of applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. Statements of numerical goals or outcomes are for the purpose of measuring the success of programs and policies and do not impose a legal obligation on the City to achieve the intended results. Actual funding of particular programs and projects identified in this plan are subject to completion of various further actions, some of which involve discretionary determinations by the City or others. These actions include HUD approval of this plan; appropriations by the United States Congress and the Austin City Council; reviews and determinations under environmental and related laws; and results of bidding and contracting processes. 2. Summarize the objectives and outcomes identified in the Plan This could be a restatement of items or a table listed elsewhere in the plan or a reference to another location. It may also contain any essential items from the housing and homeless needs assessment, the housing market analysis or the strategic plan. The City’s FY 2019-24 Consolidated Plan establishes funding priorities for the FY 2021-22 Action Plan in the following high priority need areas: Special Needs Assistance; Homeless Assistance; Renter Assistance; OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 2 DRAFTHomebuyer Assistance; Homeowner Assistance; Housing Development Assistance; Other Community Development Assistance. These funding priorities were established based on the housing and community development needs identified through public and stakeholder input while developing the FY 2019-24 Consolidated Plan, the 2019 Housing Market Analysis, a Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI) [http://centraltexasfairhousing.org/], and City Council direction. All the proposed funding priorities will serve very-low, low- and moderate income households in the City of Austin. See Exhibit 1 for a listing of FY 2019-24 Consolidated Plan programs and descriptions. In 2017, the Austin City Council adopted the Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint, a ten-year community plan to align resources, ensure a unified strategic direction, and facilitate community partnerships to help reach the City’s affordable housing goals. In addition, Council adopted Strategic Direction 2023 (SD23) in 2018, which is a three to five-year strategic plan that will guide all City initiatives through a shared vision and six priority Strategic Outcomes: -Economic Opportunity and Affordability: Having economic opportunities and resources that enable us to thrive in our community. - Mobility: Getting us where we want to go, when we want to get there, safely and cost-effectively. - Safety: Being safe in our home, at work, and in our community. - Health and Environment: Enjoying a sustainable environment and a healthy life, physically and mentally. - Culture and Lifelong Learning: Being enriched by Austin’s unique civic, cultural, ethnic, and learning opportunities. - Government That Works for All: Believing that City government works effectively and collaboratively for all of us—that it is equitable, ethical and innovative. In 2018, voters approved $250 million to support an affordable housing general obligation bond program administered by the City of Austin Housing and Planning Department. This substantial increase in resources enabled the Housing and Planning Department to reprioritize and maximize the use of federal funds and further the department’s mission to provide economic opportunities that enable all Austinites to thrive in our community. The realignment of resources is also reflective of feedback received from the community during the community needs assessment period conducted for the FY 2019-24 Consolidated Plan. City of Austin Ordinance 820401-D [http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/edims/document.cfm?id=16928] ("The Austin Housing and Community Development Block Grant Ordinance") dated April 1, 1982, sets forth requirements and provisions for the administration of funds received by the City under the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended, including the assertion that "the primary objectives of community development activities in the City of Austin shall be the development of a viable urban community, including decent housing, a suitable living environment, elimination of slums and blight and expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low- and moderate-income," and that in implementing the above, "the City's general obligation to provide capital improvements to the target areas is not diminished except in extraordinary circumstances. Capital improvements in the target areas OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 3 DRAFTare to be funded through the normal course of City-wide capital improvements." Responsive to this ordinance, infrastructure needs are designated a low priority for Consolidated Planning purposes and will not be funded with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding. Consolidated Plan Priorities Table OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 4 DRAFT3. Evaluation of past performance This is an evaluation of past performance that helped lead the grantee to choose its goals or projects. The City of Austin’s Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Reports (CAPER) indicate a strong track record of setting and meeting goals. Recently, the City’s ability to meet performance measures has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and City staff have worked to adapt to the circumstances. The City continuously evaluates program success and seeks to optimize program delivery in order to assist households with the greatest needs. The most recent on-site reviews by HUD were for the Housing Opportunities with AIDS Program (HOPWA) and the Emergency Solutions (ESG) grants. Additionally, HUD monitored the Environmental Review Process completed by the City for all entitlement grants. The most recent remote monitoring was conducted by HUD for the HOME Tenant Based Rental Assistance program. As a result, City staff and subrecipients received additional program and technical assistance training, and internal program guidelines, policies, and procedures were revised. All these actions were undertaken to improve program effectiveness, management efficiency, and increase staff and subrecipient capacity and performance. While the programs implemented in previous Consolidated Plan years have been successful, the City’s FY 2019- 24 Consolidated Plan priorities were updated to be responsive to community feedback received during the planning process, and to align with the City’s three to five-year strategic plan, called Strategic Direction 2023 (SD23) [https://assets.austintexas.gov/financeonline/downloads/Austin-Strategic-Direction_2023.pdf], and the ten-year Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint [http://austintexas.gov/housingblueprint]. The alignment of the Consolidated Plan with the City’s strategic plan, and affordable housing plan required the City to take an interdisciplinary planning approach by collaborating with internal and external partners to focus federal dollars where the need is the greatest. This ongoing collaboration is fundamental to leveraging non-federal resources to maximize programs that offer the deepest affordability and have a long-lasting and sustainable effect. Collaborative efforts with internal and external stakeholders and the community are discussed further in this section. 4. Summary of Citizen Participation Process and consultation process Summary from citizen participation section of plan. Outreach At this time, the City of Austin continues to operate under modified business operations to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. In observation of local mandates encouraging social distancing, in accordance with the City’s amended Citizen Participation Plan, and with HUD program waivers of certain regulatory OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 5 DRAFTrequirements to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the City continues to use the City of Austin’s online platform (Speak Up Austin) to assist in the collecting of valuable feedback from the public in order to inform the draft Action Plan with the community’s needs and priorities. Additionally, the City is coordinating virtual public hearings before the Community Development Commission and the Austin City Council to also capture public input during the development of the Action Plan. The Community Development Commission advises the Austin City Council on the development and implementation of programs designed to serve low-income communities and the community at large, with an emphasis on federally-funded programs. Through the community needs assessment and public comment periods, information about the Action Plan process, and public notices announcing opportunities for the community to submit feedback were provided in English and Spanish on the Housing and Planning Department and SpeakUp Austin websites, in the City’s public utilities newsletter, Austin Utilities Now, through various media outlets, and HPD’s RSS feed. Additionally, community members had the opportunity to provide feedback during virtual public hearings, via email sent to HPD, postal mail, and phone. More details about the community engagement process are discussed in section PR-10, Consultation and PR-15, Citizen Participation. Community Needs Assessment Period The Housing and Planning Department (HPD) conducted the FY 2021-22 community needs assessment period from March 29, 2021 until April 30, 2021. During this time, the public could give input on community needs and funding priorities via a survey on the Speak Up Austin platform, which was available in both English and Spanish. Notice of the community needs assessment was included in the Austin Utilities Now newsletter, and City of Austin Housing and Planning Department website. Additionally, two virtual public hearings were conducted in this period by the Community Development Commission and City Council to receive input to inform the draft Action. Through the course of this period, nine boards, commissions, and committees received a presentation on the Action Plan process and gave input on what needs and programs should be prioritized, including the Community Development Commission, Equity Action Team, African American Resource Advisory Commission, and the Commission on Seniors. Through the Speak Up Austin webpage, the City received 45 comments in this period, which are included in Attachment 1B of this Action Plan. Draft Action Plan Public Comment Period In accordance with the City’s Citizen Participation Plan as amended, the City conducted a public comment period on the draft Action Plan from May 6, 2021 to June 11, 2021. The draft report was available for comment on the City’s Speak Up Austin website, and on the Housing and Planning Department webpage. Paper copies of the plan were made available at public facilities throughout the City. The public had the opportunity to provide oral comment during virtual public hearings held before the Community Development Commission and City Council. The public was invited to provide feedback OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 6 DRAFTvia email, postal mail, and phone. Three responses were received via Speak Up Austin to the request for feedback on the draft Action Plan. 5. Summary of public comments The community needs assessment for the FY 21-22 Action Plan concluded on Friday, April 30, 2021. City received a total of 45 responses to the community needs survey on the SpeakUp Austin website. The public may find a full overview of the responses in Attachment 1B of this Draft Action Plan. A breakdown of the responses by issues are noted below: ● 21 referenced the need to prioritize affordable/low income housing; ● 19 referenced the need to prioritize services, housing, or temporary shelter for unhoused people; ● 9 referenced the need to prioritize home repairs and infrastructure improvements; ● 3 referenced the need to renovate Rosewood Courts; ● 3 referenced Community First Village as an example for City strategy; and ● 2 referenced the need to support formerly incarcerated individuals with housing and services. In addition, the Austin City Council, throughout the pandemic, receives comment at each City Council meeting highlighting community needs related to the vast relief and recovery underway by impacted households broadly impacted by COVID-19. These issues range from food insecurity; small business assistance; and tenant stabilization services. The draft Action Plan serves to balance a number of community investment recommendations within a continued constrained funding environment among numerous important community needs. The draft Action Plan was made available to the public for review from May 6 to June 11, 2021. During that time, 3 comments were received via the City’s Speak Up Austin website, and 2 comments were received via email. Comments addressed the following topics- ● the need for Action Plan goals for low-income housing construction to align with the Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint ● systemic discrimination against people with disabilities in the housing market and the need for City programs to improve outreach to this population ● support for the redevelopment of low-income housing, particularly the historic Rosewood Courts ● unmet needs for shelter and food access for unhoused communities See Appendix I for copies of all comments received during the community needs assessment and public comment periods. 6. Summary of comments or views not accepted and the reasons for not accepting them All comments and views received on targeted platforms related to the Action Plan needs assessment were accepted. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 7 DRAFT7. Summary The Action Plan is designed to help participating jurisdictions assess their affordable housing and community development needs and market conditions to make data-driven, place-based investment decisions. The consolidated planning process serves as the framework for a community-wide dialogue to identify community needs, resources, and priorities for the City’s affordable housing, community development, homeless, public services, and economic development priorities that align and focus funding from HUD. The Consolidated Plan is carried out through Annual Action Plans, which provide a concise summary of the actions, activities, and the specific resources that will be used each year to address the priority needs and specific goals identified by the Consolidated Plan. Grantees report on accomplishments and progress toward Consolidated Plan goals in the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). Entitlement grants provided through HUD are determined by statutory formulas, and although the City has received additional funding through the formula as a result of its increasing poverty rate, the City is continuing to see financial pressure at the federal level coupled with increased costs in providing services. In light of these facts, the City continues to identify and pursue opportunities to collaborate, which are detailed throughout this plan. This includes identifying opportunities to leverage resources through other planning initiatives and maximizing opportunities for interdepartmental collaboration and intergovernmental coordination beyond jurisdictional boundaries. It is also critical that comprehensive, current data is collected to ensure the most efficient program delivery. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 8 DRAFTOMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 9 DRAFTPR-05 Lead & Responsible Agencies – 91.200(b) 1. Agency/entity responsible for preparing/administering the Consolidated Plan Describe the agency/entity responsible for preparing the Consolidated Plan and those responsible for administration of each grant program and funding source. Agency Role Lead Agency Name AUSTIN Department/Agency CDBG Administrator HOPWA Administrator HOME Administrator AUSTIN Housing and Planning Department; Austin Public Health; Economic Development Department AUSTIN Austin Public Health AUSTIN Housing and Planning Department ESG Administrator AUSTIN Austin Public Health Table 1 – Responsible Agencies Narrative (optional) Housing and Planning Department (HPD), formerly Neighborhood Housing and Community Development, is designated by City Council as the single point of contact for HUD and is the lead agency for the CDBG, HOME, HOPWA, and ESG grant programs. HPD administers the CDBG affordable housing and community development programs and HOME programs. HPD is directly responsible for developing the five-year Consolidated Plan, the Annual Action Plan, and the end-of-year Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) was created in 1979 as a public, nonprofit corporation organized pursuant to Chapter 394 of the Texas Local Government Code. The Austin City Council serves as the AHFC’s Board of Directors. The mission of the AHFC is to generate and implement strategic housing solutions for the benefit of low- and moderate-income households of the City of Austin. Employees of HPD manage the funding and operations of AHFC through an annual service agreement executed between the City and AHFC. Council designates Austin Public Health (APH) to administer the CDBG Public Services, HOPWA, and ESG programs. APH is a nationally accredited Public Health department and works in partnership with the OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 10 DRAFTcommunity to prevent disease, promote health, and protect the well-being of the community with the vision of making Austin/Travis County the healthiest community in the nation. Economic Development Department (EDD) administers the Family Business Loan Program (FBLP) identified under the Small Business Assistance priorities funded with Section 108 funds. Section 108 is a loan guarantee provision of the CDBG Program. The Family Business Loan Program and related lending programs are designed to provide a low-cost financing option to Austin based small businesses seeking to expand and hire that commit to provide employment opportunities to Austin’s low- and moderate-income communities. The Community Development Commission (CDC) advises City Council in the development and implementation of programs designed to serve low- and moderate-income households and the community at large, with an emphasis on federally funded programs. The CDC also oversees the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program managed by Austin Public Health. CSBG regulations require that the CDC consists of 15 members, including representatives from eight geographic target areas: Colony Park, Dove Springs, East Austin, Montopolis, Rosewood-Zaragosa/Blackland, St. Johns, North Austin, and South Austin. The CDC’s eight neighborhood representatives are elected through a neighborhood based process, and all 15 are formally appointed by the Austin City Council. The Urban Renewal Board (URB) consists of seven members appointed by the Mayor, with consent from Council. The URB oversees the implementation of, and compliance with, Urban Renewal Plans that are adopted by the Austin City Council. An Urban Renewal Plan's primary purpose is to eliminate slum and blighting influence within a designated area of the City. Council adopted Resolution No. 971119-34 [http://www.cityofaustin.org/edims/document.cfm?id=49309] on November 19, 1997, declaring the East 11th and 12th Streets Revitalization Area to be a slum and blighted area and designated this area appropriate for an urban renewal project. Subsequently, Council adopted an Urban Renewal Plan. The City of Austin and the Urban Renewal Agency, in the shared interest of completing the Urban Renewal Project, entered into an agreement that identifies each party’s roles and responsibilities for the completion of the revitalization for these two corridors. Consolidated Plan Public Contact Information Consolidated Plan Public Contact Information Katie Horstman Senior Research Analyst City of Austin: Housing and Planning Department P.O. Box 1088 Austin, Texas 78767 katie.horstman@austintexas.gov OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 11 DRAFTAP-10 Consultation – 91.100, 91.200(b), 91.215(l) 1. Introduction To ensure that priority needs are carried out in the most efficient manner, the Housing and Planning Department, Economic Development Department and Austin Public Health (APH) regularly consult with internal and external partners in its administration of affordable housing, economic development, homelessness, and public services programs and activities. Partners include Austin Area Comprehensive HIV Planning Council, Austin Energy, Austin Water Utility, the Commission on Immigrant Affairs, the Commission on Seniors, the Early Childhood Council, and the Economic Development Department. Additionally, the City consults with City boards and commissions and external agencies with missions related to affordable housing and community development. APH’s Homeless Services Division and leadership from the City Manager’s Office are coordinating with national consultants to analyze, support and inform community strategies and services within the homelessness response system. Contracted partners each bring decades of expertise and a nationwide perspective of best practices, innovative approaches, and data-driven decision making to their work with the City of Austin and community partners. A detailed listing of the agencies and organizations consulted, and that participated in the planning of affordable housing, economic development, homelessness, and public services initiatives throughout the year can be found below. Provide a concise summary of the jurisdiction’s activities to enhance coordination between public and assisted housing providers and private and governmental health, mental health and service agencies (91.215(l)) The City of Austin provides funding to, and works closely in partnership with, the Austin/Travis County Continuum of Care (CoC), composed of relevant stakeholders of the Austin/Travis County geographic area. Relevant organizations include nonprofit homeless assistance providers, victim service providers, faith-based organizations, governments, businesses, advocates, public housing agencies, school districts, social service providers, mental health agencies, hospitals, universities, affordable housing developers, law enforcement, and organizations that serve veterans and homeless and formerly homeless individuals. Representatives of the relevant stakeholders compose the Homelessness Response System Leadership Council, the CoC Board, tasked with providing strategic direction to the Austin/Travis County community regarding issues that impact persons experiencing homelessness. The City of Austin’s Homeless Strategy Officer and an Equity Office staff representative hold a standing seat on the Leadership Council. The Leadership Council has appointed the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) as the Collaborative Applicant, HMIS Lead Agency, and Lead Agency of the CoC, to plan and coordinate system efforts. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 12 DRAFTECHO executive leadership participates in planning partnerships with psychiatric stakeholders, criminal justice executives and employment specialists led by Central Health, Austin-Travis County Integral Care, Travis County Public Safety and Justice, and Goodwill Industries. In 2018, the CoC Board and Austin City Council adopted Austin’s Action Plan to End Homelessness [http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=292841] that outlines specific objectives and strategies needed to end homelessness in the community. City and ECHO staff coordinate regularly regarding issues such as affordable housing developments, access to information about affordable housing, fair housing, and homelessness. HPD coordinates with ECHO to administer a contract with the Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) to provide Tenant Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) utilizing HOME funding. This contract provides funding for 85 households experiencing homelessness. The City of Austin completed the recruitment and successful hiring of the City’s Homelessness Strategy Officer in December 2020. The position is pivotal in the coordination between public and assisted housing providers and private and governmental health, mental health and service agencies to address issues related to homelessness prevention and housing individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Describe coordination with the Continuum of Care and efforts to address the needs of homeless persons (particularly chronically homeless individuals and families, families with children, veterans, and unaccompanied youth) and persons at risk of homelessness. Various departments within the City of Austin coordinate closely with the Continuum of Care to provide and coordinate services to those experiencing homelessness. HPD works closely with ECHO, the CoC Lead Agency, to develop ways to incentivize the development of housing units that serve people experiencing homelessness. Through HPD’s competitive Rental Housing Development Assistance (RHDA) program, which provides funding for nonprofit and for-profit affordable housing developers, HPD provides additional points through the standard scoring criteria for developments that dedicate affordable units to people experiencing homelessness. In order to receive the additional points, HPD requires a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the developer and ECHO. The MOU establishes the number of units, the population to be served, the process for filling the units, the monitoring and reporting criteria, among other items. All the referrals to the RHDA CoC units come from the Austin / Travis County’s Coordinated Entry System. HPD also has a contract with ECHO to administer the locally funded Low-Barrier Permanent Supportive Housing Program. This program enables individuals experiencing homelessness who have multiple barriers to housing (including criminal history, eviction history, behavioral health issues, among other challenges) to access housing units in the private market. ECHO has established relationships with private landlords who own Class B and C properties throughout the City of Austin. Landlords agree to reduce their tenant screening criteria and provide below market rent. ECHO provides the eligible tenants OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 13 DRAFTwho have access to intensive support services. HPD pays the rent subsidy up to the applicable Fair Market Rent. APH and HPD staff provide expertise for the development of the annual CoC application through participation on the CoC Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) Independent Review Team. Staff also participate in ongoing CoC stakeholder meetings coordinated by ECHO, the CoC Lead Agency, including the CoC & ESG Committee, Policy and Practice Committee, CoC Rapid Rehousing Workgroup, and the CoC governing board, Leadership Council. Most of the agencies in the community serving homeless individuals are funded by APH, so APH participates in key Continuum of Care planning groups, and other stakeholder meetings. During development of the Consolidated Plan and Annual Action Plan, and throughout the year, members of APH staff in the Social Services Policy Unit and the Contract Management Unit engage with the members of ECHO to gather information that informs decisions on ESG allocations, performance standards, and evaluation outcomes. ECHO, HPD and APH staff also meet regularly to discuss ways to coordinate City and CoC-funding that serves people experiencing homelessness, including data expectations, outcome measures, and written standards for program interventions. Describe consultation with the Continuum(s) of Care that serves the jurisdiction's area in determining how to allocate ESG funds, develop performance standards for and evaluate outcomes of projects and activities assisted by ESG funds, and develop funding, policies and procedures for the operation and administration of HMIS APH and ECHO work together to evaluate outcomes and more closely align CoC and ESG programs. All ESG funded programs enter data into the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and accept referrals for rapid rehousing through the Coordinated Entry system administered by ECHO. HMIS staff analyze data and report progress on ending homelessness to APH and other community entities. In addition, ESG-funded programs are required to submit to the City the outcome measure: percent of case-managed households that transition from homelessness into housing. APH and ECHO partner to ensure that all rapid rehousing programs and shelter programs are entering data into HMIS in a manner that allows system-wide and City outcomes to be measured and evaluated. The City of Austin has taken an active role in supporting a more effective HMIS so that data sourced from the system can inform policy decisions and be used to evaluate program effectiveness. The ESG FY 2020-21 award includes funding for continuation of the Scan Card program at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH)- an emergency shelter which is the first point of entry into the homeless social service system for many of Austin’s adults experiencing homelessness. The City also contributes local funding to support ECHO staff positions. City staff have taken an active role with ECHO in developing coordinated assessment and improving other components of the continuum. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 14 DRAFTDescribe Agencies, groups, organizations and others who participated in the process 2. and describe the jurisdiction’s consultations with housing, social service agencies and other entities See chart on the following page. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 15 DRAFT1 Agency/Group/Organization Austin Home Repair Coalition Agency/Group/Organization Type Housing What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Housing Need Assessment Non-Homeless Special Needs Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? The Austin Housing Repair Coalition (AHRC) is a collaboration of home repair agencies in the Austin area that provide home repairs and other housing-related assistance. The AHRC formed in 2008 to leverage and coordinate diverse funds, resources, and services to ensure low-income homeowners and families enjoy healthy, safe, and energy efficient home environments. HPD staff regularly attend AHRC monthly meetings to strategically collaborate with City departments and various stakeholders in an effort to provide home repair and other housing-related assistance. 2 Agency/Group/Organization Agency/Group/Organization Type Austin Public Health Grantee Department What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Homeless Needs - Chronically homeless Homeless Needs - Families with children Homelessness Needs - Veterans Homelessness Needs - Unaccompanied youth Homelessness Strategy HOPWA Strategy Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? The City Council designates APH to administer CDBG Public Services, HOPWA and ESG programs. HPD and APH meet monthly to discuss the administration of these programs, and to collaborate on the development of the Consolidated Plan, Action Plan, and CAPER. 3 Agency/Group/Organization Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable Agency/Group/Organization Type Regional organization OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 16 DRAFTWhat section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Housing Need Assessment Non-Homeless Special Needs Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? The Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable is a coalition working to promote a community that supports equity for formerly incarcerated persons and individuals with criminal histories. City staff incorporate Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable criteria into the Rental Housing Development Assistance guidelines to help address inequities in housing policy. 4 Agency/Group/Organization Agency/Group/Organization Type BASTA Services - Housing What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Housing Need Assessment Tenants' Rights Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? The goal of BASTA (Building and Strengthening Tenant Action) is to create sustainable and autonomous tenant associations by cultivating leadership in tenant communities. BASTA provides one-on-one guidance and group training in the following areas: outreach methods, facilitation techniques, negotiation strategy, campaign planning, and property research. City staff collaborate with members of BASTA in order to improve programs that address homelessness. 5 Agency/Group/Organization Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs) Agency/Group/Organization Type Housing Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDO) What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Housing Need Assessment Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? The City has certified four CHDOs whose missions are to create and retain affordable rental units for low- and moderate-income households, and low-income persons with special needs. The City regularly consults with the Blackland Community Development Corporation, Accessible Housing Austin (AHA!), Blackshear Neighborhood Development OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 17 DRAFTCorporation, and Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation to provide affordable housing units throughout Austin. 6 Agency/Group/Organization Commission on Immigrant Affairs Agency/Group/Organization Type Board/Commission What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Housing Need Assessment Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? The Commission on Immigrant Affairs advises Council on issues of common concern to immigrants, particularly in the areas of health and human services, education, and the demographic makeup of the Austin immigrant community. APH provides staffing support to the Commission, and regularly receives information on issues affecting the immigrant community in Austin. 7 Agency/Group/Organization Agency/Group/Organization Type What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? Commission on Seniors Board/Commission Housing Need Assessment Homelessness Strategy The Commission on Seniors advises Council on issues related to the senior population in the Austin area; evaluates and recommends programs, policies, and practices that create a positive impact and reduce the burden on seniors; determines the needs of seniors in the Austin community, and advises council regarding these needs; and promotes the contributions of seniors to the cultural, economic, and historical value of Austin. APH provides staffing support to the Commission, and regularly consults with the group on issues affecting the quality of life for Austin's older adults. 8 Agency/Group/Organization Community Development Commission Agency/Group/Organization Type Board/Commission What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Housing Need Assessment Homeless Needs - Chronically homeless Homeless Needs - Families with children OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 18 DRAFTBriefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? Non-Homeless Special Needs Economic Development Household Affordability The Community Development Commission advises the City Council on the development and implementation of programs designed to assist low- and moderate-income Austinites, and the community at large with emphasis on federally funded programs. The Community Development Commission serves as policy advisors and provides oversight and guidance on federally funded initiatives and programs. HPD provides staffing support to the Commission, and regularly consults with the group on issues affecting low- and moderate-income Austinites. 9 Agency/Group/Organization Agency/Group/Organization Type What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Early Childhood Council Board/Commission Housing Need Assessment Non-Homeless Special Needs Economic Development Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? The Early Childhood Council (ECC) makes recommendations to Council for the creation, development, and implementation of programs that promote optimal development for young children; and programs and activities that contribute to the continued development of a system of high-quality early care and education and after-school programs for Austin's children. APH provides staffing support to the ECC, and regularly consults with the group on issues affecting child care and high-quality early education for Austin families with low income. 10 Agency/Group/Organization City of Austin Economic Development Department Agency/Group/Organization Type What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Grantee Department Economic Development OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 19 DRAFTBriefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? Through traditional and equity-based approaches, EDD leads the global business expansion, urban regeneration, small business development, cultural arts, and music efforts for Austin. EDD develops innovative programs that increase the prosperity of all Austinites, Austin's businesses and our diverse communities. The City Council designates EDD to administer CDBG-funded economic development activities. HPD and EDD collaborate on the administration of these programs, and on the development of the Consolidated Plan, Action Plan, and CAPER. 11 Agency/Group/Organization Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) Agency/Group/Organization Type Services-homeless What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Housing Need Assessment Homeless Needs - Chronically homeless Homeless Needs - Families with children Homelessness Needs - Veterans Homelessness Needs - Unaccompanied youth Homelessness Strategy Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? The City of Austin provides funding and works closely in partnership with the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO), who is the CoC Lead Agency, CoC Collaborative Applicant, and the Lead HMIS Agency for local Continuum of Care (CoC)/homeless system. Leadership from City and County Health and Human Services Department attend and participate in voting seats during the monthly CoC governing board, called Leadership Council, meetings coordinated by ECHO. The Leadership Council has replaced the Membership Council and will be the new governing body of TX-503 Austin/Travis County CoC. City staff also serve on the CoC NOFA Independent Review Team and other coordinated activities serving the homeless system. ECHO is an active contributor to the information in the Consolidated Plan, Action Plan and CAPER regarding homeless needs and strategies. City staff coordinate with ECHO to present at CoC committee and workgroup meetings to engage various stakeholders in annual consultation procedures and are used for system planning and reporting updates as needed. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 20 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFT12 Agency/Group/Organization City of Austin Equity Office Equity Action Team Agency/Group/Organization Type Civic Leaders Community Leaders Housing Need Assessment What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? The Equity Action Team (EAT) is a group of community members, community organizations, and city employees that are tasked with providing lived experience and guidance to the Equity Office. EAT is the body responsible for assisting in defining the City's definition of Racial Equity, and the co-creative process that resulted in the City's first Equity Assessment Tool. In addition to providing guidance and feedback, the group receives updates from City Departments, and a space to discuss major policy decisions that will impact the community. 13 Agency/Group/Organization Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) Agency/Group/Organization Type PHA What section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Public Housing Needs Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? HACA is a partnering agency in the development of the Regional Analysis of Impediments, Housing Market Analysis, and Consolidated Plan. City and HACA staff coordinate regularly regarding issues such as affordable housing developments, access to information about affordable housing, fair housing, and homelessness. As one of two Public Housing Authorities serving the City of Austin, input from and coordination with HACA is valuable to address community needs efficiently. 14 Agency/Group/Organization Regional Analysis of Impediments (AI) Working Group Agency/Group/Organization Type Other government - County Other government - Local OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 21 DRAFTWhat section of the Plan was addressed by Consultation? Housing Need Assessment Briefly describe how the Agency/Group/Organization was consulted. What are the anticipated outcomes of the consultation or areas for improved coordination? The Regional AI Working Group meets quarterly to review research findings associated with the regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI), and to advance regional goals that address disproportionate housing needs. The group comprises the Cities of Austin, Round Rock, Pflugerville; Travis and Williamson Counties; Housing Authorities of Austin, Georgetown, Round Rock, Taylor, and Travis County. Table 2 – Agencies, groups, organizations who participated Identify any Agency Types not consulted and provide rationale for not consulting No agencies were intentionally excluded from consultation. Other local/regional/state/federal planning efforts considered when preparing the Plan Name of Plan Lead Organization How do the goals of your Strategic Plan overlap with the goals of each plan? The Continuum of Care (CoC) is the local collective networks, institutions, and organizations that provide and coordinate services across the homeless response system, supporting people who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness. The CoC is led by a governing body of stakeholders. The Leadership Council is tasked with the coordination of the response system, and funding and policy decisions. Planning and implementation of action items across the CoC occurs through ongoing and short-term committees, workgroups, and task groups to ensure system collaboration at all service provisions levels. The primary goal of the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is to end homelessness through the efficient coordination of efforts and resources dedicated to those experiencing homelessness. These goals align with the City of Austin Consolidated Plan which includes two prevention objectives: 1) Assist persons experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of becoming homeless; and 2) Assist persons living with HIV/AIDS to achieve stable housing and increase access to medical care and supportive services. The CoC's governing body also Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 22 Continuum of Care Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTpartners with the City to increase equity and leadership opportunities for persons with lived experience of homelessness. Austin's Action Plan to End Homelessness calls for a systematic approach to ending homelessness. The plan specifically outlines implementation of five system elements that, combined, will work effectively in ending homelessness for individuals and families, while making the community stronger for all. Those system components are 1) outreach services and shelters, 2) addressing disparities, 3) providing housing and support services, 4) strengthening our response system, and 5) building wide community commitment from both the public and private sector. This Action Plan itself seeks to mobilize public and private resources in order to fill system gaps used to end homelessness. Progress is captured through annual reports (e.g., Needs and Gaps Report, Racial Disparities Report) that support progress within the 5 Action Plan components. The action plan is used to strategically coordinate system interventions to end homelessness and ensure that funding sources are aligned to effectively and efficiently meet community needs. The City of Austin's Age Friendly Action Plan was published in 2017 and ultimately adopted as an amendment to Imagine Austin [http://www.austintexas.gov/imagineaustin]. The Age Friendly Action Plan includes three goals related to affordable housing, including "Expand and promote the development of diverse housing options that are affordable for seniors of different income levels," "Support and expand affordable housing options for seniors," and "Expand assistance for affordable home repair, maintenance and modification for seniors of all income levels." These goals directly align with the Strategic Housing Blueprint [http://www.austintexas.gov/housingblueprint] and the priorities and investment categories detailed in the Consolidated Plan. On June 15, 2012, City Council voted unanimously to adopt Imagine Austin, the City's comprehensive plan for Austin's future. The plan includes implementation guidelines and the following priority programs: 1) a compact, connected Austin with improved transportation options; 2) sustainably managed water resources; 3) investments in Austin's workforce, education systems and entrepreneurs; 4) protection of environmentally sensitive areas and integration of nature into the City; 5) investments in Austin's creative economy; 6) household affordability throughout Austin (HPD is lead in implementing the Household Affordability priority program and Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 23 Austin's Action Plan to End Homelessness Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) Age Friendly Action Plan City of Austin Commission on Seniors Imagine Austin City of Austin OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAustin Strategic Direction 2023 City of Austin Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint Housing and Planning Department will continue to partner with other City departments and community entities to guide implementation of Imagine Austin through its strategic plan); 7) creation of a 'Healthy Austin' program; and 8)revision of Austin's land development regulations and processes. The Austin City Council adopted a strategic direction on March 8, 2018, which will guide the City for the next three to five years. AustinStrategic Direction 2023 outlines a shared vision and six priority Strategic Outcomes. Together we strive to create a complete community where every Austinite has choices at every stage of life that allow us to experience and contribute to all of the following outcomes: Economic Opportunity and Affordability: Having economic opportunities and resources that enable us to thrive in our community; Mobility: Getting us where we want to go, when we want to get there, safely and cost-effectively; Safety: Being safe in our home, at work, and in our community; Health and Environment: Enjoying a sustainable environment and a healthy life, physically and mentally; Culture and Lifelong Learning: Being enriched by Austin's unique civic, cultural, ethnic, and learning opportunities; Government That Works for All: Believing that City government works effectively and collaboratively for all of us -that it is equitable, ethical and innovative. Council adopted the Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint which helps align resources, ensures a unified strategic direction, and facilitates community partnerships to achieve this shared vision. The plan identifies funding mechanisms, potential regulations, and other creative approaches the City of Austin should utilize to achieve housing goals--including the creation of 60,000 affordable units over the current decade for households earning approximately $60,000 or less per year--in line with Imagine Austin [http://www.austintexas.gov/imagineaustin]. To meet these goals, City Council identified specific affordable housing goals within each Council district and along transit corridors. The Blueprint also calls for at least 75% of new housing to be located within half a mile of Imagine Austin Centers and Corridors. It also sets a goal for 90% of newly built or preserved affordable housing to be located within 3/4 of a mile of transit service. Putting affordable housing near transit corridors is an important component of increasing affordability. The Blueprint identified five community values to guide the process, including: Prevent households from being priced out of Austin; Foster equitable, integrated, and diverse communities; Invest in housing for OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 24 DRAFTthose most in need; Create new and affordable housing choices for all Austinites in all parts of Austin; and; Help Austinites reduce their household costs. In 2017, Austin Public Health (APH) facilitated the second iteration of the Austin/Travis County Community Health Plan (ww.austintexas.gov/communityhealthplan), a core component of receiving Public Health Department accreditation. APH, in collaboration with local health agencies, completes a comprehensive community health planning initiative consisting of a Community Health Assessment (CHA) and a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). Core agencies include Travis County Health and Human Services, Capital Metro, Central Health, Integral Care, St. David's Foundation, Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White, The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, City of Austin Transportation Department, and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus. Through a collaborative process of assessment and goal prioritization in 2017/2018 community members identified the following as critical community health needs 1) Access to and Affordability of Healthcare, 2) Chronic Disease, 3) Sexual Health (with an emphasis on teenage pregnancy), and 4) Stress, Mental Health and Wellbeing (to include substance use disorder). Currently in its third year of implementation, community service providers throughout the Austin/Travis County area work collectively to address community needs through their action plans and regular workgroup meetings. Opportunity360 allows the City to understand and address community challenges by identifying pathways to greater opportunities using cross-sector data, community engagement and measurement tools. Tools and resources in the platform provide a comprehensive view into a neighborhood's access to basic needs and facilitate a strategic, asset-building approach to community development. The tool is used by the City to determine emerging and high opportunity areas. The City of Austin Housing and Planning Department coordinates updates of the Long-Range Capital Improvement Program Strategic Plan. The Plan is updated on a two-year cycle in cooperation with the Public Works Department, the City of Austin Budget Office, and capital departments. The plan has a 10-year planning horizon and provides the basis for identifying both ongoing capital needs and strategic opportunities for CIP investment over the long term, including Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 25 The Austin/Travis County Community Health Plan Austin Public Health Opportunity360 Enterprise Community Partners Long Range Capital Improvement Strategic Plan City of Austin OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTProject Connect Capital Metro, City of Austin, CAMPO Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice City of Austin and Travis County 2018 CSBG Community Needs Assessment Report Austin Public Health investments in affordable housing. The plan was created to further align the City's CIP investments with the Imagine Austin 30-Year Comprehensive Plan. Project Connect is the vision for the Central Texas high-capacity transit system. Linking activity centers within the fastest growing region in the country, Project Connect aims to connect people, places and opportunities in an easy, efficient way. The vision unites efforts to develop the best solutions for getting around Central Texa and addressing growth challenges. AI goals are part of the five-year Consolidated Plan goals. The Regional Analysis of Impediments, or AI, is a planning process for local governments and public housing agencies to take meaningful actions to overcome historic patterns of segregation, promote fair housing choice, and foster inclusive communities that are free from discrimination. This study was conducted for the Central Texas Region in 2018 and 2019 as a joint effort among three cities, two counties, and five housing authorities. Austin Public Health conducts a Community Needs Assessment every three years in accordance with the requirements of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG). A goal of the 2018 report was to continue delving into the key findings from the 2015 report and identify data-substantiated trends that are affecting Austin families. These trends are population growth, suburbanization of poverty, affordability issues, and racial/ethnic disparities. Another goal was to challenge how poverty is defined and measured. In addition to identifying community needs, community strengths were integrated as part of the assessment because they represent sources of resilience that inform best practices. By examining economic mobility, the core goal is to increase actions toward tackling the causes of poverty, while continuing to provide anti-poverty assistance to alleviate the conditions it creates. The 2021 CSBG Community Needs Assessment Report will be issued later this year. 2020 PHA Annual & Five Year Plan Housing Authority of the City of Austin The 5-Year and Annual Public Housing Agency (PHA) Plans provide a ready source for interested parties to locate basic PHA policies, rules, and requirements concerning the PHA's operations, programs, and services. Each PHA plan informs HUD, families served by the PHA, and members of OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 26 DRAFTthe public, of the PHA's mission, goals and objectives for serving the needs of low-income, very low-income, and extremely low-income families. The Watershed Protection Master Plan is a strategic plan that assesses erosion, flood, and water quality problems in Austin. It also prioritizes and implements effective solutions that address all three of these problems. Solutions include projects, programs, and regulations. This plan is in accordance with HUD's 2017 Broadband and Resiliency Rule. As more guidance regarding this rule is issued by HUD, HPD will continue to incorporate updates through subsequent Action Plans. The City of Austin vision includes every Austinite having an opportunity to be fully engaged in digital society, accessing and using digital and communications technology. The purpose of the plan is to address access and adoption of digital technology, and to serve as a guiding document for providing digital inclusion opportunities in affecting the City's goals to ensure all Austinites are served. This plan is in accordance with HUD's 2017 Broadband and Resiliency Rule. As more guidance regarding this rule is issued by HUD, HPD will continue to incorporate updates through subsequent Action Plans. The Displacement Mitigation Strategy was adopted into the Strategic Housing Blueprint in 2018 to address Austin’s continuing challenge with displacement. The strategy incorporates recommendations from various community studies, reports, and assessments to develop an actionable plan that ensures a short-term impact on displacement. The plan includes 15 displacement mitigation strategies, including incorporating robust tenant protections for all rental properties receiving City support, recalibrating density bonus programs to serve renters at or below 60% MFI, and engaging directly to communities vulnerable to displacement. Watershed Protection Master Plan City of Austin Watershed Protection Department Digital Inclusion Strategy City of Austin Telecommunications and Regulatory Affairs Office (TARA) City of Austin Displacement Mitigation Strategy Housing and Planning Department Table 3 – Other local / regional / federal planning efforts Narrative (optional) The City of Austin works to enhance coordination through interdepartmental, interorganizational, and intergovernmental planning. The City of Austin continues to promote awareness that household affordability and community development challenges are regional, and do not respect OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 27 DRAFTgeopolitical boundaries. Household affordability and unaddressed community development needs can directly or indirectly affect access to public services, education, health and human services, transportation, environmental sustainability, economic development, community vitality, arts and culture. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 28 DRAFTAP-12 Participation – 91.105, 91.200(c) Summary of citizen participation process/Efforts made to broaden citizen participation 1. Summarize citizen participation process and how it impacted goal-setting In FY 2021-22, the City of Austin continued with modified working conditions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. These modifications included holding virtual public hearings in accordance with a HUD program waiver, and receiving community feedback via the SpeakUp Austin [https://www.speakupaustin.org/] webpage designed to keep the community informed about the Action Plan process and receive public input. As part of the community needs assessment, representatives from the Housing and Planning Department presented on the Action Plan and received feedback from various Boards, Committees, and Commissions that represent special populations of the Austin community. In accordance with the City’s Citizen Participation Plan (CPP), a total of four public hearings were held- two by the Community Development Commission and two by the City Council- to receive input on community needs, and feedback on the draft Action Plan. The City made the draft Action Plan available for public comment for 30 days from May 6, 2021 until June 11, 2021, in accordance with the CPP. The community engagement strategy and a comprehensive list of all public comments received during the community needs assessment and public comment period are featured in Attachment I: Citizen Participation. All comments are considered and accepted in the development of the Action Plan. The table below displays detailed information about the steps taken to continue the community engagement process while observing social distancing protocols, and community member participation during the development of the Action Plan. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 29 DRAFTCitizen Participation Outreach Sort Order Mode of Outreach Target of Outreach Summary of response/attendance Summary of comments not accepted and reasons URL (If applicable) 1 Internet Outreach Non-targeted/broad community All comments or views received are accepted. https://www.speakupaustin.or g/ During the community needs assessment period, the Speak Up Austin FY 21-22 Action Plan webpage received 45survey responses. During the public comment period, the Speak Up Austin FY 21-22 Action Plan webpage received 3 comments on the draft Action Plan. Summary of comments received The City developed a unique SpeakUp Austin webpage designed to receive community feedback while observing social distancing protocols. Community members could provide comments about HUD programs during the community needs assessment period and 30 day Public Comment period. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 30 DRAFT2 Internet Outreach Non-targeted/broad community N/A All comments or views received are accepted. https://austintexas.gov/depart ment/housing The City announced information about opportunities to provide feedback about HUD funding through the HPD RSS feed which has a subscriber base of over 900. As part of the community needs assessment, HPD staff gave an Action Plan briefing, answered questions, and received feedback at the ECHO Local Policy and Practice Committee meeting on April 21, 2021. As part of the community needs assessment, HPD staff gave an Action Plan briefing, answered questions, The meeting was attended by ECHO staff, City staff, and community stakeholders who work with policies and practices related to homelessness. The meeting was attended by ECHO staff involved in the system-level 3 4 Virtual Public Meeting Non-targeted/broad community All comments or views received are accepted. Virtual Public Meeting Non-targeted/Broad community All comments or views received are accepted. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 31 DRAFTcoordination to address homelessness. The meeting was attended by Commissioners who have been tasked with advising the city council on issues relating to the quality of life for the City's African American community and recommending programs designed to alleviate any inequities that may confront African Americans in and received feedback at the ECHO Leadership Council meeting on April 5, 2021. Meeting attendees had questions related to funding specifically for addressing homelessness, and grant funding amounts. As part of the community needs assessment, HPD staff gave an Action Plan briefing, answered questions, and received feedback at the African American Resource Advisory Commission meeting on April 6, 2021. Commissioners commented on the 5 Virtual Public Meeting Non-targeted/Broad community All comments or views received are accepted. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 32 DRAFTsocial, economic and vocational pursuits. The meeting was attended by nonprofit representatives in the Austin Housing Repair Coalition - a collaboration of home repair agencies in the Austin area that provide home repairs and other housing-related assistance. City’s emergency rental assistance program, and the need to consider a wider pool of nonprofits for grant dispersion and outreach. As part of the community needs assessment, HPD staff gave an Action Plan briefing, answered questions, and received feedback at the Austin Housing Repair Coalition meeting on April 13, 2021. The Coalition mentioned obstacles nonprofits face to serving communities, the need to increase home repair funding in light of the increasing cost of 6 Virtual Public Meeting Non-targeted/Broad community All comments or views received are accepted. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 33 DRAFTconstruction materials, and the need to assist people who commute into the City to work. As part of the community needs assessment, HPD staff gave an Action Plan briefing, answered questions, and received feedback at the Early Childhood Council meeting on April 14, 2021. The Early Childhood Council asked what new funding will assist families with children, and what considerations are made for focusing development in areas appropriate for raising children. The meeting was attended by members of the Early Childhood Council, which makes recommendations to Council for the creation, development, and implementation of programs that promote optimal development for young children. 7 Virtual Public Meeting Non-targeted/Broad community All comments or views received are accepted. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 34 DRAFTVirtual Public Meeting Non-targeted/Broad community All comments or views received are accepted. 8 9 The meeting was attended by members of the Commission on Seniors, which serves as an advisory board to the council concerning the quality of life for senior citizens in the Austin area and to help ensure older adults are productive, independent, and healthy. The meeting was attended by clinician staff at the Downtown Austin Community Court. As part of the community needs assessment, HPD staff gave an Action Plan briefing, answered questions, and received feedback at the Commission on Seniors meeting on April 14, 2021. The Commission mentioned the need to prioritize the elderly unhoused population, and to prioritize homelessness prevention. As part of the community needs assessment, HPD staff gave an Action Plan briefing, answered questions, and received feedback at the Downtown Austin Virtual Public Meeting Non-targeted/Broad community All comments or views received are accepted. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 35 DRAFTCommunity Court Clinician staff meeting on April 15, 2021. As part of the community needs assessment, HPD staff gave an Action Plan briefing, answered questions, and received feedback at the Housing Authority of the City of Austin Leadership staff meeting on April 15, 2021. The Leadership Team gave feedback on the need for renovations at the public housing facility, Rosewood Courts. 10 Virtual Public Meeting Non-targeted/Broad community All comments or views received are accepted. The meeting was attended by leadership staff at the Housing Authority of the City of Austin. 11 Virtual Public Meeting Non-targeted/Broad community The meeting was attended by members of the Equity Action As part of the community needs assessment, HPD All comments or views received are accepted. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 36 DRAFTTeam, made up of City staff and community members tasked with addressing issues of equity in City systems. staff gave an Action Plan briefing, answered questions, and received feedback at the Equity Action Team meeting on April 17, 2021. The Equity Action Team asked questions relating to how we are reaching target populations, and how decisions are made around development and zoning changes. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 37 DRAFT12 Virtual Public Hearing Non-targeted/broad community No community members provided testimony. All comments or views received are accepted. On April 13, 2021, the Community Development Commission received a presentation from HPD staff, and gave feedback related to the need for more permanent supportive housing, and the need to increase outreach to communities without internet access. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 38 DRAFTVirtual Public Hearing Non-targeted/broad community No community members provided testimony. A public hearing took place in front of the Austin City Council on April 22, 2021 to receive feedback on community needs. 13 Virtual Public Hearing Non-targeted/broad community All comments or views received are accepted. Various community members and stakeholders attended the meeting and voiced comments on the draft Action Plan. A public hearing took place in front of the Community Development Commission on June 8, 2021 to receive feedback on the draft Action Plan. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 39 DRAFT14 Virtual Public Hearing Non-targeted/broad community All comments or views received are accepted. Two people testified at the public hearing to receive feedback on the draft Action Plan. Both speakers emphasized the need to support the redevelopment of the historic low-income apartment complex, Rosewood Courts. A public hearing took place in front of the Austin City Council on June 10, 2021 to receive feedback on the draft Action Plan. Table 4 – Citizen Participation Outreach OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 40 DRAFTAP-15 Expected Resources – 91.220(c)(1,2) Introduction Expected Resources In addition to HUD funding, the City of Austin allocates revenue to the Housing and Planning Department (HPD) for affordable housing and community development activities. HUD's guidance regarding the inclusion of non-federal funding sources in an Annual Action Plan is that non-federal sources are to be included if they are reasonably expected to be made available to address the needs outlined in the plan. In March 2021, the Austin City Council authorized the negotiation and execution of an interlocal grant agreement with the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) for the City to accept funding from ATP to administer and implement Project Connect anti-displacement programs, for the term March 25, 2021 through September 30, 2033, in an amount not to exceed $300,000,000. These dollars will be used for a number of affordable housing programs and initiatives to prevent displacement of Austin communities of color and low income residents in Austin Additional local funds are noted in the FY 2021-22 City of Austin budget, which is expected to be approved by the Austin City Council in August 2021. See Exhibit 1 for a visual depiction of the federal and local allocation process. This plan is not intended to confer any legal rights or entitlements on any persons, groups, or entities, including those named as intended recipients of funds or as program beneficiaries. The terms of this Annual Action Plan are subject to amendment, and to the effects of applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances. Statements of numerical goals or outcomes are for the purpose of measuring the success of programs and policies, and do not impose a legal obligation on the City to achieve the intended results. Actual funding of particular programs and projects identified in this Plan are subject to completion of various further actions, some of which involve discretionary determinations by the City or others. These include HUD approval of this Plan; appropriations by the United States Congress and Austin City Council; reviews and determinations under environmental and related laws; and results of bidding and contracting processes. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 41 DRAFTAnticipated Resources Source of Funds CDBG public - federal Program Uses of Funds Expected Amount Available Year 1 Narrative Description Annual Allocation: $ Program Income: $ Prior Year Resources: $ Total: $ Expected Amount Available Remainder of ConPlan $ Acquisition Admin and Planning Economic Development Housing Public Improvements Public Services Acquisition Homebuyer assistance Homeowner rehab HOME public - federal $7,947,552 $195,000 $0 $8,142,552 $15,133,617 $3,156,803 $900,000 $0 $4,056,803 $7,550,982 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 42 The primary objective of CDBG is the development of viable communities by: Providing decent housing; Providing a suitable living environment; Expanding economic opportunities. Any activity funded with CDBG must meet one of three national objectives: Benefit low- and moderate-income persons; Aid in the prevention of slums or blight; Meet a particular urgent need. The three objectives of the HOME Program are: Expand the supply of decent, safe, sanitary, and affordable housing to very low- and low-income individuals; Mobilize and strengthen the DRAFTHOPWA public - federal Multifamily rental new construction Multifamily rental rehab New construction for ownership TBRA Permanent housing in facilities Permanent housing placement Short term or transitional housing facilities STRMU Supportive services TBRA Financial Assistance Overnight shelter Rapid ESG public - federal $2,099,125 $80,000 $0 $2,179,125 $3,675,947 $669,870 $0 $0 $669,870 $1,339,960 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 43 ability of state and local governments to provide decent, safe, sanitary, and affordable housing to very low- and low-income individuals;Leverage private sector participation and expand the capacity of nonprofit housing providers. The Housing Opportunity for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) Program was established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to address the specific needs of low-income persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families. HOPWA makes grants to local communities, states, and nonprofit organizations. HOPWA funds provide housing assistance and related supportive services in partnership with communities and neighborhoods. Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) program is designed to be the first step in a continuum of assistance to help clients quickly regain stability in permanent DRAFTSection 108 public - federal Economic Development Other public - local re-housing (rental assistance) Rental Assistance Services Acquisition Homeowner rehab Housing Multifamily rental new construction Multifamily rental rehab New construction for ownership $1,000,000 $742,575 $0 $1,742,575 $2,600,000 Table 5 - Expected Resources – Priority Table $53,000,000 $0 $0 $53,000,000 $34,000,000 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 44 housing after experiencing a housing crisis and/or homelessness. Section 108 offers state and local governments the ability to transform a small portion of their (CDBG) funds into federally guaranteed loans large enough to pursue physical and economic revitalization projects. In 2018 Austin voters approved $250 million in general obligation bonds for affordable housing. These funds will be utilized for construction, renovation, and improvements to housing for low-income persons and families, acquiring land interest in land and property necessary to do so; and funding affordable housing programs. DRAFTExplain how federal funds will leverage those additional resources (private, state and local funds), including a description of how matching requirements will be satisfied The City will satisfy its matching requirements for HOME funding through General Obligation (G.O.) Bond Funding and Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Funds. Austin Public Health matches the ESG funding dollar for dollar with general fund dollars that are allocated to homeless services provided to subrecipients OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 45 DRAFTIf appropriate, describe publicly owned land or property located within the jurisdiction that may be used to address the needs identified in the plan 208.16 Acres on Loyola Lane (Colony Park) - Site of the HUD Community Challenge Planning Grant. The site has been master planned and zoned as a Planned Unit Development. The City is in negotiations with the selected developer to enter into a formal Master Development Agreement for the development of the site. The site will include long-term affordability on a minimum of 20% of the total residential units constructed. 5.15 Acres on Tillery Street and Henninger Street -a request for proposal solicitation was released in FY 2020- 21 following robust public engagement. A preferred proposal and development partner was selected by the AHFC Board of Directors and agreements to develop the property with 66 multifamily rental units reserved for low-, very low-, and extremely low-income households have been executed. The project is currently in the early design phase and expected to be completed in FY 2023-24. 6 Acres on Levander Loop/Gardner Road - a request for proposal solicitation was released in FY 2020-21 following robust public engagement. A preferred proposal and development partner was selected by the AHFC Board of Directors and agreements to develop the property with 140 multifamily rental and 26 duplex ownership units reserved for moderate-, low-, very low-, and extremely low-income households have been executed. The project has begun zoning, design, and permitting and is expected to be completed in FY 2023-24. 1.3 Acres at Doris Drive and Hathaway Drive - this property was purchased from Austin Independent School District and is currently in design. The property will include four single-family homes to be sold to households at or below 80% median family income as part of AHFC’s Community Land Trust program. The development will also include two duplex units that will be offered for rent to households at or below 50% median family income. The project will complete the permitting phase in the Spring of 2021. Construction will follow and begin in Fall of 2021. Construction will include the extension of electrical service and water/wastewater service to the project as well as a detention facility. 8.92 acres at Tannehill Lane and Jackie Robinson Street - Public engagement is currently being conducted to inform a Request for Proposal (RFP) solicitation to develop the property with long-term affordable housing. This RFP is anticipated to be released this fiscal year with agreements to develop the property expected to be finalized in FY 2022-23. 3.94 acres at Pecan Park Boulevard - This property was acquired in FY 2020-21 and will be developed with long-term affordable housing. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 46 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFT8.95 acres at West Slaughter Lane - This property was acquired in FY 2020-21 and will be developed with long-term affordable housing. 3.15 acres at Kramer Lane - This property was acquired in FY 2020-21 and will be developed with long-term affordable housing. 8.78 acres at Cullen Lane - This property was acquired in FY 2021-22 and will be developed with long-term affordable housing. 4.93 acres at Menchaca Road - This property was acquired in FY 2021-22 and will be developed with long-term affordable housing 2.99 acres at Convict Hill Road - This property was acquired in FY 2021-22 and will be developed with long-term affordable housing. 0.445 acres at Manor Road - This property was acquired in FY 2021-22 and will be assembled with an adjacent 2.50 acre underutilized parcel currently owned by the City of Austin. This property will be developed with long-term affordable housing. .097 acres at 3000 Funton- This property has been permitted for the construction of one single-family dwelling. The property will be sold to a household at or below 80% median family income as part of AHFC’s Community Land Trust. Construction will commence pending legal proceedings. 20 single-family dwellings were purchased from HACA. The dwellings will be fully renovated and sold to households at or below 80% median family income as part of AHFC’s Community Land Trust. The renovations will occur in phases with the last of the homes being completed some time in FY 2021-22. Pro-Lodge 5 (Rodeway Inn at 2711 South IH-35)- AHFC purchased a Rodeway Inn in May 2020. The 87-room facility is being renovated in phases and is currently being used as a protective lodge for homeless people at risk of contracting the COVID-19. The renovations will be complete some time in FY 2021-22. Discussion See above Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 47 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAnnual Goals and Objectives AP-20 Annual Goals and Objectives Goals Summary Information Sort Order 1 Goal Name Homeless Assistance Start Year 2021 Category End Year 2022 Homeless Geographic Area Throughout the City of Austin Homeless Assistance Needs Addressed Funding Goal Outcome Indicator 2 Special Needs Assistance 2021 2022 Non-Homeless Special Needs Throughout the City of Austin Special Needs Assistance HOME: $1,133,205 ESG: $669,870 Tenant-based rental assistance: 85 Households Assisted Rapid Rehousing: 108 Households Assisted Homeless Person Overnight Shelter: 1,245 Persons Assisted CDBG: $801,460 HOPWA: $2,179,125 CDBG: Child Care Services: 179 Clients Assisted Senior Services: 175 Clients Assisted Mental Health/Youth Services: 159 Client Assisted HOPWA: OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 48 DRAFTPublic Service Activities other than Low/Moderate Income Housing Benefit (Permanent Housing Placement): 30 Persons Assisted Public Service Activities other than Low/Moderate Income Housing Benefit (Housing Case Management): 50 Persons Assisted Tenant Based Rental Assistance/Rapid Rehousing: 55 Households Assisted Homelessness Prevention (Short-term Rent, Mortgage, and Utility Assistance): 94 Persons Assisted Other (Hotel/Motel): 70 Households Assisted HIV/AIDS Housing Operations: 44 Households Assisted Public Service Activities other than Low/Moderate Income Housing Benefit (Supportive Services): 44 Persons Assisted OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 49 DRAFT3 Renter Assistance 2021 2022 Affordable Housing Renter Assistance CDBG: $475,620 Throughout the City of Austin 4 5 Homebuyer Assistance Homeowner Assistance 2021 2022 Affordable Housing Throughout the City of Austin Homebuyer Assistance 2021 2022 Affordable Housing Throughout the City of Austin Homeowner Assistance Other (Master Leasing): 21 Households Assisted Tenants’ Rights Assistance (Public service activities other than Low/Moderate Income Housing Benefit): 360 Persons Assisted Architectural Barrier Removal- Renter (Rental units rehabilitated): 7 Household Housing Unit HOME: $1,084,398 HOME Program Income: $400,000 Down Payment Assistance (Direct Financial Assistance to Homebuyers): 25 Households Assisted CDBG: $3,203,152 CDBG Revolving Loan: $40,000 Architectural Barrier Removal- Owner: 80 Household Housing Unit HOME Program Income: $200,000 Minor Home Repair: 200 Household Housing Unit Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program: 9 Household Housing Unit OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 50 DRAFTHousing Development Assistance 2021 2022 Affordable Housing Throughout the City of Austin Housing Development Assistance 6 7 Other Community Development 2021 2022 Non-Housing Community Development Throughout the City of Austin Other Community Development Assistance CDBG: $1,801,336 Jobs created/retained: 29 General Obligation Bonds: $7,000,000 GO! Repair Program: 292 Rental units constructed (Federal): 15 Household Housing Unit Homeowner Housing Added (Federal): 10 Household Housing Unit Acquisition and Development (Low and moderate income households served): 5 CDBG: $76,474 CDBG Revolving Loan: $55,000 HOME CHDO: $473,520 HOME Program Income: $218,182 General Obligation Bonds: $46,000,000 CDBG Revolving Loan: $40,000 Businesses assisted (Section 108): 4 CDBG Program Income: $50,000 Other (CHDO Operating Expenses + Organizations assisted): 4 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 51 DRAFTTable 6 – Goals Summary HOME (CO): $150,000 Section 108: $1,000,000 Section 108 PI: $442,575.66 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 52 DRAFTGoal Descriptions 1 Goal Name Homeless Assistance Goal Description Persons experiencing homelessness are Austin’s most vulnerable population, and therefore are a high priority for the Consolidated Plan. This decision was made based on feedback from the public process, including stakeholder input from homeless needs providers, public hearings, and the Consolidated Plan survey. Homeless Assistance provides services to persons experiencing homelessness, persons living with HIV/AIDS, victims of domestic violence, persons experiencing mental illness, unaccompanied youth, persons with chronic substance abuse, and veterans. 2 Goal Name Special Needs Assistance 3 Goal Name Renter Assistance Goal Description Special Needs activities will assist low- to moderate-income Austinites by providing mental health services for at-risk youth, child care services and services for seniors. This decision was made based on feedback from the public process, including stakeholder input from homeless and special needs providers, public hearings, and the Consolidated Plan survey. The City of Austin’s update of the 2019 Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis identifies the need for affordable rental housing in Austin. This analysis was echoed in every aspect of the public input process from service providers, government partners, policy makers, and community members. Renter Assistance, therefore, is a high priority for the City. Renter Assistance activities will provide assistance that can make rent more affordable; tenants’ rights services; and financial assistance for necessary rehabilitation to make rental units accessible. 4 Goal Name Homebuyer Assistance The City identified assistance to homebuyers as a high priority in the Consolidated Plan. The 2019 Housing Market Analysis illustrates the difficulty for low- to moderate-income households to transition from renting to buying a home with the rising real estate market in Austin. Homebuyer Assistance provides counseling to renters wishing to become homebuyers. This category includes the Down Payment Assistance program, which offers loans to qualifying low- and moderate-income homebuyers to help them buy their first home. Goal Description Goal Description 5 Goal Name Homeowner Assistance OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 53 DRAFTGoal Description Homeowner Assistance is designed to: preserve the safety and livability of the housing of low-income homeowners, allowing owners to stay in their homes; improve the City’s aging housing stock; and repair homes for existing homeowners. These activities were identified as high priorities by stakeholders and community members. Overall, Homeowner Assistance is a high priority in the Consolidated Plan. 6 Goal Name Housing Development Assistance Goal Description The need for affordable housing for low- to moderate-income renters, including special needs populations, and homebuyers, was reflected in the 2019 Housing Market Analysis and public input received from the community. The City’s main tool to create affordable housing is through financing to nonprofit and for-profit developers. In addition, the City encourages the development of affordable housing through developer incentives. The City has established Housing Development Assistance as a high priority for the Consolidated Plan. 7 Goal Name Other Community Development Goal Description Other Community Development Assistance includes capacity-building activities for nonprofit organizations that are focused on affordable housing development and workforce development, as well as support for small business development. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 54 DRAFTEstimate the number of extremely low-income, low-income, and moderate-income families to whom the jurisdiction will provide affordable housing as defined by HOME 91.215(b) Extremely low-income households: 98 Low-income households: 15 Moderate-income households: 31 Totals include the number of households estimated to be served by HOME-financed programs in FY 21-22: Down Payment Assistance (DPA), Tenant Based Rental Assistance (TBRA), Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program (HRLP), Rental Housing Development Assistance (RHDA), and Ownership Housing Development Assistance (OHDA). Estimates are based on data reflecting the percent of households served by income category in FY 2019-20. OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 55 DRAFTProjects AP-35 Projects – 91.220(d) Introduction The City of Austin's planned projects are based on the City’s assessment of community needs as identified in this Consolidated Plan, in related plans and policy documents, and on the ability of funds identified in the Consolidated Plan to be leveraged or combined with other funds to meet the identified needs. To the greatest extent possible, targeted funds will be used while resources with more discretionary latitude will be used to address needs and activities that lack their own targeted funding source. For instance, while the development of affordable housing is a critical issue for Austin, not all Consolidated Plan funds will be used for the creation or preservation of affordable housing. Starting in 2019, the City worked with two consultant groups, Barbara Poppe and associates and Matthew Doherty Consulting, to conduct a review of existing grants and contracts as well as a review of written materials and reports to find strategies for aligning services and practices to better meet the City’s strategic plan. Additionally, in 2018-19 Austin Public Health completed the shelter agreement for the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH), and worked with the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) to redesign the shelter programs. This shift resulted in a reduction of shelter beds from 160 to 130; Day Resource Center services were kept available for shelter residents and housing-focused case management was made as a requirement for shelter stay. These changes came after an in-depth, year-long community input and consultation process. The City continues to require a high level of data quality, increased outcomes for persons exiting to permanent housing, and a shortened length of stay. NAEH is contracting with OrgCode Consulting to work with the shelter administrator to address shelter client workflow, data quality, staffing changes, and housing case management for all shelter clients, and to ensure that all client services are housing-focused with a rapid exit from shelter. In accordance with the Federal Register Notice dated March 7, 2006, outcome measures are established for each activity as follows: Objectives: ● Create Suitable Living Environment; ● Provide Decent Affordable Housing; ● Create Economic Opportunities Outcomes ● Availability/Accessibility ● Affordability ● Sustainability Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 56 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAdditionally, the HEARTH Act, dated May 20, 2009, Division B - Homelessness Reform, established the following outcomes for McKinney-Vento funded Homelessness Assistance programs, including ESG in section 427: Length of Time Persons remain Homeless; Returns to Homelessness from Permanent Housing Destinations; Number of Homeless Persons; Employment and Income Growth for Homeless Persons; Persons First time Homeless; Homelessness Prevention; Successful Housing Placement. Project Name Projects # 1 2 Child Care Services Senior Services 3 Mental Health Services 4 ESG21 City of Austin 5 HOPWA AIDS Services of Austin 6 HOPWA Project Transitions 7 HOPWA Administration Tenant-Based Rental Assistance 8 9 10 Tenants’ Rights Assistance 11 Down Payment Assistance (DPA) Architectural Barrier Removal (ABR) Program - Renter 12 Architectural Barrier Removal (ABR) Program - Owner 13 Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program (HRLP) 14 Minor Home Repair Program 15 GO Repair! Program 16 Rental Housing Development Assistance (RHDA) 17 Ownership Housing Development Assistance (OHDA) 18 CHDO Operating Expense Grants Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 57 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFT19 Family Business Loan Program (FBLP) 20 Nonprofit Capacity Building for Workforce Development 21 Neighborhood Commercial Management 22 Debt Service 23 HOME Administration 24 CDBG Administration 25 Acquisition and Development Table 7 - Project Information Describe the reasons for allocation priorities and any obstacles to addressing underserved needs Allocation priorities are based on the feedback received during the community needs assessment period conducted for the FY 2019-24 Consolidated Plan and the FY 2021-22 Action Plan, the 2019 Housing Market Analysis, and guidance from the City Council. The top affordable housing and community development priorities identified by the community via the Consolidated Plan survey were: availability of affordable housing, services to prevent homelessness, job training and/or job opportunities, mental health care and counseling, and affordable child care. These priorities identified by the community echo the top housing needs identified in the 2019 Housing Market Analysis. See Appendix I for a summary of the public comments received from the FY 2021-22 Action Plan community needs assessment. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 58 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAP-38 Project Summary Project Summary Information 1 Project Name Child Care Services Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Special Needs Assistance Special Needs Assistance Funding CDBG: $485,279 Goals Supported Needs Addressed Description The City of Austin contracts with child care providers for services that increase the supply of and access to affordable, quality child care, and with a social service agency that provides a child care voucher service for families who are homeless or near homeless, families with disabled children in need of temporary respite child care, families that need emergency child care, and families in which a parent is participating in residential substance abuse treatment program. The programs provide services to children (ages: 0-12 years) from low to moderate median -income families with gross incomes less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines who reside within the Austin City limits. Target Date 9/30/2021 Public service activities other than Low/Moderate Income Housing Benefit: 179 Persons Assisted Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Throughout the City of Austin Child Care Services will increase the supply of child care for low-income families. Social service contracts through APH will provide: 1) child care vouchers for families in crisis, including homeless and near homeless families, and parents enrolled in self-sufficiency programs; 2) direct child care services for teen parents who are attending school; and 3) direct child care services through the Early Head Start child development program. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 59 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTGoals Supported Needs Addressed Description Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Description 2 Project Name Senior Services Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Special Needs Assistance Special Needs Assistance Funding CDBG: $125,461 The City of Austin contracts with a sub-recipient to provide bill payer services that help prevent and protect seniors from becoming victims of abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation. Persons must meet income, age, and residential eligibility requirements. Target Date 9/30/2021 Public service activities other than Low/Moderate Income Housing Benefit: 175 Persons Assisted Throughout the City of Austin Senior Services provides bill payer services, navigation of Social Security benefits, homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing, and financial literacy for low-income seniors at risk of abusive, neglectful, or financially exploitative situations. 3 Project Name Mental Health Services Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Special Needs Assistance Special Needs Assistance Funding CDBG: $190,720 The Mental Health Services program provides access to holistic, wraparound services and support to youth designated as at-risk, and their families. The program's three components provide different levels of intervention: school-based intensive wraparound services, community-based wraparound services, and summer camps. The Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 60 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTprogram, in partnership with the youth and their families, addresses the needs and challenges of each youth's situation to improve their functioning in school, the community, and at home. Target Date 9/30/2021 Public service activities other than Low/Moderate Income Housing Benefit: 159 Persons Assisted Throughout the City of Austin Mental Health Services will serve at-risk youth and their families. The services and support are customized to the needs of the youth and family, and are delivered utilizing the wraparound model. The interventions focus on areas of basic needs, mental health services, educational support and social enrichment. Services will continue to be accessed through designated schools and community centers Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Description 4 Project Name ESG21 City of Austin Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Homeless Assistance Homeless Assistance Funding ESG: $669,870 ARCH Shelter Operating and Maintenance: APH contracts with a private nonprofit organization to operate the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH.) All clients served in the ARCH FY 2021-22 Action Plan have low- to moderate-income and are at or below 50% of MFI. Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds are used to provide maintenance and operations for this program. In 2018-19 APH completed the ARCH shelter agreement, and worked with the National Alliance to End Homelessness to redesign the shelter programs, which resulted in a reduction of shelter beds from 160 to 130. Capacity at the ARCH has been further reduced to offer 50 beds during the pandemic in order to keep participants and staff safe and to comply with CDC social distancing guidelines. Also, the Day Resource Center services are now only available to shelter clients. The ARCH provides emergency shelter, case management, and day Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 61 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTresource services to homeless adult males. In addition, ARCH houses a Health Clinic through CommUnity Care. Rapid Rehousing programs: There are three ESG-funded rapid rehousing programs connecting homeless individuals referred through Coordinated Entry system with safe and stable housing: 1) Communicable Disease Unit of Austin Public Health (targeted to homeless persons with HIV/AIDS); 2) Downtown Austin Community Court; and 3) Front Steps (preference population of persons experiencing homelessness residing at the ARCH). HMIS funding will support HMIS licenses at all three ESG-funded programs: Communicable Disease Unit, Downtown Austin Community Court and Front Steps. This project also includes funding for administration. Formula: Homeless Person Overnight Shelter: 1,245 Persons Assisted; Tenant-based rental assistance/Rapid Re-housing: 108 Households Assisted Throughout the City of Austin ARCH Shelter Operating and Maintenance: The ARCH will serve individuals with its Night Sleeping and Day Resource Program. All clients will be entered into the Homeless Management Information Systems database. The Rapid Re-Housing program provides housing location, housing stability case management and direct financial assistance to rapidly rehouse homeless persons who are receiving services from ESG-funded programs at the Communicable Disease Unit, Austin Resource Center for the Homeless and Downtown Austin Community Court. HMIS funding will support 42 HMIS licenses at all three ESG-funded programs: Communicable Disease Unit, Downtown Austin Community Court and Front Steps ARCH. Target Date 9/30/2022 Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Administration: all of the above. 5 Project Name HOPWA AIDS Services of Austin Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Goals Supported Special Needs Assistance Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 62 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTNeeds Addressed Description Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Description Special Needs Assistance Funding HOPWA: $1,303,120 Target Date 9/30/2022 The City of Austin contracts with AIDS Services of Austin to deliver services for the HOPWA program. The goal of the HOPWA program is to prevent homelessness and to support independent living of persons living with HIV/AIDS. AIDS Services of Austin works with a collaborative of housing and HIV/AIDS service providers to achieve this goal. Public Service Activities other than Low/Moderate Income Housing Benefit (Permanent Housing Placement): 30 Persons Assisted Public Service Activities other than Low/Moderate Income Housing Benefit (Housing Case Management): 50 Persons Assisted Tenant Based Rental Assistance/Rapid Rehousing: 50 Households Assisted Homelessness Prevention (Short-term Rent, Mortgage, and Utility Assistance): 94 Persons Assisted Other (Hotel/Motel): 70 Households Assisted Throughout the City of Austin AIDS Services of Austin will provide Housing Case Management, Tenant Based Rental Assistance, Permanent Housing Placement Services, Hotel/Motel, and Short-Term Rent, Mortgage and Utility Assistance. 6 Project Name HOPWA Project Transitions Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Special Needs Assistance Special Needs Assistance Funding HOPWA: $733,032 The City of Austin contracts with Project Transitions to deliver services for the HOPWA program. The goal of the HOPWA program is to prevent homelessness and to support independent living of persons living with HIV/AIDS. Project Transitions will finish construction on a new facility during this grant period. The facility will have 40 units dedicated to HOPWA clients. Project Transitions also operates a TBRA program that Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 63 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTprovides housing to clients in the community. Master leasing will also be utilized to house clients until completion of the facility. Target Date 9/30/2022 Tenant Based Rental Assistance: 5 Households Assisted HIV/AIDS Housing Operations: 44 Households Assisted Public Service Activities other than Low/Moderate Income Housing Benefit (Supportive Services): 44 Persons Assisted Other (Master Leasing): 21 Households Assisted Throughout the City of Austin Project Transitions will provide Tenant Based Rental Assistance, Facility-Based Housing, Master Leasing, and Supportive Services. 7 Project Name HOPWA Administration Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Special Needs Assistance Special Needs Assistance Funding HOPWA: $62,973 Description Funds provide administrative costs for programs. Target Date 9/30/2022 N/A- Funds provide administrative costs for programs. Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Throughout the City of Austin Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 64 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAdministration of federal programs 8 Project Name Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Homeless Assistance Homeless Assistance Funding HOME: $1,133,205 Description The Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) program provides rental-housing subsidies to eligible individuals and families experiencing homelessness. HPD oversees HACA, a local Public Housing Authority,, as the subrecipient of HOME TBRA funds, and works with ECHO (TX-503 Continuum of Care Lead Agency) to use the funding source as a Permanent Housing program (RRH) by braiding with other unrestricted local funds. This allows the HOME TBRA program to serve households experiencing literal homelessness who have been identified through the local Coordinated Entry (CE) system and to track program outcomes in the local HMIS database. HACA administers the TBRA subsidies for the program. Through the CE process, ECHO sends eligible program referrals to service providers with agencies who have established an MOU to leverage existing funds for supportive services, allowing the creation of a RRH program. Current direct service providers, such as Caritas of Austin and The Salvation Army, work together to ensure that at least 85 households move into permanent housing and are served through the program annually. Target Date 9/30/2021 Tenant-based rental assistance/Rapid Rehousing: 85 Households Assisted Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Throughout the City of Austin Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 65 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTPlanned Activities The Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) will oversee the TBRA program and will contract with The Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) to administer the program. 9 Project Name Architectural Barrier Removal (ABR) Program - Renter Target Area Throughout the City of Austin The Architectural Barrier Removal (ABR) program for renters modifies or retrofits the living quarters of eligible, low-income elderly and disabled renters. ABR increases the accessibility of the residences through the removal of architectural barriers in their homes. ABR modifications will allow clients to remain in their homes and increase self-sufficiency. Target Date 9/30/2021 Rental units rehabilitated: 7 Household Units Renter Assistance Renter Assistance Funding CDBG: $185,000 Goals Supported Needs Addressed Description Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Throughout the City of Austin Physical improvements in rental housing units that are limited to those improvements designed to remove the material and architectural barriers that restrict mobility and accessibility, and that are considered to be part of the structure and permanently fixed such as wheelchair ramps, handrails and more. 10 Project Name Tenants’ Rights Assistance Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Goals Supported Renter Assistance Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 66 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTRenter Assistance Funding CDBG: $290,620 Needs Addressed Description Tenants' Rights Assistance provides services to tenants residing within Austin City limits. Objectives of this program include: 1) facilitate mediation services between landlords and low- to moderate-income tenants to complete health and safety related repairs in rental units, which will help maintain reasonable habitability standards; 2) provide direct counseling and technical assistance to low-income renters regarding tenant/landlord issues; 3) provide public education and information through workshops and public forums on landlord/tenant relationships and educate renters on their rights as well as their responsibilities under the law; and 4) identify fair housing complaints that can be investigated and may assist in resolving, reducing or minimizing discriminatory housing practices. Target Date 9/30/2021 Public service activities other than Low/Moderate Income Housing Benefit: 360 Persons Assisted Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Throughout the City of Austin This program will provide mediation, counseling, public information, and assistance to help the community identify fair housing complaints. The program also furthers fair housing in the elimination of discrimination, including the present effects of past discrimination, and the elimination of de facto residential segregation. 11 Project Name Down Payment Assistance (DPA) Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Goals Supported Needs Addressed Homebuyer Assistance Homebuyer Assistance Funding HOME: $1,084,398 HOME Program Income: $400,000 Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 67 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTDescription The purpose of the Down Payment Assistance (DPA) program is to assist low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers by providing them with down payment and closing cost assistance. The program increases housing opportunities to eligible households. Eligible income is at or below 80% of MFI. Target Date 9/30/2021 Direct Financial Assistance to Homebuyers: 25 Households Assisted Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Throughout the City of Austin The DPA program provides a Standard DPA in the form of a 0% interest, deferred-forgivable loan in an amount no less than $1,000 and up to a maximum amount of $14,999, with a minimum affordability period of five years. Shared Equity DPA provides assistance of no less than $15,000 and up to a maximum amount of $40,000, with a minimum affordability of 10 years. The loan will be forgiven at 10 years, and the borrower will still be responsible for paying a percentage of equity gained that is equal to the percentage of HPD’s portion of the original sales price will be added to the payoff balance. The loan is forgiven after 10 years. However, the shared equity remains and is forgiven after 30 years. A lien will be placed on the property to ensure repayment. Shared equity loans include three components: shared equity, a purchase option, and right of first refusal. 12 Project Name Architectural Barrier Removal (ABR) Program - Owner Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Homeowner Assistance Homeowner Assistance Funding CDBG: $1,510,000 Goals Supported Needs Addressed Description The Architectural Barrier Removal (ABR) program for owners- The ABR program for owners modifies or retrofits the living quarters of eligible, low-income elderly and disabled homeowners. The program increases the accessibility of the residences through the removal of architectural barriers to mobility. ABR modifications allow Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 68 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTclients to remain in their homes and increase self-sufficiency. No more than $15,000 per home per year can be provided to a single home through the program. Eligible income is at or below 80% of MFI. Target Date 9/30/2021 Homeowner Housing Rehabilitated: 80 Household Housing Units Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Throughout the City of Austin The ABR program for owners funds physical improvements in housing units; funded activities are limited to those improvements designed to remove architectural barriers that restrict mobility and accessibility, and that are considered to be part of the structure and permanently affixed, such as wheelchair ramps, handrails and more. 13 Project Name Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program (HRLP) Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Goals Supported Needs Addressed Homeowner Assistance Homeowner Assistance Funding CDBG: $793,152 CDBG RL: $40,000 HOME Program Income: $200,000 Description The purpose of the Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program (HRLP) is to assist low- and moderate-income homeowners with bringing their homes up to building code standards, with repairs to the foundation, roof, plumbing, HVAC system, electrical system, and other major interior and exterior repairs. The property must be located within the City limits of Austin. The program provides financial assistance to address substandard housing conditions that exist on a homeowner's property. The result is that decent, safe and sanitary housing is restored. Eligible income is at or below 80% of MFI. Target Date 9/30/2021 Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 69 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTHomeowner Housing Rehabilitated: 9 Household Housing Units Throughout the City of Austin The HRLP provides assistance in the form of a 0% interest, deferred-forgivable loan, in an amount not less than $5,000 and up to a maximum of $75,000 for rehabilitation, and $100,000, for historical preservation. If it is determined that it is economically infeasible to rehabilitate a property, reconstruction is necessary. For reconstruction, assistance is provided up to a maximum amount of $130,000 or 125% loan-to-value based on the after-reconstruction appraised market value. Liens will be placed on properties assisted. For reconstruction, there will be a shared equity, purchase option, and right of first refusal component. 14 Project Name Minor Home Repair Program Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Homeowner Assistance Homeowner Assistance Funding CDBG: $900,000 The Minor Home Repair Program makes repairs to alleviate life-threatening living conditions, and health and safety hazards for low- to moderate-income homeowners. Households residing within Austin City limits and with incomes at or below 80% of MFI are eligible. Eligible households can receive up to $5,000 for home repairs per year. Target Date 9/30/2021 Homeowner Housing Rehabilitated: 200 Household Housing Units Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Description Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 70 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTproposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Funding Description Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Throughout the City of Austin The program provides minor home rehabilitation activities related to maintaining a healthy, safe, affordable and sustainable housing stock for low- to moderate-income homeowners. Eligible program services include electrical, plumbing, roof, heating/cooling systems, structural carpentry, and other interior and exterior minor home repairs. 15 Project Name GO Repair! Program Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Homeowner Assistance Homeowner Assistance General Obligation Bonds: $7,000,000 The GO Repair! program addresses substandard housing conditions for low- and moderate-income homeowners residing within Austin City limits. The program provides financial assistance to make repairs that will eliminate health and safety hazards and/or provide improved accessibility. Target Date 9/30/2021 N/A- fund source is local Throughout the City of Austin The program will provide up to $20,000 per home for repairs. 16 Project Name Rental Housing Development Assistance (RHDA) Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 71 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTGoals Supported Needs Addressed Funding Description Housing Development Assistance Housing Development Assistance CDBG: $76,474 HOME CHDO: $236,760 HOME Program Income: $218,182 General Obligation Bonds: $20,000,000 The Rental Housing Development Assistance (RHDA) program provides opportunities to create and retain affordable rental units for low- and moderate-income households, and low-income persons with special needs. RHDA provides below-market-rate financing to nonprofit and for-profit developers for the acquisition, new construction, or rehabilitation of affordable rental housing. RHDA serves households at or below 50% of MFI with a target of serving households at or below 30% of MFI. The City of Austin currently has four certified CHDOs developing rental housing through the use of HOME CHDO funds. Blackland CDC operates multiple single-family units for rent to households below 50% MFI and continues to find ways to develop in an increasingly constrained area. AHA! will complete a new 27-unit development targeted for mobility-impaired individuals by the end of this calendar year. Blackshear NDC was recently certified as a CHDO and was awarded funds for rehabilitation of two rental units. Guadalupe NDC has continued to expand its rental properties through the construction of multiple accessory dwelling units on properties currently in their Community Land Trust. Target Date 9/30/2021 Rental units constructed: Federal Funds: 10 Other (CHDO): 5 Local funds: 393 Throughout the City of Austin Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities RHDA will increase the supply of affordable rental units for income-eligible households. Units created will be restricted to households with incomes at or below 50% MFI. Depending on the project, the units may be for one or more of several underserved Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 72 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTpopulations: seniors, children, persons with disabilities, and chronically homeless persons, including chronically homeless veterans. 17 Project Name Ownership Housing Development Assistance (OHDA) Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Housing Development Assistance Housing Development Assistance CDBG Revolving Loan: $55,000 HOME CHDO: $236,760 General Obligation Bonds: $6,000,000 The Ownership Housing Development Assistance (OHDA) program works with lenders, and nonprofit and for-profit developers to leverage City and federal funds to increase homeownership opportunities for low- to moderate-income buyers. Activities include: 1) the acquisition and development of land; 2) the acquisition and rehabilitation of residential structures; 3) the acquisition of new or existing housing units; and 4) the construction of new housing, all for sale to income-eligible households at or below 80% of MFI.Of the four operable CHDOs in Austin, only Guadalupe NDC has developed an ownership model coupled with a dedicated Community Land Trust. Recently, GNDC was awarded HOME CHDO funds for the development of 10 new units in the Guadalupe Saldana Net Zero Subdivision. GNDC previously developed 12 units in this subdivision with the assistance of HOME CHDO funds. Target Date 9/30/2021 Homeowner Housing Units Added: Federal Funds: 8 Other (CHDO): 2 Local: 6 Throughout the City of Austin Goals Supported Needs Addressed Funding Description Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities OHDA will increase the supply of affordable homeownership units for income-eligible households. OHDA activities using HOME funds that provide direct financial assistance to homebuyers will use the "recapture" method combined with a shared equity model. This ensures that HOME funds are returned for other HOME-eligible activities. For Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 73 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTGoals Supported Needs Addressed Description Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities OHDA activities using HOME funds that provide funding to a developer, the "resale" method will be used to ensure affordability throughout the affordability period. 18 Project Name CHDO Operating Expense Grants Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Other Community Development Other Community Development Assistance Funding HOME (CO): $150,000 The Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDO) Operating Expenses Grant program provides financial support to eligible, City-certified CHDOs actively involved in housing production or expected to begin production within 24 months. Under the terms of the grant, CHDOs must access CHDO set-aside funds to produce affordable housing for the community. Funding can only be used for the organization's operating expenses and cannot be used on project-related expenses. Target Date 9/30/2021 Other: 2 Throughout the City of Austin CHDO Operating Expenses Grants are used to supplement a CHDO's operating funds. HOME regulations prohibit the use of these funds on project-related costs, and therefore, no families will directly benefit from this activity. Eligible CHDOs will receive financial assistance to support their operations as affordable housing providers. Financial support to CHDOs allows them to maintain or increase their capacity to create affordable rental and homeownership units. 19 Project Name Family Business Loan Program (FBLP) Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Goals Supported Other Community Development Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 74 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTNeeds Addressed Other Community Development Assistance Funding Section 108: $1,000,000 Section 108 PI: $442,575 Target Date 9/30/2022 Jobs created/retained: 29 Businesses Assisted: 4 Description The FBLP is a public-private partnership between the City of Austin, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) certified community lenders, and private banks. Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Description Throughout the City of Austin The Family Business Loan Program (FBLP) makes low-interest loans to qualified Austin small business owners who are ready to expand their businesses and create jobs. 20 Project Name Nonprofit Capacity Building for Workforce Development Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Other Community Development Other Community Development Funding CDBG: $1,801,336 The purpose of the program is to support workforce development training to upskill or re-skill furloughed or previously furloughed workers to ensure a safe learning, working and operating environment. The nonprofit will directly connect with local, small business owners or managers to bring back, re-hire, and re-skill workers to provide a safe working environment for workers and customers. Further, the technical support will provide a safe learning environment for upskilling, supporting the creation, retention or advancement of low to moderate income positions. Target Date 9/30/2021 Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 75 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTOrganizations assisted: 2 Throughout the City of Austin The Capacity Building program will provide professional development opportunities to enhance and strengthen the infrastructure and workforce of Austin’s creative sector that are struggling to survive the COVID-19 emergency 21 Project Name Neighborhood Commercial Management Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Other Community Development Other Community Development Assistance CDBG Program Income: $50,000 CDBG Revolving Loan: $40,000 Description Provides gap financing to eligible borrowing businesses. Target Date 9/30/2021 N/A- Funding reflects estimated revolving loan and program income Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Funding Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Throughout the City of Austin These loans can be used for acquisition of land, improvements, various fixed costs, new construction, and leasehold improvements. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 76 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFT22 Project Name Debt Service Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Other Community Development Other Community Development Assistance Funding Section 108 PI: $300,000 East 11th and 12th Street Debt Service: The city secured a $9,035,000 HUD Section 108 Loan Guarantee to implement the East 11th and 12th Streets revitalization project. A portion of these funds were used by the City of Austin for acquisition, relocation, demolition and other revitalization expenses on East 11th and 12th Street. Funds were also loaned to the Austin Revitalization Authority (ARA) for the construction of the Street-Jones and Snell Buildings on E 11th Street. The debt service will be paid from small business loan repayments through 2026. Target Date 9/30/2021 N/A- Funding reflects estimated program income Goals Supported Needs Addressed Description Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Throughout the City of Austin Debt Servicing for Revitalization 23 Project Name HOME Administration Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Homebuyer Assistance Homeowner Assistance Housing Development Assistance Homebuyer Assistance Homeowner Assistance Housing Development Assistance Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 77 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTFunding HOME: $315,680 Description Funds provide administrative costs for programs. HOME Entitlement: $3,156,803 Program Income: $900,000 Total: $ 4,056,803 Allowable 10% HOME Admin Cap = $405,680.30 Administrative Expense: $315,680 < 10% Target Date 9/30/2021 N/A-Funds provide administrative costs for programs Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Throughout the City of Austin Funds provide administrative costs for programs 24 Project Name CDBG Administration Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Special Needs Assistance Renter Assistance Homeowner Assistance Housing Development Assistance Other Community Development Special Needs Assistance Renter Assistance Homeowner Assistance Housing Development Assistance Other Community Development Assistance Funding CDBG: $1,589,510.00 Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 78 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTDescription Funds provide administrative costs for programs CDBG Entitlement: $7,947,552 Program Income: $60,000 Revolving Loan: 135,000 Total: $8,142,552 Allowable 20% CDBG Admin Cap = $1,628,510 Administrative Expense:$1,589,510 < 20% Target Date 9/30/2021 N/A-Funds provide administrative costs for programs Estimate the number and type of families that will benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Goals Supported Needs Addressed Funding Description Estimate the number and type of families that Throughout the City of Austin Administration of Federal Programs 25 Project Name AHFC Acquisition and Development Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Housing Development Assistance Housing Development Assistance General Obligation Bonds: $20,000,000 Low- and moderate-income households will be served through the Acquisition and Development Program. Target Date 9/30/2021 Number of low- and moderate-income households served: 5 Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 79 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTwill benefit from the proposed activities Location Description Planned Activities Throughout the City of Austin HPD will serve at least five low- and/or moderate-income households by providing rental and/or ownership opportunities through AHFC acquisition and development of affordable rental units and/or Community Land Trust units. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 80 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAP-50 Geographic Distribution – 91.220(f) Description of the geographic areas of the entitlement (including areas of low-income and minority concentration) where assistance will be directed The City of Austin does not currently direct its investments in specific target areas. Geographic Distribution Target Area Throughout the City of Austin Percentage of Funds 100 Table 8 - Geographic Distribution Rationale for the priorities for allocating investments geographically The City of Austin does not currently direct its investments in specific geographic areas. Discussion While the City of Austin does not currently target investments to specific geographic areas, it considers the geographic dispersion of affordable housing to be a key core value in the investment of affordable housing-related activities with federal and local funds. The City supports providing affordable housing in areas outside of low-income neighborhoods, thereby reducing racial and ethnic segregation, deconcentrating poverty, and providing for more economic opportunities for low-income households. The City’s Housing and Planning Department (HPD) provides funding preference through a scoring matrix system which awards points to projects that assist in the dispersion of affordable housing stock throughout the community, to focus on areas in Austin where there is a shortage of affordable housing. As a result of this focus, HPD has achieved greater geographic dispersion in the units it has funded in recent years. In 2019, Council adopted geographic affordable housing goals by both Council District and by 2016 Mobility Bond Corridors. These goals have resulted in revisions to program guidelines and other city policies to ensure affordable housing is created throughout Austin as articulated by the community in both the Housing Blueprint and Imagine Austin, the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 81 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAffordable Housing AP-55 Affordable Housing – 91.220(g) Introduction Affordable housing is a critical priority for the City of Austin. The need for affordable housing for extremely low and moderate-income renters, special needs populations, and homebuyers is evident in the 2019 Housing Market Analysis and in public input received from the community. Feedback received during the FY 2021-22 Action Plan community needs assessment period makes clear that this is still a prioritized need in Austin. Housing affordability in Austin has continued to decline among many segments of the population but particularly among very low-income households making between 30% and 50% MFI, and extremely low-income households making between 0% and 30% MFI. Many service providers cited the lack of affordable housing as having a ripple effect, negatively impacting the ability to provide a stable foundation of opportunity for the clients they serve. The Action Plan must specify goals for the number of homeless, non-homeless, and special needs households to be provided with affordable housing within the program year. The plan must also indicate the number of affordable housing units that will be provided by program type, including rental assistance, production of new units, rehabilitation of existing units, or acquisition of existing units. For the purpose of this section, the term “affordable housing” is defined in the HOME regulations at 24 CFR 92.252 for rental housing and 24 CFR 92.254 for homeownership. The goals in the following tables reflect federally funded projects that do not include the provision of emergency shelter, transitional shelter, or social services and that meet the definition of households provided affordable housing units within the program year. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 82 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTOne Year Goals for the Number of Households to be Supported Table 9 - One Year Goals for Affordable Housing by Support Requirement One Year Goals for the Number of Households Supported Through Homeless Non-Homeless Special-Needs Total Rental Assistance The Production of New Units Rehab of Existing Units Acquisition of Existing Units Total 85 59 287 431 85 25 296 25 431 Table 10 - One Year Goals for Affordable Housing by Support Type Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 83 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTThe following is a breakdown of the values featured in Table 9– One Year Goals for Affordable Housing by Support Requirement Tenant Based Rental Assistance- Homeless Assistance (HOME) Rental Housing Developer Assistance (CDBG & HOME) Ownership Housing Development Assistance (CDBG & HOME) Home Rehabilitation Loan Program (CDBG & HOME) Down Payment Assistance (HOME) Homeless Subtotal Non-Homeless Subtotal Special Needs Minor Home Repair (CDBG) Architectural Barrier Program - Rental (CDBG) Architectural Barrier Program - Owner (CDBG) Subtotal Grand Total 85 85 15 10 9 25 59 200 7 80 287 431 Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 84 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTThe following is a breakdown of the values featured in Table 10– One Year Goals for Affordable Housing by Support Type Rental Assistance Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (HOME) Subtotal Production of New Units Rental Housing Developer Assistance (CDBG & HOME) Ownership Housing Development Assistance (CDBG & HOME) Subtotal Rehab of Existing Units Architectural Barrier Program - Rental (CDBG) Architectural Barrier Program - Owner (CDBG) Home Rehabilitation Loan Program (CDBG & HOME) Minor Home Repair (CDBG) Subtotal Acquisition of Existing Units Down Payment Assistance (HOME) Subtotal Grand Total 85 85 15 10 25 7 80 9 200 296 25 25 431 Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 85 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTDiscussion Long-term Affordability The Housing and Planning Department (HPD) and Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) use a shared equity model to allow income-eligible homebuyers and homeowners to obtain substantial mortgage assistance or housing reconstruction services, in exchange for provisions that preserve affordability in Austin by recapturing funds to assist another subsequent low- to moderate-income buyer to purchase the home. A Community Land Trust (CLT) preserves public investment in affordability, allowing preservation into perpetuity. The CLT retains ownership of the land, while the homeowner owns the home and its improvements. The CLT limits the sales price and requires subsequent buyers be income eligible. CLT homeowners receive a predetermined share of the appreciation when the unit is re-sold. This model provides opportunities for low- to moderate-income households to buy the home at an affordable price. The City has prioritized resources for its long-term affordability program through a number of initiatives in 2021, to include the hiring of a program manager dedicated to expanding AHFC’s portfolio of CLTs. The program manager will have a dedicated and strategic focus on the coordination, outreach and program development to enhance the City’s efforts to connect Austin residents to ownership opportunities realized through incentive programs as well as federal and local investments. AHFC receives a 100% property tax exemption on all land it owns. AHFC may partner with affordable housing developers through purchase of land and a long-term leasehold deed of trust held by AHFC. The benefit of AHFC's property tax exemption helps sustain the project viability and affordability. This structure is typically used when the affordable housing development meets several key criteria, among them: location on/near a transit-oriented development or core transit corridor, proximity to critical services and amenities, placement in a high-opportunity area and a commitment to serve low-income households. Preservation of Affordable Housing HPD regularly examines the loss of existing affordable housing stock in the community and recently joined the Texas Affordable Housing Preservation Coalition. HPD will develop and share data to strengthen intergovernmental coordination and increase opportunities for preservation in high opportunity areas (places with access to amenities or community attributes that can increase economic mobility for their residents). Additional strategies to preserve affordable housing include ● Maximize partnerships to promote existing programs and services, and preserve existing affordable housing stock Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 86 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFT● Explore educational and outreach initiatives to ensure low-income households have reasonable avenues through education to remain in affordable housing ● Pursue new strategies to bring forward alternative resources and incentives and to increase ● Develop data regarding the condition of Austin's housing units, including unit counts for long-term, permanent affordability subsidized properties HPD is working to produce a comprehensive strategy to preserve affordability by coordinating with local partners to identify and preserve affordable housing. Geographic Dispersion The City balances investment in gentrifying areas with the need for creating affordable housing in high opportunity areas which is a strategy recommended in Uprooted: Residential Displacement in Austin’s Gentrifying Neighborhoods & What Can be Done About It. Investment in affordable housing in areas outside of low-income neighborhoods is being prioritized, with the goal of reducing racial and ethnic segregation, deconcentrating poverty and providing more economic opportunities for low-income households. The City offers development incentives which provide modifications and waivers to site development regulations in exchange for affordable housing. The majority of these policies apply to specific geographic areas including high opportunity areas. The City is considering opportunities to further expand density bonuses as part of the ongoing revision to the Land Development Code. Other Initiatives The 2019 Housing Market Analysis estimated a gap of 36,000 units of affordable housing for households making less than $25,000 a year. To assist in closing that gap, the City continues to prioritize resources to affordable housing projects that serve very low-income households. The City also continues working towards meeting the following goals established in the Strategic Housing Blueprint, using both federal and local funding, by 2028- ● 20,000 Housing Units Affordable to 30% MFI and Below- as of 2019, 118 units have been ● 25,000 Housing Units Affordable to 31-60% MFI and Below- as of 2019, 2,691 units have been ● 15,000 Housing Units affordable to 61-80% MFI and below- as of 2019, 291 units have been produced. produced. produced. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 87 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTIn 2019, Council adopted geographic affordable housing goals by Council District and by 2016 Mobility Bond Corridors. These goals have informed revisions to program guidelines and other city policies to ensure affordable housing is created throughout Austin. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 88 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAP-60 Public Housing – 91.220(h) Introduction The City of Austin’s jurisdiction is served by two Public Housing Authorities (PHAs): The Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) and the Housing Authority of Travis County (HATC). These agencies are not departments of the City or county, respectively, but work independently of the City of Austin and Travis County. Both HACA and HATC share updates on agency progress through regular contacts and meetings with City staff. Coordination with HACA is valuable to address community needs efficiently. HACA is a partnering agency in the development of the Regional Analysis of Impediments, Housing Market Analysis, and Consolidated Plan. HACA provided information on its activities and needs relating to public housing to develop these regional plans. HACA administers the City’s tenant based rental assistance (TBRA) program. Previously, the City held two TBRA contracts with HACA that were consolidated into one in FY 2020-21. Currently, the TBRA program provides vouchers for HACA households experiencing homelessness, with referrals taken from the Coordinated Assessment system and in collaboration with other homeless service providers. The program blends HOME TBRA housing coupons and supportive services through General Fund activities, known locally as the Armadillo Avenue Program, and has enabled households experiencing homelessness to quickly transition to Permanent Housing. In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, the City of Austin continues to work collaboratively with HACA and their associates providing emergency rental assistance to income eligible households impacted by COVID-19, internally referred to as: RENT (Relief of Emergency Needs for Tenants). In the first RENT iteration, RENT 1.0, the City provided $1,259,656.00 in rental assistance to 1,680 families. After Congress passed the CARES (Coronavirus Aid Relief Economic Security) Act, additional funding was provided to implement RENT 2.0/2.5. CARES-CV funding combined with General Funds allowed the City to continue supporting low-income families negatively impacted by the pandemic. RENT 2.0/2.5 provided approximately $15.5 million in rental assistance to over 4,800 families. Altogether, the City deployed over $17 million in direct rental assistance, distributed to more than 6,500 families. RENT 3.0, the latest iteration of RENT, is underway. Funding has been provided by the U.S. Department of Treasury with an allocation of over $24.9 million in direct rental assistance to families in need to keep them in their homes. The City will likely provide up to 15 months of rental assistance, including arrears and future payments to households along with utility assistance for Austin Energy customers. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 89 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTThe City launched its newly developed Local Housing Voucher Program (the Program). The Program is supported by the City of Austin Housing Trust Fund (HTF). The first award made through the Program is to support 51 units at Fair Market Rents for a period of 3 years at Espero Austin at Rutland--an affordable, permanent supportive housing, new construction development. It is expected that the contract will be renewed five times, for a total period of 18 years. HACA also awarded Espero Austin at Rutland 50 Project Based Vouchers to support additional individuals exiting homelessness. Additionally, HACA awarded 50 Project Based Vouchers to support the City's Hotel Conversion Project at The Bungalows, a project in collaboration with Integral Care. The project includes 50 efficiency units complemented by a resident community room, case management offices, and other onsite support services. These project-based vouchers from HACA will provide a project-based rental subsidy to Continuum of Care (CoC) and supportive housing units. The development partnership noted above is an example of the innovative financing strategies to address affordable housing needs in Austin. The City of Austin plans to continue its investment in a Local Housing Voucher Program to support several hundred units for individuals exiting homelessness. These local funds will be crucial to leverage project-based vouchers for the purposes of providing permanent supportive housing. HACA’s PHA Annual and Five-Year Plan provides comprehensive information on actions that HACA has planned or considered for implementation in the next year to address the need for low-income subsidized housing. HACA’s Public Housing 2019 Annual and Five-Year plan can be found on the Housing Authority of the City of Austin’s website at: https://www.hacanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2021-PHA-ANNUAL-PLAN-HACA-final.pdf Actions planned during the next year to address the needs to public housing In FY 2021-22, HACA will continue its down payment assistance program, which provides qualified families with a $10,000 forgivable loan to be applied towards down payment on a new or existing home. Since the program began, at least 108 families have become homeowners through its down payment assistance program. Additionally, HACA’s subsidiary, Austin Affordable Housing Corporation (AAHC) will continue the Community Land Trust program, providing HACA’s public housing households the ability to purchase a home at an extremely affordable price while the land is held by the trust. In the coming year, HACA will continue supporting the coordination of Resident Councils at each of the 18 low-income subsidized housing properties. All property residents are considered members of their Resident Council and are encouraged to participate in meetings and decision-making at their properties. The opportunity to become leaders at their properties, voice concerns about program operations, and advocate for necessary changes often serves as a springboard for households to become further involved Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 90 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTin the community and plan specific goals for achieving economic and housing self-sufficiency. Housing Authority of Travis County (HATC) HATC administers eight housing services programs, the largest of which is 566 units of Housing Choice Vouchers. HATC receives a Shelter Plus Care grant for 95 units to provide assistance for homeless individuals and families in the Austin Travis County Metropolitan area; inter-local agreements with two neighboring counties also allow for services in those areas. HATC is a partner in the Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Leadership Council to assist in developing a financial model for a multi-jurisdictional solution to fund PSH in Austin. The City of Austin is committed to continuing its support of partnerships and efforts that will improve public housing and resident initiatives and will continue coordinating with both HACA and HATC in FY 2021-22 to inform public housing residents of affordable housing programs and opportunities. On March 7, 2019, AHFC approved a $1 million loan to HATC for the rehabilitation of one of its public housing properties, Eastern Oaks. The 30-unit multifamily property was built in 1982 and was in need of substantial rehabilitation. AHFC provided $1,000,000 in local Housing Trust Fund dollars, as part of HATC’s $3.25 million rehabilitation project. All 30 units will be affordable to households at or below 30% MFI for 99 years. Actions to encourage public housing residents to become more involved in management and participate in homeownership The City of Austin collaborates closely with local PHA officials to ensure that City housing programs are responsive and linked to the needs of public housing households. As previously noted, each of HACA’s 18 low income subsidized housing properties maintains a Resident Council designed to directly involve individuals in their community’s management and decision-making process. Participation in community management empowers households to become further involved in their communities, and to plan specific goals for achieving economic and housing self-sufficiency. The Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) continues to move families toward self-sufficiency. HACA’s down payment assistance program provides qualified families participating in the Public Housing or Housing Choice Voucher programs with a $10,000 forgivable loan to be applied towards the down payment on a new or existing home. If the applicant meets all program criteria for the first five years, then the loan is forgiven. HACA’s subsidiary, Austin Affordable Housing Corporation (AAHC) has also successfully implemented its own Community Land Trust (CLT). This program provides HACA’s public housing residents the ability to purchase a home at an extremely affordable price while the land is held by the CLT. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 91 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTHACA’s Community Land Trust program creates options for people who may not qualify for homeownership. HACA closed its first CLT home in April of 2013. Through AAHC, HACA’s Six Star program provides another alternative for those who are ready to move out of public housing but have not met all the criteria to purchase a home. The Six-Star program allows households to reside at one of AAHC’s apartment homes at a rate lower than the fair market rental rate. The rent amount increases slightly over the course of the three-year program, until the fair market rent is reached. The Six Star program allows participants to continue to learn financial management skills and work toward goals that will support sustainable economic and housing self-sufficiency and ultimately homeownership. If the PHA is designated as troubled, describe the manner in which financial assistance will be provided or other assistance Neither the Travis County Housing Authority nor the Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) is designated as troubled. Discussion Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 92 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAP-65 Homeless and Other Special Needs Activities – 91.220(i) Introduction The City of Austin completed the recruitment and successful hiring of the City’s Homelessness Strategy Officer in December 2020. The position is pivotal in the coordination between public and assisted housing providers and private and governmental health, mental health and service agencies to address issues related to homelessness prevention and housing individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. The City of Austin Homelessness Strategy Office/Officer serves to provide a strategic, coordinated response to address homelessness investments across the City departments. This includes evaluating the highest and best use of federal and local resources. The City of Austin coordinates the administration of the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funding with local and state funding of homeless services. ESG funds primarily serve the downtown single adult homeless population with emergency shelter, rapid rehousing, user licenses for the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and administration for the program. The Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) serves as the lead planning entity on homeless issues in Austin/Travis County, as appointed by the Austin/ Travis County Continuum of Care Leadership Council, the local CoC Board. As the Collaborative Applicant and HMIS Lead Agency, ECHO coordinates and completes Austin's Continuum of Care (CoC) NOFA Collaborative Application and annual reports. ECHO also coordinates the annual Point In Time (PIT) Count and survey planning, as well as the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). The City of Austin allocates general fund dollars to support ECHO staff and programs. ECHO manages the Coordinated Entry System (CE)–a comprehensive and standardized intake and assessment process. The CE system simplifies the client referral process for Permanent Housing and ESG funded programs. Data collected through the CE and other sources helps to create a list of resource shortfalls so that the community can advocate for increased funding in the most specific manner possible. ECHO follows the Continuum of Care CE Written Standards- following HUD guidelines and approved by the CoC Board- to ensure that all permanent housing programs are offered to the most vulnerable in an equitable manner. The Downtown Austin Community Court (DACC) works to collaboratively address the quality of life issues of all residents in downtown Austin through the swift, creative sentencing of public order offenders. DACC’s Case Management aims to end homelessness by providing comprehensive, long term services to individuals experiencing homelessness. Austin Public Health (APH) currently oversees DACC’s ESG funded rapid rehousing services program-monitoring both financial and performance reporting. Through their rapid rehousing program, DACC serves the homeless, frequent users of both the DACC and the Austin Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 93 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTResource Center for the Homeless (ARCH), through basic needs provision, financial assistance, housing relocation and stabilization assistance, and support services so clients can stay in permanent housing. The City has provided direct subsidies for the creation of over 900 permanent supportive housing (PSH) units. Between February 2017 and March 2021, 323 PSH units have been created, 77 of which are dedicated to the Continuum of Care, with nearly 600 PSH units at varying stages of development. This only represents those units that are created through direct subsidy from the City. The City also has a dedicated staff member to work closely with ECHO in promoting this PSH goal and other CoC initiatives. The City endorsed the Action Plan to End Homelessness, a community-wide vision of meeting needs and closing resource gaps across the community and endorsed the Pay for Success Initiative, an innovative funding model projected to create 250 new PSH units in the community over the course of 2 years. The Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint also supports the production of 100 PSH units each year, with half of those units housing people who are experiencing homelessness with support services provided as needed and funded by the City. The approach focuses on systematic coordination that is client centered, provider informed, data driven, and funder led. In order for Austin to be effective in addressing homelessness, all programs and agencies work together, contributing to the overall goal of reducing homelessness in Travis County; all programs across the system perform well, striving to achieve performance benchmarks; staff working to end homelessness have many tools to succeed in their jobs; prevention programs target resources to households that would become homeless if assistance would not be provided; and persons in transitional housing rapidly exit into permanent housing within 12 months. In 2020, the City of Austin began the hotel conversion strategy as a tool to help reach the City’s goal of generating PSH units. The Housing and Planning Department (HPD) worked with the Office of Real Estate Services (ORES) to find and acquire existing hotel properties that could be converted to PSH. The first of the acquisitions was the Rodeway Inn at 2711 S. IH-35, a 85-guest room hotel. The hotel was acquired in April 2020 and renovation began in May 2020 to allow for the immediate use of a protective lodge during the COVID pandemic. The Rodeway Inn, now known as Pro-lodge 5, began to house individuals at risk for contracting the COVID virus in July of 2020. Currently, renovation continues at the Pro-lodge 5 as the projected end date for all the scoped renovation is in Spring 2022. It is anticipated the Austin City Council will take action in 2021 to revise its goals in order to increase housing units for persons experiencing chronic homelessness. Describe the jurisdictions one-year goals and actions for reducing and ending homelessness including reaching out to homeless persons (especially unsheltered persons) and assessing their individual needs Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 94 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTIn order to identify and engage with people experiencing homelessness in the Austin/Travis County area, the City partners with more than ten different street outreach teams and mobile navigation programs and ten local emergency shelters. Coordination with these partners occurs through the CoC’s Coordinated Entry System (CE) and the shared Homeless Management Information (HMIS) database. Street Outreach teams, Navigation Center staff, and Emergency Shelter staff are trained to administer the CE assessment to add clients to the shared community By-Name-List to prioritize the most vulnerable clients for housing. One of these street outreach teams is the City-funded Homeless Outreach Street Team (HOST), an interdisciplinary outreach collaborative composed of representatives from law enforcement, mental health, and the court system, and dedicated to engaging the highest-need clients in the downtown area. Housing resources are prioritized based upon vulnerability, and the CoC has developed a CE system that uses Street Outreach teams to proactively document eligibility and keep households engaged while accessing services. The CoC provides assessment staff on a supplemental and temporary basis to close assessment need gaps while partners are developing internal assessment capacity. A number of outreach and shelter programs prioritize hard-to-reach populations such as unsheltered families, chronically homeless veterans, unaccompanied youth, persons with HIV/AIDS, refugees/asylees, and clients with mental health needs. Austin also coordinates with diverse community partners to identify homeless individuals, such as libraries, community centers, schools, clinics, hospitals, law enforcement, and the local mental health authority. When necessary, Street Outreach teams complete the CE assessment directly in the field using mobile technology, and they can request help from other Street Outreach teams if an area of high need is identified. These teams meet monthly at a CoC-wide coordination meeting to discuss coverage areas, frequency, emerging practices and concerns, and individual cases. Austin’s Action Plan to End Homelessness [http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=292841] has identified several objectives regarding outreach and shelter. They include: 1) Outreach programs engage all persons experiencing unsheltered homelessness and connect them to crisis services as well as to stable housing, 2) All persons in unsheltered situations can access crisis services and can end their homelessness, and 3) Persons in unsheltered situations can meet their basic daily survival needs (i.e. a comfortable and safe place to be during the day including services to end their homelessness, access to showers and bathrooms during the day, and access to 24 hour storage space). Addressing the emergency shelter and transitional housing needs of homeless persons Austin Public Health (APH) funds a private nonprofit organization, Front Steps, to operate the Austin Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 95 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTResource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) using ESG and general fund dollars. The City also funds other shelters, transitional housing and homeless services, and a shelter for women and children using funds other than ESG. All clients served in the ARCH have low- to moderate-income and are at or below 50% of MFI. Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds are used to provide maintenance and operations for this program. In 2018-19 APH competed the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) shelter agreement and worked with the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) to redesign the shelter programs, which resulted in the reduction of shelter beds from 160 to 130; Day Resource Center services were modified to only be available to shelter clients, while housing-focused case management has been made available to all shelter clients. The Day Resource Center program also includes a number of services such as mental health care, legal assistance, and employment assistance provided by co-located agencies. In addition, ARCH houses the Healthcare for the Homeless clinic operated by CommunityCare/Central Health. The changes in shelter programs came after an in-depth, year-long community input and consultation process. The City requires a high level of data quality, increased outcomes for persons exiting to permanent housing, and a shortened length of stay. NAEH is contracting with OrgCode Consulting to work with the shelter administrator to address shelter client workflow, data quality, staffing changes, housing case management for all shelter clients, and to ensure that all client services are housing-focused with a rapid exit from shelter. In addition to the emergency shelter services directly funded by ESG, the City and CoC have collaborated to create common strategies and systems to document unmet emergency shelter needs and to expedite the exit from emergency shelter to housing. These strategies include: ● Using the Coordinated Entry System (CE) to assist all shelter residents in applying for all possible housing programs ● Leading shelter transformation toward the housing-focused model ● Increasing documentation of exit data in HMIS for all projects, including emergency shelters where there are high rates of missing exit destination information ● Monitoring project performance by housing outcomes ● Partnering with landlords for prompt access to units that become available ● Training case managers to implement best practices that promote housing attainment and retention Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, shelters within the geographic area have reduced capacity to keep participants and staff safe. The ARCH reduced its capacity to 50 individuals, and is carefully monitoring Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 96 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTthe Austin covid conditions, with support from APH, to determine when it will be safe to expand capacity again. Helping homeless persons (especially chronically homeless individuals and families, families with children, veterans and their families, and unaccompanied youth) make the transition to permanent housing and independent living, including shortening the period of time that individuals and families experience homelessness, facilitating access for homeless individuals and families to affordable housing units, and preventing individuals and families who were recently homeless from becoming homeless again Front Steps, Inc., City of Austin’s Downtown Austin Community Court, and Austin Public Health’s Communicable Disease Unit will all administer ESG Rapid Rehousing funds in coordination to move homeless individuals from the streets and shelters into permanent housing. This program brings together housing location, financial assistance, and housing stability case management, and leverages other funding sources like the City of Austin General Fund dollars, to bring housing resources to unhoused people. In conjunction with the CoC, the City uses two primary strategies to rehouse clients as quickly as possible: ● Rapid identification and assessment through the Coordinated Entry System (CE) ● Rapid matching of RRH households with service-enriched housing programs (driven by active household choice in determining which combination of options is best suited to meet clients’ needs). The CE system creates a real-time, by-name list of homeless families using HMIS data, including date first homeless, and this information is used to affirmatively target households for engagement and housing. The CoC has adopted Written Standards for Service Delivery, including the Coordinated Entry Written Standards, which establish consistent prioritization and referral to permanent housing interventions as well as service delivery across intervention types. The CoC and City of Austin staff are working closely to ensure the finalization of community service delivery standards. These standards expanded housing location efforts using a Housing First approach to minimize time spent homeless and locating housing. Upon housing, these programs utilize nationally recognized best practices as appropriate for the intervention type to ensure that households with higher needs receive more intensive services if needed to stabilize them. The CoC has established formal partnerships for needs such as mental health, substance use, HIV/AIDS, veteran services, SSI/SSDI SOAR applications, representative payee services, employment training, and medical care (through MAP, a locally funded indigent health program). Staff also market services such as subsidized child care (through the local Workforce Solutions system), Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 97 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTeducation services, SNAP, TANF, WIC, subsidized housing waitlists, and Medicaid. Austin’s Action Plan to End Homelessness proposes 72 actions across five strategies – Outreach and Shelter, Housing and Services, Addressing Disparities, System Effectiveness, and Community Commitment. The Plan recognizes that Austin’s high occupancy and high cost rental market prove challenging when locating affordable, low barrier units. Housing objectives include for persons experiencing homelessness having immediate access to existing rental housing units that are affordable, low barrier, and geographically dispersed including high opportunity areas; all persons who have exited homelessness can maintain housing stability; persons experiencing homelessness have access to recovery services, mental healthcare and other healthcare services and increase access to meaningful and sustainable employment for people experiencing or most at risk of homelessness. The City of Austin partners closely with ECHO’s Community Housing Department to support access to low barrier housing units through partnering with housing properties and providing landlord incentives for homelessness dedicated units. This also includes partnering with ECHO who provides housing barrier screening services by offering amrent reports to support matching households to services, financial assistance tailored to ensuring households can find units regardless of financial and/or criminal background barriers. Helping low-income individuals and families avoid becoming homeless, especially extremely low-income individuals and families and those who are: being discharged from publicly funded institutions and systems of care (such as health care facilities, mental health facilities, foster care and other youth facilities, and corrections programs and institutions); or, receiving assistance from public or private agencies that address housing, health, social services, employment, education, or youth needs. The Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) coordinates the Continuum of Care funded projects and submits the annual application to HUD. ECHO works with the Reentry Roundtable, Travis County Criminal Justice, Integral Care’s Behavioral Health Advisory Committee, ATCIC leadership and other community planning organizations. ECHO also convenes ongoing conversations addressing discharge planning from hospitals, treatment facilities, and jails to assist persons leaving mental/physical health facilities to locate support services and housing, and persons with mental/physical health challenges leaving other institutions to do the same. Central Health, the local healthcare taxing district has identified Permanent Supportive Housing as a top 10 strategy for improving mental health in Travis County. ECHO staff participate in the Austin Travis County Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice Advisory Committee and have a voting seat. In August of 2019, ECHO began developing the Housing for Healthcare division consisting of 4-5 staff Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 98 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTwho support system-wide discharge planning and are liaisons with various institutions such as the criminal justice system and the hospital and medical systems. ECHO staff work closely with other systems of care to divert persons from entering homelessness when possible and to increase access to available resources (e.g., crisis beds, coordinated entry assessment). In addition, ECHO is one of the local SOAR Leads which has been vital in supporting access to housing resources through increased income and benefits. The City of Austin Emergency Solutions Grant funds are not allocated to homelessness prevention. However, the ESG-funded emergency shelter, ARCH, does work closely with hospitals to ensure that patients who are being discharged do not enter homelessness. Outreach and shelter staff utilize diversion strategies to find alternative housing options in order to prevent entries into homelessness and shelters. Hospital patients are offered and referred to transitional housing programs and/or respite beds. APH uses City general fund dollars for a centralized homelessness prevention program called Best Single Source Plus, which provides financial assistance and case management to families who are at-risk of homelessness due to acute housing crisis or chronic risk factors. The City of Austin funds a Fiscal Agent, Caritas of Austin, to oversee the funding collaboration which includes 12 agencies who provide financial assistance as a Housing Prevention program, targeting populations at highest risk of homelessness, including individuals with HIV/AIDS, families with minor children, elderly households, and transition-aged youth. As part of the joint work through the CoC, Austin/Travis County was also selected in 2017 as one of the first ten communities to participate in the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project, a newly funded initiative from HUD intended to test new and innovative housing interventions targeting unaccompanied, transition-aged youth experiencing homelessness. Austin/Travis County was awarded an initial, two-year, renewable grant of $5.2 million in programmatic funding, and a portion of this grant has been assigned to a “Deeper Diversion” program intended to prevent youth from entering homelessness from the Foster Care/Department of Family and Protective Services System, the Juvenile Justice system, and the Austin Independent School District system. During the FY19 CoC NOFA Competition, YHDP projects were transitioned into the CoC program funding competition for the first time since being awarded during the FY17 Round 1 YHDP Competition. All 3 youth dedicated projects were awarded as CoC-funded renewals and work in conjunction with each other to provide a diverse range of interventions to prevent and end youth homelessness. YHDP recipient agency, LifeWorks, closely works with schools, foster care, CPS, and juvenile justice to coordinate discharge planning to divert and prevent youth from entering homelessness and offering PH interventions to successfully exit youth into permanent housing solutions. These services are coordinated through partnerships with each of the respective agencies, and services comprise a combination of individualized case management, minimal financial assistance, and family based mediation and counseling services. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 99 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTThe community is dedicated to ending youth homelesssness through achieving functional zero for this population. The COVID-19 Pandemic has forced the community to reassess it goal end date, and providers are confident ending youth homelessness will be achieved Discussion Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 100 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAP-70 HOPWA Goals– 91.220 (l)(3) One year goals for the number of households to be provided housing through the use of HOPWA for: Short-term rent, mortgage, and utility assistance to prevent homelessness of the individual or family Tenant-based rental assistance Units provided in permanent housing facilities developed, leased, or operated with HOPWA funds Units provided in transitional short-term housing facilities developed, leased, or operated with HOPWA funds Total 94 55 44 70 263 Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 101 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAP-75 Barriers to affordable housing – 91.220(j) Introduction: The City of Austin has a number of initiatives to remove barriers to affordable housing which were recently examined as part of the regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI) http://centraltexasfairhousing.org the impediments identified in the AI are summarized below: City and county capacity for addressing fair housing challenges is limited. The growing housing crisis throughout the region is taxing City, county, and housing authority resources, as they work to implement new programs and policy changes to address housing needs. Harm caused by segregation is manifested in disproportionate housing needs and differences in economic opportunity. Past actions that denied housing opportunities and perpetuated segregation have long limited opportunities for many members of protected classes. Differences in poverty rates are highest in areas where early policies limited where people of different races and ethnicities could live. African American and Hispanic families in these areas have poverty rates averaging 17% greater than Non Hispanic White and Asian families. The homeownership gap between Black and Non-Hispanic White households is close to 20% in many jurisdictions. There is also an overrepresentation of Black and Hispanic families within the population experiencing homelessness, with significantly higher prevalence of these populations when compared to the Austin general population. Affordable rental options in the region are increasingly limited. Population growth in the region has impacted the demand for rental housing and increasingly limited the areas where low-income households can live affordably. This perpetuates the limited economic opportunity that began with segregation. For Housing Choice Voucher holders, state law prohibits cities and counties from including Source of Income as a protected class. Voucher holders have fewer options for using their vouchers than they did 5 years ago, and landlords have no requirement or incentive to accept voucher holders. Housing choice is increasingly limited for voucher holders, many of whom are persons of color. In addition, limitations are greater for households that are dependent on public transportation or need housing in specific areas to access jobs, schools and services. These households often include very low-income households, refugees, and individuals with disabilities. Stricter rental policies further limit options The requirement to have 3x the rent for rental units has a disproportionate effect on persons with disabilities whose incomes are primarily Social Security and Disability Insurance, as well as renters who receive income from unearned sources such as child support. Criminal look-back periods that do not take into account the severity of a crime, or time period in which Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 102 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTit was committed, disproportionately impact persons of color and persons in recovery. State law prevents local governments from allowing renters to claim legal unearned income as eligible for the 3x rent income threshold. Disparities in the ability to access homeownership Past policies such as reluctance to lend in lower income neighborhoods populated largely by people of color, have contributed to limited access to mortgage loans and limited economic opportunities for homebuyers of color. Denial rates for Black/African American applicants, Hispanic applicants, and other non Asian minorities are significantly higher than for Non-Hispanic White applicants and Asian applicants. State regulations, zoning and land use limit housing choice State regulations prohibit or limit the power of counties to implement zoning and inclusionary zoning (cities and counties) that could increase the supply of affordable housing, benefiting protected classes that have disproportionate housing needs. Some local units of government have vague regulations regarding treatment of group homes and do not allow a wide variety of densities that could facilitate affordable housing options. Actions planned to remove or ameliorate the negative effects of public policies that serve as barriers to affordable housing such as land use controls, tax policies affecting land, zoning ordinances, building codes, fees and charges, growth limitations, and policies affecting the return on residential investment In March 2020, a district judge’s ruling voided past Council actions to comprehensively revise the City of Austin’s Land Development Code after seven years of work. The proposed revisions were developed to implement housing goals outlined in the Strategic Housing Blueprint including expanding opportunities to incentivize the creation of income-restricted affordable housing citywide, expanding housing choice, and reducing housing access barriers. The City of Austin appealed the judge’s ruling and is waiting for a ruling from an appellate court. The Housing and Planning Department (HPD) continues to offer and administer programs to incentivize the creation of income-restricted affordable housing citywide through fee waivers and density bonus programs. HPD also proactively reviews proposed rules and regulations for their impact on housing affordability through Affordability Impact Statements and works collaboratively with other departments to minimize or avoid negative affordability impacts. Discussion: Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 103 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTContinuation of Impediments -Educational inequities persist in the region. African American children are significantly overrepresented in failing high schools and Hispanic children have the largest disparities in school quality across K-12 schools. School district boundaries that are neighborhood-driven and that do not accommodate open choice drive up housing prices in quality school neighborhoods. -Public transportation access has not kept up with growth. In addition to lack of affordable housing, lack of public transportation was the most common barrier to economic opportunity mentioned by participants in the outreach conducted for the AI. Lack of resources to address demand for better transportation in outlying areas is a contributing factor, as is the decline in affordable options in areas of the region where jobs are clustered. The lack of transportation options affects all types of Austinites who must commute and especially people who cannot drive or afford to own a car—people with disabilities and refugees, as well as households living in outlying areas. The City of Austin has begun implementing initiatives to address the regional impediments identified in the 2019 AI through the following: Included recommendations provided by the Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable about minimum standards for criminal background screening in the Rental Housing Development Assistance program guidelines. In June 2020, City Council approved a resolution to lower the maximum criminal look back periods. HPD has initiated the stakeholder engagement process to begin educating partnering developers about these new guidelines. HPD awarded 13 community-based organizations with Community Development Corporation (CDC) Capacity Building grants from local funds. This grant was created to assist with bolstering the capacity of CDCs in order to increase the availability of affordable housing in the City with the long-term goal of preventing displacement. HPD also collaborates with a Displacement Prevention Working group, spearheaded by community based organizations, housing advocates and community development corporations. The focus of the group is to collaborate with City staff to advance displacement prevention strategies throughout the City. The City and its regional partners established a Central Texas Regional Fair Housing working group to address affordable housing barriers on a regional scale. The regional working group is composed of staff from each of the ten entities represented in the 2019 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice. The working group will consult with area experts on housing equity and economic opportunity, K-12 educational leaders, local and regional transit providers and public works staff. The group convenes Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 104 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTquarterly and will develop a group charter and 5-year work plan. In 2020, the City’s housing, community development, planning and zoning functions came together under one department, merging to form the Housing and Planning Department. A key outcome of this merge is the formation of a workgroup, with a specific focus on displacement prevention of communities of color and low income residents in Austin. The City of Austin created a new position and hired its first Community Displacement Prevention Officer. The position oversees the development, coordination, and administration of programs and policies to advance the most rigorous response to gentrification and prevent displacement of communities of color and low-income residents. The officer collaborates across community stakeholders to address impediments to fair housing and implement the City’s Displacement Prevention Strategy. The City will continue to address affordable housing challenges through a number of initiatives such as: working with local and state leadership to raise awareness about the negative impacts of the requirement to have 3x the rent for rental units; implement displacement mitigation strategies and Strategic Housing Blueprint action items that are related to the disproportionate housing needs identified in the AI, encourage developers and landlords who benefit from public funding and development incentives to adopt reasonable policies on tenant criminal history, accept legal unearned income in consideration of the ability to pay rent and do not discriminate based on source of income; conduct an analysis and calibrate S.M.A.R.T. Housing incentives to function in high opportunity areas; increase awareness and affirmatively market program information and improve access to healthy food, quality schools, transit and safe neighborhoods for low income populations. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 105 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAP-85 Other Actions – 91.220(k) Introduction: Federal regulations require that participating jurisdictions include in their Annual Action Plans how they will use HUD grant funds in conjunction with other HUD funding and local resources in order to improve the lives of low and moderate-income households. Federally mandated guidelines are outlined below, along with a brief description of a best practice, or an initiative underway or planned to begin in FY 2021-22, to meet the specific directive. Actions planned to address obstacles to meeting underserved needs Affordable housing remains an underserved need within the City of Austin. The 2019 Housing Market Analysis showed a gap of approximately 36,000 affordable housing units for renter households making less than $25,000 annually. To assist in closing that gap, the City will continue to prioritize resources to affordable housing projects. Through the City of Austin's Housing Development Assistance (HDA) programs, HPD has partnered with various nonprofit and for-profit developers to increase and preserve the supply of affordable rental and homeownership opportunities that will benefit low- and moderate-income households. In 2018, Austin voters approved $250 million in affordable housing bonds. Approximately half of this total has been directed toward the HDA programs. As this is a competitive process, developers are incentivized to provide deeper affordability levels and more affordable units that will help to meet the identified needs Actions planned to foster and maintain affordable housing Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs) are nonprofit housing providers whose organizational mission includes the development of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households. The City is able to work closely with CHDOs to help them meet their housing development goals. The City provides CHDO Operating Expenses Grants to help increase organizational capacity and will continue to work closely with CHDOs in FY 2021-22 to increase opportunities that will foster and maintain affordable housing. HPD administers a range of home repair programs, including Architectural Barrier Removal (ABR) - Rental and Owner, Minor Home Repair Program, Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program (HRLP), and the G.O. Repair! Program. The Minor Home Repair program provides up to $5,000 in home repair assistance, and is administered by the City’s subrecipient, Austin Area Urban League. The G.O. Repair! Program is funded with general obligation bonds and provides up to $20,000 in home repair assistance. This program is administered by the City’s nonprofit partners who comprise the Austin Housing Repair Coalition. The remaining programs, ABR Owner, ABR Renter, and HRLP, are administered by AHFC staff. All home repair programs serve households at or below 80% MFI. Additionally, as part of the City of Austin’s comprehensive response to the February 2021 Texas Severe Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 106 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTWinter Storm, HPD launched an Emergency Home Repair initiative, effective March 1, 2021, to address widespread damage to Austinites’ homes. Administered by Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC), this initiative will be funded through a variety of public and private sources, including Austin Water, General Obligation Bonds, and a grant from Bank of America. HPD and AHFC staff are responsible for application intake, basic eligibility review, and resource referral. HPD will also utilize the seven nonprofit partners who comprise the Austin Housing Repair Coalition to carry out approved repairs. Up to $10,000 in funding is provided directly to the nonprofit after all approved work has been completed as agreed upon by the nonprofit staff, the homeowner, and the contractor. Eligible participants include homeowners within the City of Austin’s full purpose jurisdiction, with household incomes at or below 80% Median Family Income (MFI). Participants must have experienced damage(s) to their primary residence as a result of the February 2021 Texas Severe Winter Storm, causing harm to the life, health, or safety of the occupants. Participants cannot receive duplicate benefits through FEMA or insurance proceeds. Eligible repairs include repair or replacement of: Sewer lines ● Wall/Floor removal ● ● Gas lines ● Water lines and/or water damage ● ● ● ● ● Mold remediation Roof Electrical System HVAC units Plumbing fixtures – including sink pipes and toilets damaged by frozen conditions With the assistance of local nonprofit organizations and the Austin Housing Repair Coalition, the City of Austin will be able to address hundreds of emergency home repairs and ensure that low- and moderate-income homeowners are able to remain in safe, healthy, and accessible homes. In addition to providing direct assistance to low- and moderate-income homeowners, HPD collaborates with Austin Energy, Austin Water Utility and the City's Code Compliance department to offer comprehensive services promoting healthier homes. All of these City departments participate in the Austin Housing Repair Coalition and are actively involved in cross-departmental referrals and collaboration. HPD is actively working to produce a comprehensive strategy to preserve affordability. HPD coordinates with local partners, including Affordable Central Texas (ACT), to identify and preserve affordable housing. ACT is a 501(c)(3) organization that manages an open-ended social impact private equity fund for investment in moderate and middle-income housing affordability. ACT’s mission is to purchase and Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 107 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTpreserve multifamily properties to maintain affordable rental rates for the Austin workforce, including teachers, first responders, medical professionals and others vital to Austin’s day-to-day livability and success. According to ACT, in 2018, they acquired three properties totaling nearly 800 units of naturally occurring (unrestricted) affordable housing. Households in ACT’s properties average less than 80% MFI. HPD is working with ACT to determine whether HPD could subsidize deeper affordability in future acquisition and preservation transactions. Actions planned to reduce lead-based paint hazards The City of Austin does not have a lead-based paint program. However, the City addresses lead abatement through multiple programs and funding sources, including HPD’s home repair programs and rehabilitations funded through HPD’s Rental Housing Development Assistance program. Eligible Austinites that reside in a home that was built prior to 1978 will have their homes tested for the presence of lead-based paint and remediated, if necessary, as part of the scope of work for each program. The City of Austin remediates lead-based hazards in low- to moderate-income homes and addresses other household health and safety hazards such as mold, carbon monoxide, fire, tripping hazards and pest management. This more holistic approach to remediating household hazards allows community members to remain in their homes and benefit from a healthier environment. The City will continue testing properties built before 1978 for lead-based paint. Actions planned to reduce the number of poverty-level families All programs administered by the City of Austin aim to address critical needs of eligible households, including those in poverty, through housing, community development, and public services designed to increase their opportunities for self-sufficiency. HOPWA, ESG, and CDBG activities in particular assist households that fall under the special populations category outlined in the FY 2019-24 Consolidated Plan. Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) Activities - Austin Public Health (APH) administers all HOPWA activities for the City of Austin. These programs provide housing assistance for income-eligible persons living with HIV/AIDS, and their families. The goals of these programs are to prevent homelessness and to support independent, self-sufficient living among persons living with HIV/AIDS. These programs ensure clients have improved housing stability, which has been shown to improve retention in primary medical care and other supportive services. Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Activities - Austin Public Health administers all ESG activities for the City of Austin. These programs are designed to be the first step in a continuum of assistance to help clients quickly regain stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis and/or Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 108 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFThomelessness. ESG funds are also used to assist with the operational costs of the shelter facility, and for the administration of the grant. Public Service Activities In FY 2021-22, Austin Public Health will continue administering the City’s public services contracts for Child Care, Mental Health Services, and Senior Services that are funded with CDBG funds. Public services offer supportive services to households with low to moderate median family incomes and gross incomes less than 200% of Federal Poverty Income Guidelines. Child Care Services provides child care vouchers for families who are homeless, near-homeless, or experiencing other crises and direct child care services for low income families, and for teen parents who are attending school. Mental Health Services provides access to holistic, wraparound services and support to youth and their families designated as at-risk. Senior Services offers services that prevent and protect seniors from becoming victims of abuse, neglect, and/or financial exploitation. An additional service to be offered through public services contracts and administered by HPD will focus on advocacy to prevent and deter housing discrimination, tenant-landlord education and information, and housing repair and rehabilitation. Actions planned to develop institutional structure HPD administers housing, community, and economic development programs, which require interdepartmental coordination. The City of Austin’s new Homeless Services Division is led by a Chief Homeless Services Officer who works in coordination with City leadership, other City departments, community-based organizations, private partners and public system leaders to address community homelessness. Through the City’s strategic planning process, Strategic Direction 2023, City Council has identified homelessness as the top priority and is directing resources, actions and policy decisions toward the goal of preventing and ending homelessness in Austin. Several HUD System Performance Measures have been adopted as SD23 metrics, to ensure alignment in measuring system-wide progress and performance. The Homeless Services Division collaborates with internal and external stakeholders to implement strategies and cross-system coordination of funding, services, and programs to serve persons at risk of and persons currently experiencing homelessness. The City of Austin contracts with the Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) to develop affordable rental and homeownership opportunities, and housing rehabilitation of owner-occupied homes. APH provides housing support and related support services to Austinites living with HIV/AIDS, and their families, through the use of HOPWA grant funds. APH also provides assistance to help clients quickly regain stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis and/or homelessness using Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds. The Economic Development Department fosters small business Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 109 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTexpansions in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods to stimulate job creation through the Family Business Loan Program (FBLP). Initiatives and programs that require interdepartmental coordination and that will be underway in FY 2021-22: ● East 11th and 12th Streets Revitalization ● Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan, Household Affordability Priority Program and implementation ● Strategic Direction 2023 Economic Opportunity and Affordability Strategic Outcomes ● Implementation of Strategic Housing Blueprint Development Incentive Programs - Regulating activities provide incentives for the inclusion of affordable housing or community/economic development. ● S.M.A.R.T. Housing Program ● Development Incentive programs ● Development Agreements Redevelopment of Publicly Owned Land ● Colony Park Sustainable Communities Initiative ● Agreements between the City of Austin and developers that include affordable housing as a community benefit ● AHFC Land Acquisition and Disposition Program ● AHFC Community Land Trust and long-term Affordability Program Home Repair and Other Initiatives ● Austin Energy developed a referral tool for weatherization that will enable both HPD and Austin Energy to coordinate leads and referrals for home repair services targeted to low- and moderate-income households. ● Austin Water Utility provides funding for plumbing repairs and Private Lateral repairs/replacement for low- and moderate-income homeowners: http://www.austintexas.gov/department/private-lateral-program. HPD administers the Private Lateral grant program, utilizing funding from Austin Water Utility. HPD layered Austin Water Utility’s funding for plumbing repairs onto the G.O. Repair program, which is administered by seven nonprofit partners. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 110 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFT● Code Compliance utilizes a referral system to identify and address homes needing substantial and costly repairs. ● Austin Public Health, Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) and other key agencies collaborate on activities that support the Community Plan to End Homelessness Actions planned to enhance coordination between public and private housing and social service agencies HPD will continue to work closely with the following organizations to overcome gaps and enhance coordination efforts: African American Resource Advisory Commission (AARAC), Community Development Commission (CDC), Community Advancement Network (CAN), Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs), Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO), Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA), Housing Authority of Travis County (HATC), HousingWorks, and the Urban Renewal Agency, as well as other key stakeholders and organizations. HPD will also remain engaged with housing finance agencies, the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (NALHFA) and the Texas Association of Local Housing Finance Agency (TALHFA), to connect with other agencies whose missions address critical housing needs. In FY 2021-22, HPD will continue to strive towards the goal outlined in the Strategic Housing Blueprint to locate 25% of new income-restricted affordable housing within High Opportunity Areas. These areas provide residents with comparatively greater economic security, housing stability, mobility options, educational opportunities, and improved health and wellbeing. The City of Austin utilizes the methodology developed by the Enterprise Opportunity 360 Index to analyze opportunity within Austin. HPD and the Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) analyze the proposed location of each application for housing development assistance funding and give additional weight to proposals within High Opportunity Areas. HPD will continue to conduct opportunity mapping and evaluation to support community goals as well as the creation of affordable housing in all parts of Austin. Discussion: Section 108 Loan Guarantee/Family Business Loan Program (FBLP) The purpose of the Family Business Loan Program (FBLP) is to make low-interest loans to qualified Austin small business owners who are ready to expand their business and create jobs. The FBLP is a public-private partnership between the City of Austin, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) certified community lenders, and private banks. The City’s portion of the funding is provided by a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 108 loan guarantee. Related lending programs includes the April 8, 2020 approval (HUD) of the Austin Economic Injury Bridge Loan Program Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 111 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFT(AEIBLP), designed to provide short-term “bridge” financing for Austin small businesses applying to receive permanent financing through federal disaster assistance (due to Covid-19) programs including but not limited to SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and the U.S. Treasury Paychecks Protection Program. The AEIBLP program sunsetted on May 7th 2020 with a total of 19 loans approved and funded for a total dollar amount of $645,000.00 During FY 2012, the Economic Development Department (EDD) developed the FBLP program guidelines, and the guidelines were approved by HUD, the Texas Attorney General’s Office, and the Austin City Council. The Austin City Council and Texas Attorney General’s Office also approved acceptance of a $3 million Section 108 HUD loan guarantee to provide funding for the FBLP. In 2017 EDD accepted the remaining $5 million of a $8 million HUD Section 108 loan request from 2011. This funding in addition to the re-programming of $3 million formerly the neighborhood commercial management program (NCMP) administered by HPD brings the total FBLP funding to $11 million. EDD made extensive efforts to inform businesses about the FBLP during FY 2012. EDD staff has met with individual business owners, and presentations were given to the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce, and the Austin Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. FBLP presentations were also provided to the City of Austin’s Community Development Commission, the African American Resource Commission, and to eleven neighborhood and community associations that represent East Austin. EDD received Council approval for the first FBLP loan in May 2013, which created 12 new low- to moderate-income jobs in the Plaza Saltillo neighborhood. Since 2013, EDD has funded 24 loans totaling approximately $5.9 million, and leveraged over $30 million in private lender financing and can report 266 newly created or retained full-time equivalent jobs benefiting low-to-moderate-income persons (LTMI). Minority and women owned businesses comprise a majority (71%) of these loans. EDD has expanded the program City-wide to better serve all 10 Council districts and will continue to reach out to underserved communities in the Austin area. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 112 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTProgram Specific Requirements AP-90 Program Specific Requirements – 91.220(l)(1,2,4) Introduction: Monitoring The following information is included in response to the Annual Action Plan review checklist provided by HUD. Additional program-related information can be found in Appendix II. The goal of the City of Austin’s monitoring process is to assess subrecipient/contractor performance in the areas of program, financial and administrative compliance with applicable federal, state and municipal regulations, and current program guidelines. The City of Austin’s monitoring plan consists of active contract monitoring and long-term monitoring for closed projects. For more information about the City of Austin's Monitoring Plan, please see Appendix II 20% CDBG Administrative Cap ● CDBG Entitlement: $7,947,552 ● Program Income: $60,000 ● Revolving Loan: $135,000 ● Total: $8,142,552 ● Allowable 20% CDBG Admin Cap = $1,628,510.40 ● Administrative Expense: $1,589,510 <20% 15% CDBG Public Service Cap ● CDBG Entitlement: $7,947,552 ● Program Income: $60,000 ● Revolving Loan: $135,000 ● Total: $8,142,552 ● Allowable 15% CDBG Public Service Cap = $1,221,382.80 ● Public Service Expense: $1,092,080 <15% 10% HOME Administrative Cap ● HOME Entitlement: $3,156,803 ● Program Income: $900,000 ● Total: $4,056,803 Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 113 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFT● Allowable 10% HOME Admin Cap = $405,680.30 ● Administrative Expense: $315,680<10% 15% CHDO Set Aside ● HOME Entitlement: $3,156,803 ● CHDO Set Aside: $473,520=15.00% 3% HOPWA Administrative Cap ● HOPWA Entitlement: $2,099,125 ● Allowable 3% HOPWA Admin Cap: $62,973.75 ● Administrative Expense: $62,973<3% 7.5% ESG Administrative Cap ● ESG Entitlement: $669,870 ● Allowable 7.5% ESG Admin Cap: $50,240.25 ● Administrative Expense: $30,000<7.5% Selection of Project Sponsors Austin Public Health has contracted with two agencies -- AIDS Services of Austin (ASA) and Project Transitions (PT) -- since 1995. These two agencies have been the sole respondents to Notifications of Funding Availability (NOFA) for HOPWA services. They also were selected to provide these services via a Request for Applications (RFA) process and have been the subrecipients since August of 2002. These agencies carry out activities independently or collaboratively with other housing case management providers in the area and have a history of satisfactory service performance and delivery. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 114 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTCommunity Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) Reference 24 CFR 91.220(l)(1) Projects planned with all CDBG funds expected to be available during the year are identified in the Projects Table. The following identifies program income that is available for use that is included in projects to be carried out. 1. The total amount of program income that will have been received before the start of the next program year and that has not yet been reprogrammed 2. The amount of proceeds from section 108 loan guarantees that will be used during the year to address the priority needs and specific objectives identified in the grantee's strategic plan. $133,041 $386,549 3. The amount of surplus funds from urban renewal settlements 4. The amount of any grant funds returned to the line of credit for which the planned use has not been included in a prior statement or plan 5. The amount of income from float-funded activities Total Program Income: $519,590 Other CDBG Requirements 1. The amount of urgent need activities 0 0 0 0 2. The estimated percentage of CDBG funds that will be used for activities that benefit persons of low and moderate income.Overall Benefit - A consecutive period of one, two or three years may be used to determine that a minimum overall benefit of 70% of CDBG funds is used to benefit persons of low and moderate income. Specify the years covered that include this Annual Action Plan. 70.00% Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 115 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTHOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME) Reference 24 CFR 91.220(l)(2) 1. A description of other forms of investment being used beyond those identified in Section 92.205 is as follows: The City does not anticipate utilizing any other forms of investment beyond those identified in Section 92.205. Home Repair Loan Program (HRLP)- is not funded using HOME funds. Down Payment Assistance Program- is funded using HOME funds. The process for soliciting and funding applications is done on a first-come, first-serve basis. Detailed information can be obtained on the HPD website, mailed upon request, and made available through the trained/approved lender. The Lender has to submit an application for assistance on behalf of the potential homebuyer once the Lender has approved the applicant for a loan. Applicants under the Program must meet the following requirements: -Must be loan approved through a participating Lender -U.S. Citizen -First time homebuyer -Obtain a Homebuyer Education Certificate -Total household income must not exceed 80% of the Median Family Income (MFI) -Debt to income ratio must not exceed 45% -The property may not exceed the maximum HOME value limits -Must purchase and occupy the property as his/her principal residence -Property must be located within the City limits of Austin -Property must meet Uniform Physical Condition Standards (UPCS) prior to loan closing 2. A description of the guidelines that will be used for resale or recapture of HOME funds when used Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 116 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTfor homebuyer activities as required in 92.254, is as follows: To view the City's Resale and Recapture Policy, please see Appendix II. 3. A description of the guidelines for resale or recapture that ensures the affordability of units acquired with HOME funds? See 24 CFR 92.254(a)(4) are as follows: Cities receiving HOME Investment Partnership Funds are required to comply with a designated affordability period. The affordability period of any project is contingent upon the amount-per-unit subsidy received and may be five, ten, or fifteen years long. Participating jurisdictions are required to utilize the recapture or resale provisions to ensure continued affordability and the wise stewardship of federal funds. The following HPD programs use HOME funds to assist homebuyers, developers, or homeowners; thus, recapture and resale provisions are incorporated in program guidelines: Down Payment Assistance (DPA), Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program (HRLP), and the Ownership Housing Development Assistance (OHDA). Resale Recapture In cases where HOME funding was provided to the developer but not directly to the homebuyer, the resale method is used. The affordability period is enforced through a Restrictive Covenant signed by the homebuyer at closing and is recorded in the County Clerk’s Official Public Records. The Restrictive Covenant details the length of the affordability period and the specific resale requirements that must be satisfied should the owner wish to sell the property prior to the end of the affordability period. Both recapture and resale options have distinct advantages; the decision regarding which option to use is a matter of weighing factors such as trends in the marketplace, the availability of homeownership opportunities for lower-income households in the community, and the homebuyer program's local objectives. Under a recapture provision, the HOME financial assistance generally must be repaid. This option allows the seller to sell to any willing buyer at any price; participating jurisdictions can decide what proportion of net proceeds from the sale, if any, will go to the homebuyer and what proceeds will go to the participating jurisdiction. Once the HOME funds are repaid, the property is no longer subject to any HOME restrictions. The funds may then be used for any other HOME-eligible activity. 4. Plans for using HOME funds to refinance existing debt secured by multifamily housing that is Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 117 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTrehabilitated with HOME funds along with a description of the refinancing guidelines required that will be used under 24 CFR 92.206(b), are as follows: The City has no plans to utilize HOME funds to refinance existing debt secured by multifamily housing rehabilitated with HOME funds. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 118 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTEmergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Reference 91.220(l)(4) 1. Include written standards for providing ESG assistance (may include as attachment) Please see ESG Program Standards attached in Attachment II B. 2. If the Continuum of Care has established a centralized or coordinated assessment system that meets HUD requirements, describe that centralized or coordinated assessment system. The Austin/Travis County Continuum of Care, composed of representatives of agencies and individuals dedicated to ending homelessness as well as individuals with lived experience of homelessness have adopted the Coordinated Entry Written Standards, which guides the local centralized assessment system. ECHO, the collaborative applicant and HMIS lead of the CoC, have been charged by the CoC to facilitate and operate the CE system. The system was first opened in November of 2014, and the CoC Leadership Council, the CoC Board, adopted updated Coordinated Entry Written Standards in April 2019 that meet all CE requirements established by HUD CPD Notice -17-01 and 24 CFR 578. All CoC and ESG programs participate in this system, in compliance with the 2012 CoC Program interim rule (24 CFR 578) and the 2011 Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) interim rule (24 CFR 576). The CE system consolidates and simplifies the process by which clients can request ESG and COC assistance, as well as additional community resources which have voluntarily agreed to the same minimum standards and practices. In order to affirmatively engage clients in the greatest need with the CE system, the CoC has developed an integrated Outreach, Navigation, and Emergency Shelter system that actively engages and assesses individuals in the greatest need, then proactively documents eligibility and keeps households engaged. Street Outreach teams, Navigation Center staff, and Emergency Shelter staff are trained to administer the CE assessment to add clients to the community By Name List for referral to permanent housing programs. The CoC provides assessment staff on a supplemental and temporary basis to close assessment need gaps, while partners develop internal assessment capacity. Certain CoC providers prioritize permanent housing resources based upon the vulnerabilities captured by this common vulnerability and eligibility assessment system. To further ensure the system reaches people least likely to apply unassisted, dedicated walk-in locations are co-located with complementary services such as career services, family medical services, and drop-in day resources. The CoC also publishes a public web portal which includes a Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 119 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTdirect contact section where clients or community members can request a phone appointment or a personalized location appointment. Many of the street outreach and community partner organizations are specifically dedicated to hard-to-reach populations such as unsheltered families, chronically homeless veterans, unaccompanied youth, HIV/AIDS, refugees/asylees, and individuals with mental health challenges. 3. Identify the process for making sub-awards and describe how the ESG allocation available to private nonprofit organizations (including community and faith-based organizations). There has been no competition for the ESG Rapid Rehousing and ESG HMIS Agreements funds since 2012, when the rapid rehousing funding was completed. In 2018-2019, Austin Public Health completed the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) Shelter Agreement and worked with the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) to redesign the shelter programs, which resulted in a reduction of shelter beds from 160 to 130; Day Resource Center services are now only available to shelter clients, and enrollment in housing-focused case management is required for all shelter clients. The Day Resource Center program also includes a number of services such as mental health care, legal assistance, and employment assistance provided by co-located agencies. In addition, ARCH also houses the Healthcare for the Homeless clinic operated by CommunityCare/Central Health. These changes came after an in-depth, year-long community input and consultation process. The City will require a high level of data quality, increased outcomes for persons exiting to permanent housing, and a shortened length of stay. NAEH is contracting with OrgCode Consulting to work with the shelter administrator to address shelter client workflow, data quality, staffing changes, housing case management for all shelter clients, and ensuring that all client services are housing-focused with a rapid exit from shelter. See the ESG Subawards table at the end of this section for details on all programs. Please see the attached ESG Program Standards for the Grant Subaward Process. 4. If the jurisdiction is unable to meet the homeless participation requirement in 24 CFR 576.405(a), the jurisdiction must specify its plan for reaching out to and consulting with homeless or formerly homeless individuals in considering policies and funding decisions regarding facilities and services funded under ESG. The CoC Board maintains 2 seats dedicated to individuals with lived expertise of homelessness. City of Austin Homeless Strategy Officer staff and Austin Public Health Staff work closely with the CoC as required in 24 CFR 576. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 120 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFT5. Describe performance standards for evaluating ESG. All City of Austin homeless contracts have the following performance measures: - Number of unduplicated clients served. - Number of households provided homeless services that transition from homelessness into housing. In addition, all ESG recipients must provide demographic information to reflect the IDIS report screens. - Average number of days from program entry to exit from homelessness into housing. Please also see attached ESG Program Standards in Appendix II. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 121 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTESG Sub-awards FY 21-22 Programs Agency Program New Contract, Renewal, or Competitive Process Front Steps Front Steps Front Steps APH Communicable Disease Unit Downtown Austin Community Court ARCH Shelter Rapid Rehousing HMIS Rapid Rehousing Renewal Renewal Renewal Renewal Rapid Rehousing Renewal APH Administration N/A Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 122 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTDiscussion Reprogramming Exhibit 2 CDBG HPD proposes to reprogram the following CDBG funds through the FY 2021-22 Action plan process according to the guidelines established in the City of Austin Citizen Participation Plan. Exhibit 2 below outlines the reprogramming of these funds. Amount From $800,000 Administration $1,083,970 Community Development $2,138,156 Housing Total: $4,022,126 To Housing Housing Housing NOTE: Amounts are based on current estimates and actual funds reprogramed will be supported by September 30, 2021 year end balances. Maximum Sales Price Section 215(b) of the National Affordable Housing Act (NAHA) requires that the initial purchase price or after-rehabilitation value of homeownership units assisted with HOME funds not exceed 95 percent of the area median purchase price for single family housing, as determined by HUD. In 24 CFR § 92.254(a)(2)(iii), HUD outlines the process for project jurisdictions to determine this maximum purchase price based on the jurisdiction’s median area purchase price for single family housing. The current HUD maximum sales price for the Austin-Roundrock Metropolitan Statistical Area of $318,000 does not accurately reflect the housing market in Austin. According to data provided by the Austin Board of Realtors, the median sales price for a home in Austin is $595,000, putting the 95% maximum sales price Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 123 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTat $565,250. In accordance with HUD regulation 24 CFR § 92.254(a)(2)(iii), the City requests that HUD adjust the local maximum sales price accordingly. Draft Annual Action Plan 2021 124 OMB Control No: 2506-0117 (exp. 09/30/2021) DRAFTAttachment I A: Citizen Participation Plan DRAFT CITY OF AUSTIN CITIZEN PARTICIPATION PLAN A. PURPOSE Participating Jurisdictions (PJs) that receive U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) entitlement grant funds must develop a Citizen Participation Plan (CPP). The CPP describes efforts that will be undertaken to encourage community members to participate in the development of the City’s federal reports: Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH), Consolidated Plan, Annual Action Plan, and the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). The CPP is designed to encourage the participation of city residents in the development of the federal reports listed above, particularly those residents who are predominantly low- and moderate-income. For purposes of CDBG funding, a resident is considered to be low-income if their family income equals 50% or less of median family income (MFI), as estimated by HUD. A person is considered to be moderate-income if their family income is between 50% and 80% of MFI. Predominately low-to moderate-income neighborhoods are defined as any neighborhood where at least 51% of the residents have incomes equal to or below 80% of the MFI for any given year. The determination of whether a neighborhood meets the low-to moderate income definition is made by the City at the time a project of area-wide benefit is funded based on current data provided by HUD. The CPP also encourages local and regional institutions and other organizations (including businesses, developers, and community and faith-based organizations) to participate in the process of developing and implementing the Consolidated Plan and related reports. The City takes appropriate actions to encourage the participation of persons of minority backgrounds, persons with limited-English proficiency, and persons with disabilities. It is important to note that HUD’s use of the statutory term “citizen participation” does not in any way limit engagement and consultation with community members based on legal status or country of origin. Any person that resides in the Austin metro area is encouraged to provide input about the federal reporting process as outlined in this CPP. The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request. The City of Austin does not discriminate on the basis of disability in the admission or access to, or treatment or employment in its programs and activities. The City of Austin considers it the right of all Austin’s residents to have the opportunity to provide input and comment on the use of public funds and the community’s needs related to affordable housing and community and economic development. DRAFT The CPP applies to six areas of planning for the use of affordable housing, community and economic development made possible through HUD funding: 1) Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH); 2) The Consolidated Plan; 3) The Annual Action Plan; 4) The Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER); 5) Substantial amendments to a Consolidated Plan and/or Annual Action Plan; and 6) Amendments to the CPP. The City of Austin’s program/fiscal year begins October 1 and ends September 30. In order to receive entitlement grant funding, HUD requires jurisdictions to submit a Consolidated Plan every five years. This plan is a comprehensive strategic plan for community planning and development activities. The Annual Action Plan serves as the City’s application for these HUD grant programs. Federal law also requires that community members have opportunities to review and comment on the local jurisdiction’s plans to allocate these funds. The purpose of programs that are covered by this CPP is to improve the Austin community by providing: decent housing, a suitable living environment, and growing economic opportunities – all principally for low- and moderate- income households (as defined in Section A). This document outlines how members of the Austin community may participate in the six planning areas listed above. General requirements for all or most activities are described in detail in Section E of the CPP. B. HUD PROGRAMS The City of Austin receives four entitlement grants from HUD, to help address the City’s affordable housing, community and economic development needs. The four grant programs are described below: 1. Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG): Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (PL 93-383) created the CDBG program. It was reauthorized in 1990 as part of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act. The primary objective of the CDBG program is to develop viable urban communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment, and by expanding economic development opportunities for persons of low-and moderate income. The City develops locally defined programs and funding priorities for CDBG, but activities must address one or more of the national objectives of the CDBG program. The three national objectives are: (1) to benefit low- and moderate- income persons; (2) to aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight; and/or (3) to meet other urgent community development needs. The City of Austin’s DRAFTCDBG program emphasizes activities that directly benefit low-and moderate-income persons. 2. HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME): HOME was introduced in the Cranston- Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 and provides funding for housing rehabilitation, new housing construction, acquisition of affordable housing, and tenant-based rental assistance. A portion of the funds (15 percent) must be set aside for community housing development organizations (CHDOs) that are certified by the City of Austin. 3. Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG): The ESG Program is authorized by the Steward B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 and was amended by the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009. ESG has six objectives: 1) Engage homeless individuals and families living on the street; 2) Improve the number and quality of emergency shelters for homeless individuals and families; 3) Help operate these shelters; 4) Provide essential services to shelter residents; 5) Rapidly re-house homeless individuals and families; and 6) Prevent families and individuals from becoming homeless. 4. Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA): HOPWA funds may be used to assist housing designed to meet the needs of persons with HIV/AIDS, including the prevention of homelessness. Supportive services may also be included. HOPWA grants are allocated to Eligible Metropolitan Statistical Areas (EMSAs) with a high incidence of HIV/AIDS. The City of Austin receives a HOPWA grant on behalf of a five-county EMSA (Bastrop, Hays, Travis, Williamson, and Caldwell Counties). LEAD and RESPONSIBLE AGENCIES C. The Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department (NHCD) is designated by the Austin City Council as the single point of contact for HUD, and is the lead agency for CDBG, HOME, HOPWA, and ESG grant programs. NHCD administers the CDBG affordable housing and community development programs and the HOME programs; Austin Public Health (APH) administers the CDBG Public Services, HOPWA, and ESG programs; and the Economic Development Department (EDD) administers the CDBG economic development programs and the Section 108 Family Business Loan Program (FBLP). As the lead agency, NHCD is responsible for developing the Consolidated, Annual Action Plans, and the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). NHCD coordinates with APH, EDD, boards and commissions, and other community agencies to develop these documents. Needs and priorities for funding for the ESG and HOPWA grants are developed by APH in consultation with community agencies. DRAFT D. PLANNING ACTIVITIES SUBJECT TO CITIZEN PARTICIPATION PLAN ACTIVITY 1 – ASSESSMENT OF FAIR HOUSING. The Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) is a planning document prepared in accordance with HUD regulations at 24 CFR 91.105 and 24 CFR 5.150 through 5.166, which became effective June 30, 2015. This AFH includes an analysis of fair housing data, assesses fair housing issues and contributing factors, and identifies the City’s fair housing priorities and goals for affirmatively furthering fair housing. 1. Stakeholder Consultation and Outreach. In the development of the AFH, the City will consult with other public and private agencies including, but not limited to, the following: ● Local public housing authorities ● Other assisted housing providers ● Social service providers including those focusing on services to minorities, families with children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, persons with HIV/AIDS and their families, homeless persons, and other protected classes ● Community-based and regionally based organizations that represent protected class members and organizations that enforce fair housing laws involved in metropolitan-wide planning and ● Regional government agencies transportation responsibilities ● Financial and lending sector partners ● Businesses or organizations that specialize in broadband access, especially for low-to moderate-income households ● Organizations that specialize in resilience and disaster recovery A variety of mechanisms may be utilized to solicit input from these entities. These could include telephone or personal interviews, mail surveys, internet-based feedback and surveys, focus groups, and/or consultation workshops. 2. Publishing Data. City staff shall make any proposed analysis and the relevant documents, including the HUD-provided data and any other data to be included in the AFH, available to the public in a manner that affords diverse residents and others the opportunity to examine the content. 3. Public Hearing. To obtain the views of the general public on AFH-related data and affirmatively furthering fair housing in the City’s housing and community development programs, the City will conduct at least one public hearing before the Community Development Commission (CDC) during the development of the AFH. 4. Public Display and Comment Period. The draft AFH will be placed on display in physical and online form for a period of no less than 30 calendar days to encourage public review and comment. The public notice shall include a brief summary of the content and purpose of the draft AFH, the dates of the public display and comment period, the locations where copies of the proposed document can be examined, how comments will be accepted, and the anticipated submission date to HUD. The draft AFH will be made available at public libraries, public housing DRAFT authorities, neighborhood centers, at NHCD’s office, and on the NHCD web site (www.austintexas.gov/housing). In addition, upon request, federal reports will be provided in a form accessible to persons with disabilities. 5. Comments Received on the Draft Assessment of Fair Housing. Comments will be accepted by the City contact person, or a designee, during the 30-day public comment period. The City will consider any comments or views received in writing, or orally during public hearings. A summary of these comments or views, and a summary of any comments or views not accepted and the reasons why, will be attached to the final AFH for submission to HUD. 6. Submission to HUD. All written or oral testimony will be considered in preparation of the final AFH. The AFH will be submitted to HUD 270 days before the Consolidated Plan is due. 7. Revisions to AFH. A HUD-accepted AFH must be revised and submitted to HUD for review when either of the following situations occurs: a. A material change occurs. A material change is one that both; i) impacts the circumstances in the City which may include natural disasters, significant demographic changes, new significant contributing factors, and civil rights findings and, ii) causes alterations to the AFH’s analyses, contributing factors, priorities, and/or goals. b. The City receives a written notification from HUD specifying a material change. Whenever a revision to the Assessment of Fair Housing is proposed, the revision will be available for public comment for a period of thirty (30) days before submission to HUD. A revision to the Assessment of Fair Housing will not be implemented until the conclusion of the 30-day public comment period. A summary of all comments or views received in writing, or orally during the comment period will be attached to the revision upon submission to HUD. ACTIVITY 2 – CONSOLIDATED PLAN. The City of Austin’s Consolidated Plan is developed through a collaborative process whereby the community establishes a unified vision for Austin’s affordable housing, and community and economic development initiatives. Community member participation is an essential component in the development of the Consolidated Plan, including amending the plan as well as reporting on program performance. Consultations, public hearings, community meetings, surveys and opportunities to provide written comment are all a part of the strategy to obtain community member input. The City will make special efforts to solicit the views of community members who reside in the designated CDBG-priority neighborhoods of Austin, and to encourage the participation of all community members including minorities, the non-English speaking population, and persons with disabilities. Actions for public participation in the Consolidated Plan follow: 1. Consultations with Other Community Institutions. In developing the Consolidated Plan, the City will consult with public and private agencies, both for-profit and non-profits that either provide or have direct impact on the broad range of housing, health, and social services needed by Austin residents. Consultations may take place through meetings, task forces or committees, or other means with which to coordinate information and facilitate communication. The purpose of these meetings is to gather information and data on the community and economic development needs of the community. The City will seek specific input to identify the needs of persons experiencing DRAFThomelessness, persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families, persons with disabilities and other special populations. 2. Utilize Quantitative and Qualitative Data on Community Needs. City staff shall review relevant data and conduct necessary evaluation and analysis to provide an accurate assessment of community needs and priorities on which to base strategic recommendations. 3. Initial Public Hearings. There will be a minimum of two public hearings at the beginning stages of the development of the Consolidated Plan before the Community Development Commission (D) in order to gather information on community needs from community members. The CDC are policy advisers to the City who are either appointed by the City Council or elected at the neighborhood-level to represent low-income households. There will be two more hearings sponsored by organizations working with low- and moderate-income populations. An additional hearing will be held before the City Council. Based on public testimony received, the CDC will make recommendations to City Council on the community needs. 4. Written Comments. Based on public input and quantitative analysis, City staff will prepare a draft Consolidated Plan, which includes proposed allocations of first-year funding. A period of 30 calendar days will be provided to receive written comments on the draft Consolidated Plan. The draft plan will be made available at public libraries, public housing authorities, neighborhood centers, at NHCD’s office, and on the NHCD web site (www.austintexas.gov/housing). In addition, upon request, federal reports will be provided in a form accessible to persons with disabilities. 5. Draft Consolidated Plan Public Hearings. There will be a public hearing held before the City Council to receive oral public comments on the draft. An additional hearing will be held before the Community Development Commission (CDC). These hearings will be scheduled during the 30- day written comment period on the draft plan. The CDC will be given the opportunity to make recommendations to Council on the draft Consolidated Plan/Action Plan. 6. Final Action on the Consolidated Plan. All written or oral testimony provided will be considered in preparing the final Consolidated Plan. A summary of testimony received, and the City’s reasons for accepting or not accepting the comments must be included in the final document. The City Council will consider these comments, CDC recommendations, and the recommendations of the City Manager before taking final action on the Consolidated Plan. Final action by the City Council will occur no sooner than fifteen calendar days following the second City Council public hearing on the draft plan. When approved by City Council, the Consolidated Plan will be submitted to HUD. DRAFTACTIVITY 3 – ONE-YEAR ACTION PLAN. Each year the City must submit an annual Action Plan to HUD, reporting on how that year’s funding allocation for the four HUD entitlement grants will be used to achieve the goals outlined in the Consolidated Plan. 1. City staff will gather input from community members and from community consultations to prepare the draft Action Plan and report progress on the Fair Housing Action Plan. There shall be two public hearings: one before the Community Development Commission (CDC) and one before the City Council to receive community member input on the community needs, including funding allocations. 2. City staff will gather public input and statistical data to prepare the draft Action Plan. A draft Action Plan will be available for 30 days for public comment after reasonable notice to the public is given. 3. During this comment period, the CDC and the City Council shall conduct two additional public hearings to receive public comments on the draft Action Plan and Consolidated Plan, if it is during a Consolidated Planning year. 4. The CDC will be given the opportunity to make recommendations to the City Council prior to its final action. 5. Final action by the City Council will occur no sooner than fifteen calendar days following the second Council public hearing on the draft Action Plan. 6. When approved by City Council, the Action Plan will be submitted to HUD. ACTIVITY 4 – SUBSTANTIAL AMENDMENTS TO CONSOLIDATED/ACTION PLAN. Recognizing that changes during the year may be necessary to the Consolidated Plan and Annual Action Plan after approval, the Citizen Participation Plan allows for “substantial amendments” to plans. These “substantial amendments” apply only to changes in CDBG funding allocations. Changes in funding allocation for other HUD grant programs received by the City of Austin – HOME, ESG, and HOPWA – are not required to secure public review and comment. The CPP defines a substantial amendment as: ● A proposed use of CDBG funds that does not address a need identified in the governing Consolidated Plan or annual Action Plan; or ● A change in the use of CDBG funds from one eligible program to another. The eligible programs defined in the City of Austin’s investment plan either fall into the category of “Housing” or “Community Development.” ● A cumulative change in the use of CDBG funds from an eligible activity to another eligible activity that decreases an activity’s funding by 10% or more OR increases an activity’s funding by 10% or more during fiscal year. An activity is defined as a high priority need identified in the Consolidated Plan that is eligible for funding in the Action Plan. DRAFTIn the event that there are substantial amendments to the governing Consolidated Plan or annual Action Plan: 1. The City will draft the amendment and publish a brief summary of the proposed substantial amendment(s) and identify where the amendment(s) may be viewed 2. After reasonable notice, there will be a 30-day written public comment period 3. During the 30-day comment period, the City Council shall receive oral comments in public hearings. action. 4. The CDC will be given the opportunity to make recommendations to City Council prior to its final 5. Upon approval by Council, the substantial amendment will be posted in the official City Council minutes and available online and in the City Clerk’s office. Final action by the City Council will occur no sooner than fifteen calendar days next following the second Council public hearing on the draft plan. Disaster Response and Recovery Funds In the event of a declared city-wide, state-wide or national emergency (as proclaimed by the Mayor, Governor, or President of the United States), it may be necessary for the City to apply for new emergency grant funding from HUD, such as CDBG-Disaster Recovery grants, or any other grants issued to jurisdictions in the event of a disaster which requires an urgent response to address the needs of the community. In order to expedite the distribution of emergency funding during a disaster response situation the City Council, City Manager, or HUD may determine it is necessary to waive certain substantial amendment provisions described in Section D, Activity 4 or certain General Requirements Provisions described in Section E. Any such waiver is subject to the requirements of the respective emergency funding appropriation. HUD’s criteria used to qualify local “urgent needs” e.g., events of “particular urgency'' because existing conditions pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community for which other funding is not available can be found at 24 CFR 570.483(d). To comply with the national objective of meeting community development needs having a particular urgency, and that a project will alleviate existing conditions which: 1. Pose a serious and immediate threat to the health and welfare of the community; 2. Are of recent origin or recently became critical within 18 months preceding the certification by the grantee; 3. Are unable to be financed by the City on its own; and 4. Other funding resources are not available to completely carry out the activity. In the event of a disaster that requires a response to address local urgent needs, the City will: 1. Notify HUD at least five (5) days before implementing changes or amendments to the Consolidated Plan and/or Action Plan; and 2. Make reasonable efforts to provide the public opportunity to comment on changes and amendments to the Consolidated Plan and/or Action Plan. DRAFTThese actions do not require the City to comply with all of the substantial amendment provisions related to the citizen participation requirements described in Section D, Activity 4 or all of the General Requirements Provisions described in Section E. HUD Waiver Process Upon determination of good cause, HUD has the authority to waive certain regulatory provisions of the CDBG, HOME, ESG, and HOPWA programs subject to statutory limits. The City reserves the right to submit waiver notifications to HUD when expedited assistance is offered through programs covered by the Consolidated Plan. Following completion of a waiver process as determined by HUD, the City may carry through actions as prescribed by the approved waiver determinations authorized by HUD. ACTIVITY 5 – CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL PERFORMANCE AND EVALUATION REPORT (CAPER). The City is required to submit annually by December 30 a CAPER to HUD that describes the City’s progress in meeting the goals in the Consolidated Plan. 1. City staff prepares the draft CAPER. 2. After reasonable notice is provided, the CAPER is available for 15 days for written public comment. 3. The final CAPER and public comments will be submitted to HUD. 4. The CAPER and public comments will be presented at a CDC meeting. ACTIVITY 6 – AMENDMENTS TO CITIZEN PARTICIPATION PLAN. The City will review the Citizen Participation Plan (CPP) at least every 5 years for potential enhancement or modification; this review will occur as a component of the Consolidated Planning process. In the event that changes to the CPP are necessary, City staff shall draft them. 1. After reasonable notice, these will be available to the public for 15 days for written comment. 2. The CDC and City Council shall each hold a public hearing to receive oral public comments on the 3. The CDC will be given the opportunity to make recommendations to City Council prior to its final proposed change. action. 4. Upon approval by City Council, the substantial amendment will be posted in the official City Council minutes and available online on the NHCD web site (www.austintexas.gov/housing) and in the City Clerk’s office. E. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request. The City of Austin does not discriminate on the basis of disability in the admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, its programs and activities. In the event of a disaster which requires an urgent response to address the needs of the community as described in the Disaster Recovery and Response section, the City will make reasonable efforts to provide the public opportunity to comment on federal reports. DRAFT 1. Public Hearings. Public hearings before the Austin City Council, the Community Development Commission (CDC), and other appropriate community organizations will be advertised in accordance with the guidelines outlined in the notification section below. The purpose of public hearings is to provide an opportunity for community members, public agencies, and other interested parties to provide input on the City of Austin’s affordable housing, community and economic development needs. Public hearings will be held in locations accessible to low- and moderate- income residents and persons with disabilities. Spanish translation and interpretation for individuals with hearing impairments will be provided upon request. 2. Public Meetings. Public meetings of the Austin City Council, Community Development Commission (CDC), and other boards and commissions overseeing HUD-funded programs provide opportunities for community member participation and comment on a continuous basis. Public meeting notices are posted at the Office of the City Clerk at least three days (72 hours), prior to the meeting date, in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. Public meetings are held in locations accessible to persons with disabilities. Spanish translation and interpretation for individuals with hearing impairments will be provided upon request. Notification. The Neighborhood Housing and Community Development (NHCD) Department will provide the community advance notice of public hearings and/or public comment periods. The notice will be provided at least two weeks prior to the public hearing date and the start date of comment periods. Related to the CPP specified federal documents, NHCD will provide public notifications by utilizing City of Austin publications and media (television, print, electronic) that will maximize use of City resources and reach an increased number of Austin residents by direct mail. Related to federal publications referenced above, NHCD will notify the public about public hearings, comment periods, public meetings, and additional opportunities for public feedback through communications outlets that are designed to increase public participation and generate quantifiable feedback/results. NHCD will utilize the following notification mechanisms as available: City of Austin utility bill inserts; City of Austin website; and Channel 6, the municipally owned cable channel. In addition, NHCD will use other available media (print, electronic, television) to promote public feedback opportunities. Notifications will be published in English and Spanish. NHCD will coordinate with the Community Development Commission, Urban Renewal Agency, other governmental agencies, public housing authorities, key stakeholders, and the general public during the development of the Assessment of Fair Housing, Consolidated Plan and an annual Action Plan. 3. Document Access. Copies of all planning documents, including the following federal reports: City’s Citizen Participation Plan (CPP), Assessment of Fair Housing, Consolidated Plan, annual Action Plan, and the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), will be available to the public upon request. Community members will have the opportunity to review and comment on applicable federal reports in draft form prior to final adoption by the Austin City Council. These documents will be made available at public libraries, public housing DRAFTauthorities, certain neighborhood centers, at the NHCD office, and on the NHCD website (www.austintexas.gov/housing). In addition, upon request, federal reports will be provided in a form accessible to persons with disabilities. 4. Access to Records. The City will provide community members, public agencies, and other interested parties reasonable and timely access to information and records relating to the Citizen Participation Plan (CPP), Assessment of Fair Housing, Consolidated Plan, annual Action Plan, and CAPER, and the City’s use of assistance under the four entitlement grant programs, as stated in the Texas Public Information Act and the Freedom of Information Act. 5. Technical Assistance. The City will provide technical assistance upon request and to the extent resources are available to groups or individuals that need assistance in preparing funding proposals, provided that the level of technical assistance does not constitute a violation of federal or local rules or regulations. The provision of technical assistance does not involve re- assignment of City staff to the proposed project or group, or the use of City equipment, nor does technical assistance guarantee an award of funds. F. COMMUNITY MEMBERS’ COMPLAINTS Written complaints related to NHCD’s programs and activities funded through entitlement grant funding may be directed to the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development (NHCD) Department. A timely, written, and substantive response to the complainant will be prepared within 15 working days of receipt of the complaint by NHCD. If a response cannot be prepared within the 15-day period, the complainant will be notified of the approximate date a response will be provided. Written complaints must include the complainant’s name, address, and zip code. A daytime telephone number should also be included in the event further information or clarification is needed. Complaints should be addressed as follows: Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department Attn: Director City of Austin P.O. Box 1088 Austin, Texas 78767 If the response is not sufficient, an appeal may be directed to the City Manager, and a written response will be provided within 30 days. An appeal should be addressed as follows: City Manager’s Office Attn: City Manager P.O. Box 1088 Austin, Texas 78767 DRAFTG. CITY OF AUSTIN’S RESIDENTIAL ANTI-DISPLACEMENT AND RELOCATION ASSISTANCE PLAN The City of Austin does not anticipate any displacement to occur as a result of any HUD-funded activities. All programs will be carried out in such a manner as to safeguard that no displacement occurs. However, in the event that a project involving displacement is mandated in order to address a concern for the general public’s health and welfare, the City of Austin will take the following steps: 1. A public hearing will be held to allow interested community members an opportunity to comment on the proposed project and voice any concerns regarding possible relocation. Notice of the public hearing/meeting will be made as per the procedure noted in Section E - General Requirements section of the Citizen Participation Plan. 2. In the event that a project involving displacement is pursued, the City of Austin will contact each person/household/business in the project area and/or hold public meetings, depending on the project size; inform persons of the project and their rights under the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, as amended, and respond to any questions or concerns. 3. Relocation assistance will be provided in adherence with the City’s Project Relocation Plan and the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, as amended. The City’s Anti-Displacement and Relocation Assistance Plan may be viewed in NHCD’s Action Plan submitted annually to HUD. The document is available online at www.austintexas.gov/housing. The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request. For assistance, please call 512-974-3100; TTY users’ route through Relay Texas at 711. DRAFTAttachment I B: Public Engagement Summary DRAFTCity of Austin Community Engagement Strategy and Process for FY 2021-22 Action Plan The City of Austin sought broad public input for recommendations for utilizing U.S. Department of for FY 2021-22 formula grant funding. Community Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding input about needs, potential service gaps, and priorities was received during the community needs assessment outlined below. This public input helped to inform funding decisions regarding FY 2021-22 formula grant funding. In order to continue the facilitation of the community engagement process for the Action Plan while observing social distancing protocols to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and in accordance with modified provisions for public input issued by HUD, the following opportunities for public input on the FY 2021-22 draft Action Plan were provided: Community Needs Assessment Period Public Notices soliciting input and providing information about the various ways to provide feedback were publicized in English and Spanish through the Housing and Planning Department website; a news release to local media outlets; RSS feeds; notices in local news outlets; and notices included in City of Austin utility billing statements. Opportunities to Provide Feedback on the were provided through the SpeakUp Austin website from March 29 - April 30, 2021; and via email, phone and postal mail. Virtual Public Hearing was conducted before the Community Development Commission on April 13, 2021, and the Austin City Council on April 22, 2021 to receive public input on community needs for the City’s Action Plan for FY 2021-2022. Summary of Public Comments received during the community assessment stage addressed the need for low-income housing; permanent housing, emergency shelter, and services to address homelessness; infrastructure improvements; and home repairs and renovations. Public Comment Period Public Notices soliciting input and providing information about the various ways to provide feedback were publicized in English and Spanish through the Housing and Planning Department website; RSS feeds; and notices in local news outlets. Opportunities to Provide Feedback were provided through the SpeakUp Austin website from May 6, 2021 - June 11, 2021; and via email, phone and postal mail. Additionally, paper copies of the Draft were available at the following locations- Austin Central Public Library, 710 West Cesar Chavez Street (Central) Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, 500 East 7th Street (Central) St. John's Library Branch, 7500 Blessing Avenue (North East) AIDS Services of Austin, 7215 Cameron Road (North) Housing Authority of the City of Austin, 1124 S IH 35 (South) DRAFTVirtual Public Hearing was conducted before the Community Development Commission on June 8, 2021 FY 2021-2022 Action Plan. Final recommendations will be received from the Community Development Commission on June 8, 2021. receive public the Draft comment for to on June 10, 2021 to Virtual Public Hearing scheduled to be conducted before the City Council receive public comment for the Draft FY 2021-2022 Action Plan. The Draft plan will go to Council for final approval on July 29, 2021. Summary of Public Comments The public comment period is currently ongoing. DRAFTArtifact A: News Release March 29, 2021   DRAFTArtifact A.1: SpeakUp Austin Online Comment Site DRAFTArtifact A.2: Austin Utilities New Newsletter (English), April 2021    DRAFT  DRAFTArtifact A.3: Austin Utilities New Newsletter (Spanish), April 2021    DRAFT  DRAFTAttachment Public Comments: SpeakUp Austin Responses for the Community Needs Assessment Period from March 29 – April 30, 2021. Contributor Please provide your thoughts about what programs and community needs the City should prioritize when allocating the use of federal funds. (Por favor denos su opinión sobre a cuáles programas y necesidades de la comunidad les debe dar prioridad la Ciudad al asignar el uso de fondos federales.) Anonymous Removing vagrants from public places. "Decriminalization" of homelessness is not compassionate, but rather traps individuals in a life of misery and drug abuse. Anonymous Anonymous Anonymous Affordable housing and homelessness. Boomers Collaborative - Senior Cooperative Housing with limited equity Homelessness is on the rise. I support a “Housing First” initiative, which has been successful in Salt Lake City, UT. By getting people off of the streets and providing help and resources to get them healthy and working, they become contributing members of society adding to our economic growth and stability. Also, when those with mental challenges and drug addictions are provided a home, studies show that they are more compliant with treatment protocols and better able achieve integration back into society. People are our number one resource. We cannot squander that. Anonymous We need to build affordable housing and not rely on developers who will take the easy way out with fees. They have failed us time and time again, we need to do this ourselves as the city. Anonymous Youth programs, art programs, mental health, community-based, education programs, Spanish language programs Anonymous Increase housing for community members with low incomes or experiencing homelessness. Programs that offer loans for community-based cooperatives as small businesses. Home improvements (solar panels, rainwater harvesting) and repairs for community members with low incomes. DRAFTAnonymous Anonymous Anonymous Anonymous Mental health institutions and support for mentally ill homeless- to get them off our streets. Create COA version of Community First village , to give the willing homeless a place to thrive. Create an off the grid place in the boonies for the homeless who just refuse to participate in city life societal boundaries. Create Programmes and institutions to support and then fully reinstate the camping ban. Our city is being defaced and defiled for the benefit of a very few- and there actually is NO benefit to those few. We are currently playing lose-lose ! Money to support and enhance police and police support. Program to boost up our service/hospitality/performance arts workers. They have been decimated by Covid AND are a huge part of what makes Austin a great place . Food desert programs. As (or if) funds allow, Austin Needs firm, compassionate pathways to temporary interim housing that has mandatory requirements for job training, detox & rehab program (if an addict) and mental care program (if one has such issues). Community Development programs should support and at least encourage quality development of infill multi- family properties, tiny home communities, manufactured homes, mobile home communities, RV communities, and overall less red-tape from the city. Projects need to be safe but do not need extreme oversight that impedes safe progress and pushes up costs. Developments need to be where key services and transit are easily accessible. not homeless or bike trails AFFORDABLE HOUSING!!! MISMANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES!! JOBS that actually pay in this town!!! FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS PROPER VENTILATION EVERYWHERE four MAJOR corporations setting up shop in the last year ...austin has become the greediest city in the world!! DRAFTAnonymous Anonymous Homelessness issues, to help them out if their situation, mental health/rehab. affordable housing for the mid to lower incomes because properties are so expensive. Tax incentives for younger people and minorities, or base it on their income. Increase public Safety against COVID. Make tollways or public transport free more often. Have companies receive some minor incentives for allowing their employees to work from home. 15$ minimum wage for every company above a certain size. Homeless issue not to get rid of them to find homes and help them out of their situation. Mental health, rehab and career counseling for them. Also affordable housing for mid-lower incomes. Tax incentives for younger people and minorities. Safety for Covid at schools and providing teachers with safer rooms. Expanding freeways to be free and expand the metro line Try to get companies to have employees work from home with incentives this can cheap with traffic and environment. Increase minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour Anonymous The City Council needs to start addressing the needs of ALL citizens, prioritize SAFE public spaces including the reinstating the camping ban. This city council has turned a blind eye to the increase in violence, property and personal crimes, environmental damage, property damage, even massive fires that threaten residential areas. Set aside land for the unhoused like the Governor did; follow the successful programs like Community First Village. Hotels will not be the solution and are proving to be FAR TOO EXPENSIVE. Anonymous House the homeless first. Then retrofits of old housing for safety and energy efficiency and upgrades for people with other abilitites. Then new affordable housing. Anonymous Reversing the reckless and irresponsible polices of the current administration. Specifically, fully funding and supporting the Police to reverse the current skyrocketing violent crime rates. DRAFTAnonymous Rosewood Courts has been waiting a very long time to be redeveloped and really needs funds to help make this project a reality. The underground culvert has made it especially difficult for this project as its added an extra $4million pricetage. this culvert is a benefit to the entire neighborhood, not Rosewood alone, but is left to Rosewood to foot the bill. Please consider helping Rosewood Courts and adding them to your Action Plan. Anonymous IMO Prirority should be given towards prohibiting the camping and cleaning up the health and safety hazards they have created Anonymous The city needs a program to prevent builders from auctioning off lots with no houses even built as this prevents first time homebuyers and other locals from moving into a new build as they continue to get cultured by tech company employees moving in from out of state. Anonymous affordable housing for first-time home buyers, lightrail transportation, beautifying the parks and more parks and green space, music venues Anonymous Anonymous Anonymous Housing for the homeless We need to fix our homelessness crisis first and foremost. I will not vote to criminalize camping but our beautiful city is being ruined. It's unsanitary, dangerous and is contributing to so much pollution. I walked by the camps along Towne Lake (Lady Bird Lake) and there was a very unpleasant odor and I can only imagine how much trash/waste it's going into the water. I believe that the city should prioritize keeping low-income members of our community in safe housing and help keep the city more affordable overall for all Austinites. I would like to see more programs on supporting renewable energy equity with lower income groups as well (i.e. more solar panels for lower-income people). Also, rent control! But I think that is less about funding and more about laws. Anonymous Anonymous Road repair, affordable housing, programming and assistance for people experiencing homelessness. Reduction in infrastructure fees passed onto each resident. Anonymous Homelessness assistance should receive the highest priority at this time. Anonymous Decrease the barriers to completing ECHO coordinated assessments - i.e. people experiencing homelessness who are staying in a motel/hotel should be eligible. More funding for housing programs citywide. More funding to the agencies that assist people with housing resources (ECHO, Vivent Health, APH). DRAFTAnonymous We are in need of a task force to clean up the mess the homeless people have created. Mayor Adler has ruined our city by encouraging hoards of homeless people from all over the nation to come and set up drug camps in Austin. I understand these people need help but the city is enabling them to continue their habits and creating a place where drug users flock because their drug abuse and prostitution is tolerated. The city of Austin has been trashed and it is disgusting. I was born in Austin and have been here for over 40 years, the decline of this city breaks my heart. I went downtown a few weeks ago to eat dinner and as we sat on the patio a man urinated in front of us and then minutes later another man harassed our table for money. This was during Spring Break and the appalled look on the tourists faces as they walked down Congress said it all. Our city has lost its charm, its dirty and its not safe. When I was 12 I rode the bus (alone) from my home in South Austin to Barton Springs all summer long to meet friends and swim. Fast forward to 2021 and I would never allow my children on any from of public transportation in the city of Austin because its not safe. When I was 21 I was a bartender on 6th Street and would walk to my car (alone) at 4am after we had shut down the bar for the night. There were a few homeless people but I never felt unsafe. Today I would never walk anywhere in downtown Austin after dark because I am afraid for my safety. We also need a task force to investigate Mayor Adler and his wife. The fact that Mayor Adler allowed and encouraged the homeless to camp in Austin, and then his wife was the real estate broker when the city purchased affordable housing for way over the asking price is ludicrous! It does not seem legal that his wife is making a huge profit of this real estate deal, and it was the Mayor's idea to create the homeless camps, and thus the need for the for this new affordable housing. Our City Council is failing us by sweeping this under the rug. Why is Mayor Adler's wife the real estate broker making hundreds of thousands of dollars of profit that goes back into the Adler's personal bank account??? Anonymous I would like to see homelessness assistance prioritized so we can make downtown feel safe and welcoming without criminalizing homelessness. I think more resources towards mental health support is also extremely necessary. Anonymous To increase low income housing around downtown AND incentivize businesses to hire those coming out of prison, with mental health diagnoses and those recovering from addiction. These individuals are the ones experiencing homelessness the most. They can't get a job due to background checks and lack of training, and can't afford housing because they can't get a job. If they are fortunate enough to get a job housing downtown is way to expensive, yet they are tied to downtown often due to lack of a vehicle and there is more public transportation options downtown and resources. We must address increased access to jobs for these individuals and cheaper downtown housing options if we want to see a decrease in homelessness. DRAFTAnonymous Accessible mental health services (mobile would be ideal) - psychiatry, counseling, substance use counseling, case management. Permanent supportive housing, temporary lodging. Harm reduction services. Anonymous Anonymous Providing shelter for the homeless, assisting entities working on affordable housing for senior citizens. The Rental Housing Development Assistance (RHDA) program, and any other program meant to build affordable housing in a community-first setting, is absolutely critical at this time, especially regarding the uncertain future of Prop B and the influx of celebrity billionaires and wealthy carpetbaggers. At this time, development of affordable housing infrastructure across our neighborhoods is essential, and federal money should be utilized to support this investment in the community as much as possible and then some. This money is fundamental to ensure homes for our homeless and, if not acted with sufficient speed and efficiency, our soon-to-be homeless and displaced lower- income communities. The second-richest man in the world, Elon Musk, tweeted on April 4, 2021, the desperate need for housing in Austin. While he and his tech workers near Tesla's new tax-haven in Del Valle may think the rent cheap in comparison to the quickly person-draining city of San Francisco, a housing crisis worse than the one we are experiencing now is imminent. In my mind, it has the potential to make San Francisco's homeless and displaced population seem moderate in comparison to the potential mass-displacement approaching Austin. Recently, the social outreach program Community First! Village announced their expansion -- from around 200 microhomes and manufactured homes to house chronically homeless people, to 1400. The program is a model to emulated and admired, and it would be wise of the city to carefully study their philosophies and directives, as well as continue to support their initiatives. Yet Community First! can only do so much. It is up to the City, along with the support of our community, to protect our most vulnerable populations by following through on its promises and rhetoric. Please direct this money to build new housing infrastructure. While the recent purchase of hotels to house the homeless is a fantastic way to help create housing for all and support our most needy by giving them respectful, clean living spaces, it should be noted that the purchase was a Band-aid for a rapidly expanding wound. To ensure the near 15% of people living below the poverty line living in Austin do not become the new homeless, the City should take the ideas from programs such as Community First! and use them as a model for future developments. Anonymous Maximize the number of affordable units Provide affordable homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income households being priced out of the area, such as but not limited to teachers, firefighters, etc. Maximize the number of affordable multibedroom units for families Prioritize housing for households who’ve been previously displaced from the area Ensure responsible stewardship of City funds DRAFTAnonymous I believe we should invest in short term, non congregate shelters for the homeless and permanent housing for the homeless. This needs to either be new construction or conversion of non housing so that new inventory is being added to the market. Anonymous #1 = Low income, accessible, integrated housing we need lots more! Promote Visitability and more accessible design of housing and community developments - think of the federal requirements as floors not ceilings. Fund basic infrastructure like sidewalks - and don’t make deeply affordable housing developers waste money redoing things that work now - like making them move a good sidewalk away from the curb. Create housing opportunities for people who want to move out of nursing homes and congregate living - which are not housing and which Covid has proven are terrible for ones health. Help low income tenants who are stuck in unlivable apartments and homes (from the storm) move into other places - Austin did this for Katrina and Rita folks and we can do it now; help stop evictions even more than you are doing now. Help landlords make units more accessible but not designated for folks with disabilities necessarily - universal design lets anyone use a space. Creating more deeply affordable housing will help homeless folks and don’t let the NIMBY folks push you around - make Williamson County kick in $$ too. Stop funding & building inaccessible housing like townhomes; this just creates more unusable living spaces. Anonymous Affordable housing for all Austin citizens, regardless of work status. Anonymous first priority, affordable housing for homeless, including temporary motel housing and permanent developments of small houses in and around austin. Second priority, affordable housing for the working poor, including rental apartments and townhouses subsidized with state and federalmoney. Third priority, social services for the homeless to prepare them to live in and maintain a home of their own. Funding comes from federal and state coffers, bond issues, taxes dedicated to affordable housing and aggressive private and foundation fund-raising. The funding is critical or the rest is just dreaming Anonymous More and better roads, wider shoulders. Better transportation options such as buses that go BEYOND the city limits. e.g., I work in Westlake but live in Austin. I can't get within 3 MILES of my workplace without walking to it. Ridiculous! Work with other communities on this! DRAFTAnonymous Anonymous Anonymous • Low-cost housing either directly as part of new residential construction or fee paid as a percentage of the cost of the project to the city for use in its own low-cost housing project program. • For new major Commercial construction projects, Equivalent amount as paid by residential projects for Low-cost housing, paid as fee to the city for use in its low-cost housing project program. Both priorities to be used as matching programs for funding requests for the Federal granting agencies. For the Federal programs, I suggest the following priorities: 1. HOUSING – Emergence homeless housing, lowest cost method of construction of housing which I assume is refurbishing of per-existing structures such as hotels, motels, apartment complexes, condo buildings, and other commercial buildings for housing for both homeless and individuals and families awaiting housing – not mixed, 30 or 40% homeless, 60-70% existing candidates. Adequate social services for homeless group plus overnight supervision. 2. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – no opinion 3. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT – Use increase to return funding levels of established arts organizations to pre-covid levels. Proceed on basis that arts are a valuable economic development tool. Establish specific criteria for success of programs. Strictly monitor impact and results to make sure they are achieving reasonable results for the funds being invested, and adjust accordingly. Please prioritize assisted housing (project based rental assistance and tenant based rental assistance). Rosewood Apartments needs underground drainage work and could use support. Please also continue to use HOME funds for voucher assistance for people exiting emergency shelters and moving to permanent housing. Please provide CDBG funding to HACA and the redevelopment of Rosewood Courts. They will need support to pay for the drainage issue with Poquito Creek, which runs underneath the 80-year-old property. Also, please continue using HOME funds for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance for the homeless. Anonymous Our priority should be making more affordable housing for Austin. Anonymous Affordable housing with appropriate support services for people with serious mental illness is greatly needed. A jail diversion facility is also a must. People with mental illness should not be sent to jail for petty crimes; they need treatment and person- centered residential solutions so they have an opportunity to stabilize, stay on a path to recovery, and become contributing citizens in their community. DRAFT1. Homelessness: There should be a concerted effort to bring all parties together to explore building housing for the homeless -- these homes should be efficient and accessible to bus routes; people should be given opportunities in training for job openings, job placement, and if needed, help with addiction/recovery programs, along with childcare. Once in a home, and if maintaining employment status, people should be given the opportunity to purchase the home they are in or, if they are not interested in living there permanently, then paying rent on that home. If the latter, they should receive realtor support in locating a home to purchase. 2. Covid-19: The city needs to streamline their process for providing the vaccine to residents. I pre-registered for the vaccine in January and was never able to obtain an appointment time. I finally gave up and went through U.T. Health--this was very easy and quick: There were multiple appointments and no waiting to get that appointment once you selected it. The only actual wait time was standing in line to receive the vaccine, but even then for the first one, that was one hour of my time and for the second, about 45 minutes. I have not talked to anyone that went through the city's process that had positive things to say. I'm not sure where the homeless fall on the vaccination continuum, but I believe they should be prioritized; they are at high risk for contracting Covid-19 and will have even fewer resources to help combat it than other people. 3. Electric grid: Overall, I think Austin Utility is one of the best power companies, but we need to concentrate on whatever needs to be done to protect our power grid from the next Uri (and there will be one; things are only getting worse in the weather department). Now is the time to see what we can do to protect the grid, and water, from another disastrous winter storm. Anonymous DRAFTThe following was received via email in response to the Community Needs Assessment. Subject: Action Plan 2021 and 2022  From: Stuart Harry Hersh   To: Rebecca Giello Date: April 6, 2021 The Strategic Housing Blueprint is an amendment to Imagine Austin, Austin's adopted Comprehensive  Plan. The Action Plan for 2021/2022 should align with goals established in the adopted Blueprint.   The Home Repair goal is to "assist 600 low income households per year with home repair programs  with the objective to help preserve existing housing stock" (page 17)  There is a 10 year goal of 20,000 housing units serving households at 30% MFI or below that includes  permanent supportive housing and home repair.  For households between 31% MFI and 60% MFI, the 10 year goal is 25,000 housing units.  For households between 61% MFI and 80% MFI, the 10 year goal is 15,000 housing units.  For households between 81% MFI and 120% MFI, the ten year goal is $25,000 housing units.  All of these goals assume that needed CodeNEXT changes (Land Development Code) and Building Code  changes will be a key strategy. (page 16)  The Action Plan should detail completed housing units in the goal areas enumerated above through FY  2019/2020 as well as 2020/2021 and proposed goals for 2021/2022.  Goals for housing the homeless should be a subset of housing goals for 30% MFI and below.  Goals for 2021 storm repairs should be a subset of repair goals.  I have submitted recommended amendments to the staff recommendations to the 2021 International  Codes but no changes to the draft staff amendments have changed to date.  While zoning changes in the Land Development Code may be subject to petition rights, there is no  pending litigation that I have seen that subjects the balance of the proposed Land Development Code  (LDC) amendments to a petition process. If this assessment is correct, the balance of the LDC  amendments approved on second reading by the majority of the City Council should be scheduled for  City Council third reading.  Stuart Harry Hersh former City employee from 1977 ‐ 2008 and pro bono consultant from 2008 to the  present.     DRAFTArtifact A.3 News Release announcing 30 day public comment period, May 6, 2021    DRAFTArtifact A.4 SpeakUp Austin Online Comment Site for Public Comment Period from May 6 – June 11,  2021    DRAFTAttachment Public Comments: SpeakUp Austin responses to request for public feedback on draft  Action Plan. Comments were accepted throughout the public comment period from May 6 to June 11,  2021.   Contributor   Anonymous   Anonymous  Anonymous  1. Do you think this action plan address the greatest needs in your community? 2. What comments do you have about the draft Action Plan? Please continue to support the redevelopment of  low‐income housing, particularly Rosewood  Courts.  The underground storm culvert at  Rosewood needs upgrades. Utilizing CDBG funds  to do so is a great use for these funds to support  this affordable housing complex. Rosewood  residents have been living in homes built in the  30's and 40's. Supporting this development with  this upgrade is a higher and better use of funds.  Please consider including Rosewood Courts in the  action plan to help fund the gap and make East  Austin a better than ever community.  I think that more funds should be channeled  towards homelessness prevention and food  access. There are not enough areas around the  city where those without can be provided shelter.  The city has so many buildings and areas around  the city that are not being used and you should  rethink the layouts so that they can be converted  into helping those in need. We don't need any  more highrises pushing people out. It is bad  enough that people have to drive in from  surrounding areas and watch all the out‐of‐state  transplants take over our neighborhoods.  DRAFTThe following was received via email in response to the draft Action Plan.   Subject: RE: Action Plan 2021 and 2022  From: Stuart Harry Hersh  To: Rebecca Giello, Katie Horstman  Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2021, 9:45 AM  I have reviewed the draft 2021‐2022 Action Plan draft and it appears that 600 owner‐occupied low‐ income homes may not be repaired in the next fiscal year. In addition, 6,000 homes serving low‐income  homeowners and renters may not built and occupied in the next fiscal year.   One of the impediments to achieving these goals is draft ordinances adopting the 2021 International  Building Codes that do not include suggestions for increasing housing affordability (see attached  suggestions to the Mayor and City Council).   A second impediment is pending litigation concerning adoption of amendments to the Land  Development Code.   Housing affordability periods are expiring at some properties in the University Neighborhood Overlay  and the former Mueller Municipal Airport site, and 40 years of affordability for S.M.A.R.T. Housing has  not been adopted to date.      If these assessments are accurate, the 2021/2022 Action Plan may not align with the Strategic Housing  Blueprint.  Stuart Harry Hersh Pro Bono Consultant        DRAFTAttachment‐ AUSTIN CODE ADOPTION 2021 AND AFFORDABILITY IMPACT  STATEMENTS  By Stuart Harry Hersh   On June 3, 2021 the City Council is scheduled to adopt amendments to the  Building Codes following public hearings.  PROCESS FOR CODE ADOPTION  On April 20, 2000 the City Council adopted a resolution requiring Affordability  Impact Statements for proposed code amendments and rules changes prior to  public hearings before City boards, commissions and the City Council (000420‐76).  On November 29, 2007 the City Council replaced this resolution with Part 4 of  Ordinance 20071129‐100 with the following requirement:  A. “A City department may not propose a change to an ordinance, rule or  process that impacts housing affordability unless the City’s Neighborhood  Housing and Community Development Department (NHCD) has prepared  an affordability impact statement for the proposed regulation before the  initiation of external stakeholder discussion.   B. If an affordability impact statement shows a negative impact on housing  affordability, the proposed change may only go forward upon approval by  the city manager.  C. A City board, commission or subcommittee may offer recommendations to  the city council on issues affecting housing affordability only after NHCD  has prepared an affordability impact statement.  D. An affordability impact statement is not required for council adoption of  annexations, budgets or budget amendments except for those that  increase development fees that impact housing affordability that are not  otherwise waived.”  All of my attempts to secure affordability impact statements prior to stakeholder  discussions and public hearings have proven unsuccessful to date.  In addition, City departments have instituted new fees since 2000 and 2007 that  impact housing affordability without required affordability impact statements.  These include fees for temporary certificates of occupancy, fire department  DRAFTreview and inspection, and other required fees not included in 25‐1‐704 in  Ordinance 20071129‐100.  These actions would appear to be in violation of Council resolution and ordinance.   Some of us learned at the December 9, 2020 stakeholder meeting sponsored by  the Development Services Department that public hearings and adoption of the  2021 International Building Code, the 2021 International Residential Code, and  other related codes were tentatively scheduled for 2021.  Also in December 2020, the City Auditor published a report on Code Inspections   which identified opportunities for improving efficiency and effectiveness. Some  changes to the Property Maintenance Code could align with the Auditor’s  suggested improvements.  Since the litigation involving proposed changes to the Land Development Code is  still pending in the courts, it is not clear when action on these code amendments  will be scheduled.  In order to assure that Building Code adoption is in alignment with City Auditor  finding and current and proposed Land Development Code changes I am offering  a framework for considering International Code adoption in 2021.  AUSTIN’S FIRST BUILDING CODE AND EXCEPTIONS  On April 30, 1931, the City Council approved an ordinance adopting Austin’s first  building code. The code was based on the Uniform Building Code, the most  common building code used west of the Mississippi. The first code governed the  construction of new buildings; additions to existing buildings; alterations to  existing buildings; and changes of occupancy of existing buildings. The following  new buildings did not have to comply with the new code:  1. Buildings built outside the city limits  2. Buildings built on land owned by the State of Texas, the University of Texas,  and/or the federal government   3. Buildings under construction on April 30, 1931.   These exceptions remained in place as various versions of the Uniform Building  Code were adopted in the Twentieth Century and the International Building  Codes were adopted in the Twenty First Century.  DRAFTAUSTIN’S FIRST ZONING REGULATIONS  Zoning regulations also impact housing and commercial building construction. In  1928, the Austin City Council adopted its first Comprehensive Plan with Zoning  Districts A (Single family), B (Multi‐family), C (Commercial), D, (Light Industrial),  and E (Heavy Industrial) (pages 51ff).   1. In Zoning District A one family dwellings and Two Family Dwellings could be  2. In Zoning District B apartment houses with three or more dwelling units  built.   could be built.   3. Housing could be built in Districts C,D, and E  4. In addition, four height and area districts were creating which established  maximum building height; minimum setbacks from the property lines; and  maximum size of dwellings based on lot size.    In addition, Plate 10 of the 1928 Comprehensive Plan showed the Present Use of  Property as Business Property; White Residential Property; and Miscellaneous  Residential Property.   Sellers and buyers of property in Austin would use subdivision plat notes; private  deed restrictions; and/or restrictive covenants for these tools were deemed  lawful until the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968.  Today, One Family Dwellings, Two Family Dwellings and Townhouses are  regulated by the International Residential Code.   In the Twentieth Century, Austin had adopted the One‐ and‐Two Family Dwelling  Code published by the Council of American Building Officials.  Today, Buildings with three or more dwelling units are regulated by the  International Building Code.   In the Twentieth Century, Austin adopted the Uniform Building Code published by  the International Conference of Building Officials to regulate buildings with three  or more dwelling units.  Today, all existing buildings are regulated by the International Existing Building  Code.   DRAFTIn the Twentieth Century, dwelling units were first regulated by the Austin  Housing Standards Code (Ordinance 770421‐B, pt. 1) and the Unsafe Commercial  Buildings Ordinance (Chapter 13‐2 of the Austin City Code). With the adoption of  the Land Development Code in 1988, Uniform Housing Code; the Uniform Code  for Building Conservation; and the Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous  Buildings replaced local housing and unsafe commercial building standards.  Today, property maintenance standards are established by the International  Property Maintenance Code and Rule No.: R161‐15.04 adopted by the  Development Services Department on June 3, 2015 that lists all of the code  adoption dates in Austin that establish the standards by which buildings and  properties must be maintained.      FAMILIES AND DWELLINGS  The 1931 Building Code listed one family dwellings and two family dwellings as I  occupancies. While apartment buildings and hotels were listed as H occupancies  and required at least one “Men’s” and one “Women’s” toilet in the building, no  indoor plumbing was required for one family dwellings or two family dwellings.  In 1931, “FAMILY” is one person living alone or a group of two or more persons  living together in an apartment, whether related to each other by birth or not.  By 1950, “FAMILY” is any number of individuals living together as single  housekeeping unit.  By 1968, Congress passed and President Lyndon Johnson signed the Fair Housing  Act. The Austin City Council passed an ordinance to use local resources to  implement the Fair Housing Act (680812‐A). This ordinance was repealed by  Austin voters on October 19, 1968.   Subsequently, the City Council passed ordinances that did not necessarily align  with the federal Fair Housing Act, but eventually adopted Chapter 5‐1 of the  Austin City Code Housing Discrimination.  By 1977, “FAMILY” is one person or two or more persons related by blood,  marriage, or legal adoption, or a group of not more than five persons occupying a  dwelling unit. A group of people occupying a boarding house, dormitory, lodging  DRAFThouse, fraternity house, sorority house, hotel, motel or similar accommodation  shall not be considered as a family. A ROOMING HOUSE is a building, or part  thereof, which contains one or more rooming units and which space is occupied  or intended to be occupied by five (5) or more persons who are not husband or  wife, or wife, son or daughter, mother or father of the resident owner or  operator. A “ROOMING UNIT” is any room or group of rooms forming a single  habitable unit used or intended to be used for living or sleeping but not for  cooking or eating purposes.    Today, there are no definitions of “FAMILY” in City regulations as limiting as 1977  regulations were. In both the International Residential Code and the International  Building Code there are consistent definitions of “DWELLING” and DWELLING  UNIT”. A ‘DWELLING” is a building that contains one or two dwelling units used or  intended or designed to be used, rented, let or hired out to be occupied for living,  sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation.  A “DWELLING UNIT” is a single unit  providing complete, independent living facilities for one or more persons,  including permanent provisions for living, sleeping eating cooking and sanitation.  The same definition of “Dwelling Unit” is found in the International Property  Maintenance Code.  After the adoption of the Land Development Code in the 1980s and the Simplified  Land Development Code in the 1990s, Austin adopted limitations on occupancy of  single‐family homes and two‐family homes below safety levels established by the  International Codes. In addition, ordinances were adopted to limit the size of  accessory dwelling units below the standards of the International Codes. This  limited opportunities to achieve the dwelling unit production of the Strategic  Housing Blueprint.   An additional opportunity for aligning with Fair Housing standards could be  defining “FAMILY” similar to the standards in CHAPTER 2‐7 of the Austin City  Code. In Section 2‐7‐65 substantial interest is linked to being related by first or  second degree of consanguinity or affinity. This would more inclusive than the  1977 City standards.  SUBBDIVISION AND FLOODING  In 1946, the Austin City Council adopted its first subdivision ordinance  establishing minimum lot size and regulated land drainage: Lots in any proposed  DRAFTsubdivision subject to flooding during periods of normally heavy rainfall will not  be approved. Existing lots were exempt from these standards (Ordinance 460314‐ A). These standards were expanded to Austin’s extra‐territorial jurisdiction as well  (March 14, 1946).  The International Residential Code and the International  Building Code establish standards for water draining from a building’s roof and  water draining to adjacent lots, draining easements, and the public right‐of‐way.  In addition, the City of Austin has adopted ordinances consistent with federal  regulations governing construction in the 500 year, 100 year, and 25 year flood  plains. These ordinance establish minimum height of finished floor levels of  buildings; placement of plumbing; placement of heating, ventilation and air  conditioning equipment; and placement electrical wiring and equipment.   ACCESSIBILITY AND VISITABILITY  Austin is one of the few cities to adopt visitability standards as amendments to  the International Residential Code to allow persons with mobility disabilities to  access new single‐family homes and duplexes. Austin has adopted additional  visitability standards for ACCESSIBILITY IN HOUSING CONSTRUCTED WITH PUBLIC  FUNDS. It is not clear who is ensuring that these standards are enforced.   In addition, Austin has adopted S.M.A.R.T. Housing standards for multi‐family  housing that requires 10% of the apartments to meet Type A accessibility  standards when the International Building Code only requires 2% of the  apartments to meet Type A standards. Again, it is not clear who is enforcing more  aggressive multi‐family accessibility standards.  RESOURCE ALLOCATION AND AFFORDABILITY  From 1985 to 1998, City funding of permit inspectors reduced the number of  permit and code enforcement inspectors from 92 to 47. This reduced the  likelihood that accessibility and safety standards would be fully enforced at a time  Austin’s population was growing.  I recognize that inspection and plan review resources are now greater than in the  Twentieth Century.   So I ask that the City of Austin consider in 2021 code amendments and future  budget recommendations which align with the adopted Strategic Housing  DRAFTBlueprint.  Here are some suggested changes that are not included in the latest  City department draft code changes that are worth considering:  1. Fee waivers for all development fees that have been created without  affordability impact statements since 4/2/2000.  2. Fee waivers for all City funded repair programs  3. Expedited review of permit applications for all City funded housing  programs  4. Allowing multi‐family design either in accordance with the Uniform  Plumbing Code or the International Plumbing Code as allowed by Texas law.  5. Allow multi‐family design either in accordance with the Uniform  Mechanical Code or the International Mechanical Code as allowed by Texas  law.  6. Allow design of one‐family dwellings, two‐family dwellings, and  townhouses that meet 2021 International Residential Code standards.  Allow fee waivers for repair permits following floods, wind storms, and/or ice  storms and expedited issuan    DRAFTThe following was received via email in response to the draft Action Plan.   Subject: ADAPT Comments on the 2021 Draft Annual Plan  From: Stephanie Thomas  Received by HPD@austintexas.gov  Date: Friday, May 28, 2021 3:24 PM  The 2021 Draft Annual Plan, talks about the history of housing discrimination in Austin but leaves out  completely the history of housing discrimination based on disability here in Austin by housing  authorities, by private housing providers and by the City itself.  The Housing Authority used to make  people with disabilities prove their ability to live independently before they could receive HACA services.   Private housing providers have long discriminated and in fact for years while Austin Tenants Council  reported the statistics they found that as they started to pay attention to disability housing  discrimination it was the largest percent – by a long shot – of complaints they got, once people realized  someone actually cared about this. Many of these private housing providers discriminated based on  source of income, failing to provide reasonable accommodations and modifications, and in many other  ways.    But from our point of view most heinous was the discrimination whereby developers did not bother to  adhere to requirements to make their housing accessible when they built it.  This discrimination was  literally set in concrete and will last for decades and decades. And the City of Austin was totally cool with  that.  The city of Austin has a duty to ensure its programs and services (whether directly or through  contract) that receive federal funds, do not discriminate against people with disabilities. Yet Austin did  not bother to check if they were funding illegally inaccessible housing.  I don’t know if that was  ignorance, neglect or something more nefarious.  But I do know that when we tried to get lists of the  housing being funded the lists were never provided by city staff.  We had to get them on the side from  Karen Paup.  When we checked the housing we were able to identify we found an over 65% failure to  comply.  We had to file a complaint against the City for failure to comply, and force HUD to investigate,  before HUD finally did and made a voluntary compliance agreement.  And Stewart Hersh and Bob Buck  had to spend years inspecting developments before compliance with 504 and Fair Housing was found.  Even then however, many of the developments had changed hands so many times that they could no  longer be made to comply – so that discrimination remains in concrete all over the city to this day.  People with disabilities are stuck in nursing homes and other institutions, in poorly run board and care  situations, where they were exposed to COVID and died from COVID in much higher numbers than  elsewhere.  One of the main reasons is lack of affordable accessible housing yet this plan completely  fails to address this issue. In fact it ignores it.   Neither HPD, nor APH or anyone in the City, counts these people among the population to be served.   People in nursing homes and other institutions are not part of the count for the Census and similar  counts.  Yet numbers do exist.  HPD should include the number of people who want out which can be at  least approximated from the Minimum Data Set from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS) and  from other demographic information at the state Health and Human Services Commission. The City’s  DRAFTdata on disability generally is quite poor, which is a huge disservice to HPD and other departments’  planning and execution of their plans.   After the City signed the voluntary compliance agreement there was the testing mentioned above but  also there was training for staff, training for developers, training for tenants, and passage of the  Visitabity ordinance in its many versions. The A in SMART housing, stood for accessible – for a time. In  response to being told that townhomes being developed NEXT DOOR to the NHCD offices (and with  NHCD assistance) are not visitable, and might not comply with Section 504, a staff member said “you  can’t expect everything to be accessible.”  An affordable housing online location tool didn’t bother to  include access information, until we make a stink.    But now the city seems to be headed backwards.  The Annual plan barely mentions accessibility, barely  mentions people with disabilities. The term accessible is included several times but it seems to be  referring to people being able to get to and use the services, not physical or program access.    The main mention of accessibility for people with disabilities is the AHA! housing, for which NHCD/HPD  deserves much credit.    We believe that the ABRP program for renters (p.48) needs to be updated because there are well over 7  households that need this service in Austin.  This is a program that was ahead of its time when it was  started! We think NHCD needs to consult with the disability community as to why there is such low  participation in this program by renters with disabilities.  In addition, we believe the City needs to create  an outreach campaign for this program, and if participation does not notably increase, consider opening  it to landlords who do not already have a legal obligation to provide access.  We do not want to see city  money wasted paying landlords to do what they should have already done, rewarding the scofflaws.  However, this could be a potential way to abate some of the inaccessibility already set in concrete.   In AP – 38 Project Summary, on page 70 in the planned RHDA activities, it refers to increasing the supply  of affordable rental homes but it unclear whether you are talking about segregated housing when you  outline the populations you may serve.  Segregating people with disabilities is totally unacceptable and  ADAPT believes HPD needs to adopt and publicize to all, including staff, a policy supporting integration  of people with and without disabilities.  In fact ADAPT believes HPD staff (especially DSD) need training  in the department’s obligations under Section 504 and Fair Housing, ADA and the Visitability  Ordinance as they relate to customers with disabilities.    Barriers to Affordable housing pp  98‐ 101  In your stakeholder consultation, there is no mention of consulting with the ultimate stakeholders, the  people who need the housing developed, rehabbed or whatever. Nor are affordable housing developers  mentioned.  Social workers and caseworkers may do important work at times but they do not  necessarily represent the views of would‐be tenants and homeowners, particularly people with  disabilities.     Several times the AP says the information and reports are available in forms accessible to people with  disabilities but I could not find any reference as to how a person would A) know that and B) find out how  to get it.  This would be helpful.    DRAFTAP – 12 Citizen Participation  Citizen participation by our members was limited by COVID.  Many low income people have poor or no  access to the internet and were and are limited in their ability to participate.  Some of the issues our people brought up for these comments are:    the need for parking for attendants and the need to support policies that allow this as well as  accessible parking if the need is greater than the number of spaces.     Green space for service animals to relieve themselves.   Better information for tenants and would be tenants on housing support programs, and  knowing their rights.  Lack of information on visitability.    Need to serve people coming out of nursing homes and other institutions, and need to prevent  people from having to go in (lack of affordable, accessible, integrated housing a real cause of  people being forced into these living situations.)   Need to help Rosewood upgrade get going.   Use of various transition vouchers for people coming out of nursing homes and other   How to deal with a subsidized apartment complex with a pedestrian gate that is always broken.  institutions.  Economic Opportunity Mission  On page three of the Annual Plan you say it is the mission of your department “to provide economic  opportunities that enable all Austinites to thrive in our community.”  ADAPT hope this includes  economic opportunities for persons with disabilities too.    Projects p.53  Annual Goals and Objectives p. 46  P 81 ADAPT supports the city promoting community land trusts as it will be almost impossible to create  significant housing in the higher property value portions of the city otherwise.  Between cost of land and  taxes, it is prohibitive to develop deeply affordable housing in these areas.  You should lean on UT, LCRA  and the state and other public entities to donate or co‐use some of the land they own in (close in)  West  Austin (and perhaps other parts of the city) to this end.    Deeply affordable housing should be given a greater tax break from the city, to make it an affordable  option for non‐profit developers. Also you should look closely at getting the city to eliminate certain  requirements of deeply affordable housing developers, like replacing a perfectly functional nice wide  sidewalk with a new narrower one so there can be a strip of grass between the curb and the sidewalk.  This would be a “new strategy to bring forward alternative resources and incentives and to increase  long‐term, permanent affordability.”  Looking into this can be a way to limit deeply affordable housing  costs.  Additionally housing 66 homeless people seems woefully inadequate given the multiple housing crises  that have descended on an already large problem of people who are homeless in Austin. This same  DRAFTproblem applies to your commitment to preserving affordable units, the majority of which will not be  accessible.     In the second chart on page 82 it seems your plan is to focus on rehab of existing units by a factor of  almost 3 out of 4 units. This will further the imbalance of inaccessible to accessible units as older units  were not made to be accessible and now their life is being extended with your funding.  You should be  focusing on housing that can serve everyone, including people who need access.  This is sometimes  called Universal Design, and ADAPT believes that should be your goal – so anyone can use it.  What about a count of properties that accept Section 8 and similar vouchers?  The Austin Tenant’s  Council was surveying that but I am not sure they are still doing this.  It is an important statistic that  tenants’ advocates need to show the incredibly poor performance of Austin landlords in this regard.  Geographic Dispersion  Costs for developing housing in high opportunity areas go beyond the act of development, to longer  term costs like taxes.  The City needs to put its money where its mouth is and grant greater to  complete tax breaks the greater the affordability of the housing is. Perhaps the City might even  consider penalties to developers who do not provide any affordable housing.  Allowing people to “buy  out” of providing affordable units, especially at such cheap prices as were just adopted by council  works against the goals outlined in this plan.    ************ p. 84 Other initiatives  If my math is correct and HPD has produced 118 units since 2019, that means HPD is creating about 60  30% MFI units per year, so to reach the goal of 20,000 would mean over 333 years.  We need to  do better that this and this income group needs MORE focus and MUCH greater emphasis.  Almost no  one wants to serve this group, but these are people with disabilities as well as those who do some of the  most essential and least appreciated work in our community, like attendants – among others.  In  addition, most of the homeless people who no one wants camping on the streets and so many don’t  want in their neighborhoods, even in hotels, fall into this group so that estimate of need is likely way on  the low side.  AP 60 Public Housing  You need to help support Rosewood renovation project of HACA.  No houser in this City does more  than HACA to house people who need the most deeply affordable housing.  The Rosewood project has  been on the planning stage for far too long and it is time to act, and it is the responsibility of Austin to  help with that.  The Housing Authorities should assist HPD in getting out people who are stuck, against their will, in  nursing homes and other institutions.  Advocates alone cannot solve this decades old societal prejudice  regarding people with disabilities and the ensuing economic and life penalties that have been the lot of        DRAFTfar too many significantly disabled persons. There are vouchers available, although more are needed,  through HUD to assist with this, as well as the 811 program HUD funds through TDHCA. However they  must be applied for.  HPD should become more familiar with the resources and look to how you can  use them to free more people with disabilities from these non‐housing options in which too many are  currently stuck.      p. 89 Homeless and other special needs activities  ADAPT wants you to ensure homeless people with significant physical disabilities get equal shot at  regular housing, and are not steered to nursing homes which are not housing. Nursing homes are not  housing.  People with disabilities in nursing homes and other institutions who do not want to be in  there are homeless, and we think you should include in your plans action for housing those who want  out in regular housing.  There are services to make the transition happen and you need to be part of  that, as does APH.    In this time of COVID it is a public health service to help people with disabilities of all ages to get out of  nursing homes which are super spreaders of the virus, on top of being non‐housing.    Nursing homes and other institutions are the warehouses or ghettos of the disability community, where  people who are cast aside are relegated, and “principally [so] for persons of low‐ and moderate‐  income”.  They are not suitable, despite the prejudices of our society.   While ADAPT fully supports housing homeless people and we think this needs to be a priority, it is unfair  to use all deeply affordable housing funding for permanent supportive housing and similar initiatives.   You should not have to become homeless to find assistance with housing.  ECHO’s Housing for Healthcare seems to omit the institutions of nursing homes and state schools.   These should be included in the City and HACA and Travis County Housing Authorities’ efforts, even if  ECHO chooses to ignore these individuals.  AP 75 ‐ Barriers to affordable housing p 98  This section almost completely omits the mention of disability.  There is one mention on page 98  regarding stricter rental polices (3 times the rent requirement) which is good but completely inadequate  to the amount of barriers people with disabilities face in Austin, some of which were previously  perpetrated by the City itself and NHCD in particular, as discussed above.    And in case you don’t think this has lasting effect beyond the inaccessible housing that was created and  could not be fixed, HPD staff from the DSD recently gave a presentation to the CDC regarding  enforcement of accessibility requirements. The staff person outlined that the City has standards  different from the federal requirements (a completely unhelpful position HPD staunchly maintains  despite decades of comments that creating a single set of requirements would make compliance easier  for housing developers).  He then said that the city is not required to enforce federal standards, which is  true, BUT he made no mention and in fact seemed unaware of the requirement that the city programs  and services must be accessible to people with disabilities under 504 and the Americans with  DRAFTDisabilities Act. He also seemed unaware that Section 504 requires access when modifying housing;  yet most of the housing HPD assists in rehabbing and creating is covered by Section 504 as it is done  with federal dollars.    When NHCD was incorporated into the HPD it was supposed to help housing opportunities, but we  have not seen benefits of this that could have easily been made.  This plan needs to include more of  those if it is going to address many of the barriers to affordable housing for people with disabilities in  Austin.   Language  Throughout the AP, and in much of the bureaucratic reports, language is a problem in a couple of ways.  First is vague or confusing terms.  Second is offensive, outdated terms.   Special needs a vague term so it is hard to know who is exactly being referred to.  Sometimes it covers  all people with disabilities, sometimes it refers to completely different groups of people, and sometimes  it refers to CERTAIN types of disability. Even in this AP it is used for one group here and another there,  so it conflicts with itself. We recommend being more specific.  Even though it is a term used by HUD and  other housers you should explain more.    The term accessible is also confusing. It is included several times in this AP but it seems to be referring  to people being able to get to and use the services, not physical or program access.  Again, more clarity  would be helpful.  Many in the disability community do not see our needs as “special” so the term special needs is off‐ putting to many.  We need housing, we need assistance with rent, we need to get inside our homes, etc.   These are all things many people of many kinds need.  Page 2 of your RESIDENTIAL ANTI‐DISPLACEMENT and RELOCATION ASSISTANCE POLICY refers to  handicapped individuals; this is a totally outdated and offensive term.    There are guides to language available, if needed.  These comments are submitted by Stephanie Thomas on behalf of ADAPT of Texas    You might also be interested in these 2 articles from the Center for American Justice  Recognizing and Addressing Housing Insecurity for Disabled Renters  https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/disability/news/2021/05/27/500030/recognizing‐addressing‐ housing‐insecurity‐disabled‐ renters/?fbclid=IwAR1yzpTR1LvJb6ouQeDbnqdBx7kYyTsXHfVFALKQPS6U4xGnDUziCCAIYf0        DRAFTDisability‐Forward Policy Recommendations To Advance Accessible and Affordable Housing for All  (I  shared this one with some folks earlier on)  https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/disability/news/2021/04/23/498579/disability‐forward‐ policy‐recommendations‐advance‐accessible‐affordable‐housing/  Stephanie    DRAFTAttachment II A: Resale and Recapture Policy DRAFTCity of Austin HOUSING AND PLANNING DEPARTMENT (HPD) Office RESALE AND RECAPTURE POLICIES Jurisdictions (PJs) undertaking HOME-assisted homebuyer activities, including any projects Participating funded with HOME Program Income (PI), must establish written resale and/or recapture provisions that comply with HOME statutory and regulatory requirements. These provisions must also be set forth in the PJ’s Consolidated Plan. The written resale and/or recapture provisions that a PJ submits in its annual Action Plan must clearly describe the terms of the resale and/or recapture provisions, the specific circumstances under which these provisions will be used (if more than one set of provisions is described), and how the PJ will enforce the provisions for HOME-funded ownership projects. HUD reviews and approves the provisions as part of the annual Action Plan process. The purpose of this section is to provide the “resale” and “recapture” policies of the City of Austin’s Housing and Planning Department (HPD) and its sub-recipient, the Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC). As stated above, HOME requires that PJs utilize resale and/or recapture provisions to ensure continued affordability for low- to moderate-income homeowners and as a benefit to the public through the wise stewardship of federal funds. HPD has three programs which use HOME funds to assist homeowners or homebuyers: 1. 2. 3. Down Payment Assistance (DPA) - new homebuyers; Acquisition and Development (A&D) - developers of new ownership housing, and; Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program (HRLP) - owners of existing homes. Resale This option ensures that the HOME-assisted units remain affordable over the entire affordability period. The Resale method is used in cases where HOME funding is provided directly to a developer to reduce development costs, thereby, making the price of the home affordable to the buyer. Referred to as a “Development Subsidy,” these funds are not repaid by the developer to the PJ, but remain with the property for the length of the affordability period. Specific examples where the City of Austin would use the resale method include: 1. 2. 3. providing funds for the developer to acquire property to be developed or to acquire affordable ownership units; providing funds for site preparation or improvement, including demolition; and providing funds for construction materials and labor. DRAFT CITY OF AUSTIN RESALE POLICY . The resale policy is explained to the prospective homebuyer(s) prior to Notification to Prospective Buyers​ signing a contract to purchase the HOME-assisted unit. The prospective homebuyer(s) sign an acknowledgement that they understand the terms and conditions applicable to the resale policy as they have been explained. This document is included with the executed sales contract. (See attached Notification for Prospective Buyers on Page IV-11.) Enforcement of Resale Provisions. ​ by the homebuyer at closing. The Restrictive Covenant will specify: The resale policy is enforced through the use of a Restrictive Covenant signed 1. 2. 3. the length of the affordability period (based on the dollar amount of HOME funds invested in the unit; either 5, 10, or 15 years); that the home remain the Buyer’s principal residence throughout the affordability period; and the conditions and obligations of the Owner should the Owner wish to sell before the end of the affordability period, including: the Owner must contact the Austin Housing Finance Corporation in writing if intending to sell the a. home prior to the end of the affordability period; b. The subsequent purchaser must be low-income as defined by HOME, and occupy the home as his/her new purchaser’s primary residence for the remaining years of the affordability period. (However, if the new purchaser receives direct assistance through a HOME-funded program, the affordability period will be re-set according to the amount of assistance provided); and The sales price must be affordable to the subsequent purchaser; affordable is defined as limiting c. the Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance (PITI) amount to no more than 30% of the new purchaser’s monthly income. The City of Austin will administer its resale provisions by ensuring that the Owner Fair Return on Investment. ​ receives a fair return on his/her investment and that the home will continue to be affordable to a specific range of incomes. Fair Return on Investment means the total homeowner investment which includes the total cash contribution plus the approved capital improvements credits as described below: The amount of the down payment; The cost of any capital improvements, documented with receipts provided by the homeowner, 1. 2. including but not limited to: Any additions to the home such as a bedroom, bathroom, or garage; a. Replacement of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; b. Accessibility improvements such as bathroom modifications for disabled or elderly, installation c. of wheelchair ramps and grab bars, any and all of which must have been paid for directly by the Owner and d. e. which were not installed through a federal, state, or locally-funded grant program; and Outdoor improvements such as a new driveway, walkway, retaining wall, or fence. : All capital improvements will be visually inspected to verify their existence. Note​ DRAFT The percentage of change as calculated by the Housing Price Index (HPI) Calculator of the Federal 3. Housing Finance Agency. The HPI Calculator is currently located at https://www.fhfa.gov/DataTools/Tools/Pages/HPI-Calculator.aspx and projects what a given house purchased at a point in time would be worth today if it appreciated at the average appreciation rate of all homes in the area. The calculation shall be performed for the Austin-Round Rock, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area. Affordability to a Range of Buyers. ​ those whose total household incomes range from 65 percent to no greater than 80 percent MFI. The City will ensure continued affordability to a range of buyers, particularly Sales prices shall be set such that the amount of Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance does not exceed 30 percent of the new Buyer’s annual income. For FY 2018-19, the affordable sales price shall not exceed $175,000, which would be affordable to a 4-person household at 80 percent MFI at today’s home mortgage interest rates. Example : A home with a 10-year affordability period was purchased seven years ago by a person (the “original ​ homeowner”) who now wishes to sell. The original homeowner’s mortgage was $105,000 at 4.75% interest for 30 years, and has made payments for 72 months. The current mortgage balance is $93,535. The principal amount paid down so far is $11,465. Calculating Fair Return on Investment Down payment: The original homeowner was required to put down $1,000 earnest money at the signing of the ​ sales contract. Cost of Capital Improvements: The original homeowner had a privacy fence installed four years ago at the cost of ​ $1,500 and has receipts to document the improvement. A visual inspection confirmed the fence is still in place. Applicable Affordability Period. HOME funds used as developer subsidy was $25,000, thus requiring the 10-year affordability period. The original purchase price for the home was $106,000 and the amount of ​ Percentage of Change. For the purposes of using the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Housing Price Index ​ calculator, the home was purchased in the 1st Quarter of 2010, and will be calculated using the most current quarter available, 4th Quarter 2016. Using the Housing Price Index calculator, the house would be worth approximately $165,700. Calculating the Fair Return to the Original Owner: $1,000 $1,500 $11,465 $59,700 Down payment: Capital Improvements: Principal Paid: Increase in value per HPI: $73,665 Fair Return on Investment In order to realize a fair return to the original homeowner, the sales price must be set at roughly $152,500 (i.e., $105,000 [$11,465 in principal payments made plus remaining mortgage balance of $93,535] +$1,000 down payment + $1,500 capital improvements + $59,700 HPI increase = $167,200) Affordability for a Range of Buyers . If the original homeowner sets the sales price at ​ $167,200 to get a fair return on investment, and if 2017 assumptions are used for front/back ratios, interest rates, insurance, taxes, an 80% Loan-to-Value (LTV) Ratio, etc., the monthly PITI would be approximately $1,069. DRAFTThe PITI of $1,069 could, in theory, be supported by an annual household income of $42,800 and not exceed 30% of the subsequent homeowner’s monthly income. However, with an 80% LTV ratio and rapidly increasing home have down payment assistance which, if HOME funds are used, would create a new prices, buyers must affordability period based on the new HOME investment. If the subsequent homeowner does not require any HOME subsidy to purchase the home, the affordability period would end in 3 years at which time the subsequent homeowner could sell to any buyer at any price. Recapture Under HOME recapture provisions financial assistance must be repaid if it is provided directly to the buyer or the homeowner. Upon resale the seller may sell to any willing buyer at any price. The written agreement and promissory note will disclose the net proceeds percentage if any that will be allotted to the homebuyer and what proceeds will return to the PJ. Once the HOME funds are repaid to the PJ, the property is no longer subject to any HOME restrictions. The funds returned to the PJ may then be used for other HOME-eligible activities. CITY OF AUSTIN RECAPTURE POLICY HPD HOME funded program under the recapture provisions is the Down Payment Assistance Program (DPA). The Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) HOME funded program under recapture provisions is the Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program (HRLP). The (HOME) federal assistance will be provided in the form of a 0% interest, deferred payment loan. The fully executed (by all applicable parties) and dated Written Agreement, Promissory Note and Deed of Trust will serve as the security for these loans. The Deed of Trust will also be recorded in the land records of Travis County or Williamson County. The payment of the DPA or HRLP Promissory Note is made solely from the net proceeds of sale of the Property (except in the event of fraud or misrepresentation by the Borrower described in the Promissory Note). The City of Austin and/or AHFC/HPD may share any resale equity appreciation of HOME-assisted DPA or HRLP loans with the Borrower/Seller according to the following two recapture models: The City of Austin will calculate the recapture amount and add this to the Standard Down Payment Assistance. ​ existing payoff balance of the DPA loan. The entire payoff balance must be paid to AHFC/HPD before the homebuyer receives a return. The recapture amount is limited to the net proceeds available from the sale. However, the amount of standard Down Payment Assistance will be forgivable at the end of maturity date if the borrower met all of the program requirements. DRAFT​ ​ The City of Austin and AHFC/HPD will permit the Shared Equity Down Payment Assistance (DPA). ​ Borrower/Seller to recover their entire investment (down payment and capital improvements made by them since purchase) before recapturing the HOME investment. The recapture amount is limited to the net proceeds available from the sale. Sales Price First Lien Mortgage Mortgage Assistance Amount (prorated monthly) -$ Capital Improvement Recapture Credit Proceeds to the Homeowner Appraised Value of Property of Sales price two) ​(less of the $ Original Senior Lien Note Amount Grantee’s Cash Contribution Capital Improvement Recapture Credit Mortgage Assistance Amount (prorated monthly) -$ Equity to be shared Shared Equity Proceeds to the Homeowner $ -$ -$ =$ -$ -$ -$ =$ -$ =$ DRAFT Equity to be shared: The Appraised Value of the Property at time of resale less original Down Payment Formula. ​ senior lien Note, less borrower’s cash contribution, less capital improvement recapture credit, less the Original Principal Amount of Mortgage Assistance under the DPA Mortgage, calculated as follows: Appraised Value of Property or Sales Price (whichever is less) Original Senior Lien Note Amount Any reasonable and customary sales expenses paid by the Borrower in connection with the sale (Closing costs) Net proceeds Borrower’s Cash Contribution Capital Improvement Recapture Credit DPA Mortgage Assistance Amount Equity to be Shared (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) = The homebuyer’s entire investment (cash contribution and capital improvements) must be repaid in full before any HOME funds are recaptured. The capital improvement recapture credit will be subject to: 1. 2. The borrower having obtained HPD approval prior to his/her investment; and The borrower providing proof of costs of capital improvements with paid receipts for parts and labor. Calculation of Shared Equity Percentage. ​ set forth above). Percentage shall remain the same as calculated at initial purchase (as Shared Equity Payment Due to HPD or the City of Austin. ​ Percentage), calculated as follows: Shall be (Equity to be shared) x (Shared Equity Total Due to HPD or City of Austin. ​ calculated as follows: Shall be the total of all amounts due to HPD or the City of Austin Equity to be shared Shared Equity Percentage Shared Equity Payment Due to HPD/City of Austin Mortgage Assistance Amount Interest and Penalties Shared Equity Payment Total Due to HPD/City of Austin X = + + = Upon executing and dating the Promissory Note, Written HRLP Homeowner Reconstruction Formula. Agreement and the Deed of Trust the parties agree that the Mortgage Assistance Amount provided to Borrower by AHFC is to be 25% of the Borrower's/Sellers equity in the Property. Equity to be Shared. ​ contribution (if any), capital follows: The Appraised Value of the Property at time of resale, less closing costs, homeowner’s cash improvement recapture credit, AHFC original assistance amount, calculated as $ $ $ $ $ $ $ % $ $ $ $ $ DRAFT​  Appraised Value of Property or Sales Price (whichever is less) Any reasonable and customary sales expenses paid by the Borrower/Seller in connection with the sale (Closing costs) Homeowner’s Cash Contribution Capital Improvement Recapture Credit AHFC or the City of Austin Original HRLP Assistance Amount Equity to be Shared (-) (-) (-) (-) = $ $ $ $ Percentage shall remain the same as initially determined (as set forth Calculation of Shared Equity Percentage: ​ above). Shared Equity Payment Due to AHFC or the City of Austin: Shall be (Equity to be shared) x (Shared Equity Percentage), calculated as follows: Equity to be shared Shared Equity Percentage Shared Equity Payment Due to AHFC or the City of Austin Total Due to AHFC or the City of Austin​ calculated as follows: Existing Owing HRLP Mortgage Assistance Amount Shared Equity Percentage Payment Sum Total Due to AHFC or the City of Austin $ 25% = $ $ + $ $ : Shall be the total of all amounts due to AHFC or the City of Austin Equity to be shared: The Appraised Value of the Property at time of HRLP Homeowner Rehabilitation Formula. ​ resale, less closing costs, homeowner’s cash contribution (if any), capital improvement recapture credit, AHFC or the City of Austin’s original assistance amount, calculated as follows: Appraised Value of Property or Sales Price (whichever is less ) Any reasonable and customary sales expenses paid by the homeowner in connection with the sale (Closing costs) Homeowner’s Cash Contribution Capital Improvement Recapture Credit AHFC and/or the City of Austin’s Original HRLP Assistance Amount Equity to Borrower/Seller (-) (-) (-) (-) = $ $ $ $ Net proceeds consist of the sales prices minus loan repayment, other than HOME funds, and closing costs. If the net proceeds of the sale are insufficient to fully satisfy the amounts owed on the HRLP Note the AHFC or the City of Austin may not personally seek or obtain a deficiency judgment or any other recovery from the Borrower/Seller. The amount due to Lender is limited to the net proceeds, if any, if the net proceeds are not sufficient to recapture the full amount of HOME funds invested plus allow Borrower to recover the amount of improvement investment, including in, but not limited to, cases of Borrower’s down-payment and capital foreclosure or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure,. If there are no net proceeds AHFC or the City of Austin will receive no share of net proceeds. DRAFT However, in the event of an uncured Default, AHFC or the City of Austin may, at its option, seek and obtain a personal judgment for all amounts payable under the Note. This right shall be in addition to any other remedies of the property available to AHFC and/or the City of Austin. If there are insufficient funds remaining from the sale and the City of Austin or the Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) recaptures less than or none of the recapture amount due, the City of Austin and/or AHFC must maintain data in each individual HRLP file that documents the amount of the sale and the distribution of the funds. This will document that: 1. 2. 3. There were no net sales proceeds; or The amount of the net sales proceeds was insufficient to cover the full amount due; and No proceeds were distributed to the homebuyer/homeowner. Under “Recapture” provisions, if the home is SOLD prior to the end of the required affordability period, the net sales proceeds from the sale, if any, will be returned to the City of Austin and/or AHFC to be used for other HOME-eligible activities. Other than the actual sale of the property, if the homebuyer or homeowner breaches the terms and conditions for any other reason, e.g. no longer occupies the property as his/her/their principal residence, the full amount of the subsidy is immediately due and payable. If Borrower/Seller is in Default, AHFC and/or the City of Austin may send the Borrower/Seller a written notice stating the reason Borrower/Seller is in Default and telling Borrower/Seller to pay immediately: the full amount of Principal then due on this Note, (i) all of the interest that Borrower/Seller owes, and that will accrue until paid, on that amount, and (ii) the City of Austin’s costs and expenses reimbursable Recovery against the all of AHFC/or (iii) Borrower/Seller responsible for the fraud or misrepresentation is not limited to the proceeds of sale of the Property, but may include personal judgment and execution thereon to the full extent authorized by law. Affordability Periods HOME Program Assistance Amount $1,000 - $14,999.99 $15,000 – $40,000 Over $40,000 Reconstruction Projects* Affordability Period in Years 5 10 15 20 DRAFT​ ​ *City of Austin policy A HOME or CDBG Written Agreement, Note and Deed of Trust will be executed by the Borrower and the City of Austin and/or the Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) that accurately reflects the resale or recapture provisions before or at the time of sale. References: [HOME fires Vol 5 No 2, June 2003 – Repayment of HOME Investment; Homebuyer Housing with a ‘Recapture’ Agreement; Section 219(b) of the HOME Statute; and §92.503(b)(1)-(3) and (c)] CITY OF AUSTIN REFINANCING POLICY The new senior first lien will reduce the monthly payments to the homeowner, thereby making the In order for new executed subordination agreement to be provided to the senior first lien holder, the senior first lien refinance must meet the following conditions: 1. monthly payments more affordable; or Reduce the loan term; 2. 3. The new senior lien interest rate must be fixed for the life of the loan (Balloon or ARM loans are ineligible); 4. 5. sale to avoid foreclosure; and 6. first lien holder. No cash equity is withdrawn by the homeowner as a result of the refinancing actions; AHFC/HPD and/or the City will, at its discretion, agree to accept net proceeds in the event of a short Only if the borrower meets the minimum requirements to refinance, the City can re-subordinate to the The refinancing request will be processed according to the following procedure: Submit a written request to Compliance Division to verify the minimum refinancing requirements with 1. one month in advance from the expected closing; 2. 3. date. HPD/AHFC will review the final HUD-1 Settlement Statement two weeks prior to closing the refinance. If applicable, HPD/AHFC or the City of Austin will issue written approval a week prior to the closing HPD/AHFC will be provided with a copy of the final, executed Settlement Statement CLOSING DISCLOSURE, Promissory Note, and recorded Deed of Trust three days in advance of the closing date. If written permission is granted by AHFC/HPD and/or the City of Austin and it is determined that the If written permission is not granted by AHFC/HPD or the City of Austin allowing the refinance of the 4. Senior Lien, the DPA OR HRLP Loan will become immediately due and payable prior to closing the refinance. 5. refinancing action does not meet the conditions as stated above, the DPA OR HRLP Loan will become immediately due and payable prior to closing the refinance. 6. DPA or HRLP Notes must be paid off no later than when the Home Equity Loan is closed and funded. 7. release of lien. Home Equity loans will trigger the repayment requirements of the DPA OR HRLP Programs loans. The The DPA or HRLP Notes must be paid-in-full in order for AHFC/HPD and/or the City of Austin to execute a DRAFTBasic Terminology Affordable Housing​ order for homeownership housing to qualify as : The City of Austin follows the provisions established on 24 CFR 92.254, and consider that in ​ affordable housing it must: ​ □ Be single-family, modest housing, □ □ provided. Be acquired by a low-income family as its principal residence, and Meet affordability requirements for a specific period of time as determined by the amount of assistance The City: ​ Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC). means the City of Austin’s Housing and Planning Department (HPD) or its sub recipient, the Austin Fair Return on Investment: ​ contribution plus the approved capital improvements credits. means the total homeowner investment which includes the total cash Capital Improvement: means additions to the property that increases its value or upgrades the facilities. ​ These include upgrading the heating and air conditioning system, upgrading kitchen or bathroom facilities, adding universal access improvements, or any other permanent improvement that would add to the value and useful life of the property. The costs for routine maintenance are excluded. Capital Improvement Credit: ​ means credits for verified expenditures for Capital Improvements. Direct HOME subsidy: is the amount of HOME assistance, including any program income that enabled ​ the homebuyer to buy the unit. The direct subsidy includes down payment, closing costs, interest subsidies, or other HOME assistance provided directly to the homebuyer. In addition, direct subsidy includes any assistance that reduced the purchase price from fair market value to an affordable price. Direct HOME subsidy for Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program: is the amount of HOME assistance, ​ including any program income that enabled the homebuyer to repair or reconstruct the unit. The direct subsidy includes hard costs and soft cost according to 24 CFR 92.206 Net proceeds ​ any closing costs. : are defined as the sales price minus superior loan repayment (other than HOME funds) and Recapture: The recapture provisions are established at §92.253(a)(5)(ii), permit the original homebuyer to ​ sell the property to any willing buyer during the period of affordability while the PJ is able to recapture all or a portion of the HOME-assistance provided to the original homebuyer. Source: ​2012-03 Guidance on Resale and Recapture Provision Requirements under the HOME Program DRAFT​ INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE BUYERS The [Five] [Ten] [Fifteen]-Year Affordability Period​ ​The Restrictive Covenant Running With the Land ​&​ I understand that because a certain amount of federal funds were used by [Developer Name] to develop the federal property at government requires that certain restrictions apply to the occupancy or re-sale of this home for a period of [five (5) ten (10) fifteen (15)] years. I understand that during that [five] [ten] [fifteen]-year period, those requirements will be enforced through a legally-enforceable document called a “Restrictive Covenant Running with the Land.” the , If I choose to purchase this home, at the time the home is sold to me, I will sign a Restrictive Covenant Running with the Land, and it will be filed in the Official Public Records of the Travis County Clerk’s Office. ​ ● That which the Restrictive Covenant is in effect; The requirements of the Restrictive Covenant Running with the Land are: ​I must occupy the home as my principal residence ​ during the [5] [10] [15]-year period in ● ● ● ● subsequent buyer whose total household income is in effect for the year I wish to sell the home. If I wish to sell the Property before the end of that period, I am required to sell it to a ​at or below 80% of the Austin area Median Family Income The sales price must be set such that I receive a which shall be defined as: ​fair return ​ 1. The amount of any cash contributions including the down payment and principal payments made; 2. The cost of any capital improvements, , and including but not limited to: a. Any additions to the home such as a bedroom, bathroom, or garage; Replacement of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; b. Accessibility improvements such as bathroom modifications for disabled or elderly, installation of c. wheelchair ramps and grab bars, any and all of which must have been paid for directly by the Owner and which were not installed through a federal, state, or locally-funded grant program; and d. Outdoor improvements such as a new driveway, walkway, retaining wall, or fence. documented with receipts paid by the subsequent buyer The sales price must be set so that the monthly principal, interest, taxes and insurance to be ​will not exceed 30% of that subsequent buyer’s monthly household income. I will notify the Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) in writing ​ assist with the compliance of this federal regulation. I/We acknowledge having received this information about the federal requirements involved if I/we decide to purchase this home. so that AHFC can Signature Date Signature Date DRAFT​ ​ Attachment II B: ESG Program Standards DRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTAttachment II C: City of Austin Monitoring Plan DRAFT MONITORING PLAN The goal of the City of Austin’s monitoring process is to assess subrecipient/contractor performance in the areas of program, financial and administrative compliance with applicable federal, state and municipal regulations and current program guidelines. Under this plan, select programs and project activities are monitored through one or more of the following components. The City of Austin’s monitoring plan consists of active contract monitoring and long-term monitoring for closed projects. Active Contract Monitoring Prior to executing any agreement or obligation, monitoring takes the form of a compliance review. Verification is obtained to ensure that the proposed activity to be funded has received the proper authorization through venues such as the annual Action Plan, environmental review and fund release, and identification in the Integrated Disbursement & Information System (IDIS). A contract begins with written program guidelines, documentation and tracking mechanisms that will be used to demonstrate compliance with applicable federal, state and local requirements. For activities implemented through external programs or third-party contracts with non-profit, for-profit and community-based organizations, a solicitation may be required in the form of a comprehensive Notice of Fund Availability (NOFA) or Request for Proposals (RFP) which details performance, financial and regulatory responsibilities. Prior to entering into any agreement or to the 1. Compliance Review prior to obligation of funds. obligation of entitlement funds, the City conducts a compliance review to verify that the program activity has been duly authorized. The compliance review consists of verifying and documenting: ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ The program activity has been approved as part of the Action Plan for the specified funding source and year; The availability of applicable funds for the specific activity; The activity has received environmental review and determination and fund release, as applicable; The service provider is not listed in the System for Award Management (SAM); The activity has been set up and identified in IDIS; The scope of work defined in the contract has adequately addressed performance, financial and tracking responsibilities necessary to report and document accomplishments; and The service provider has the required insurance in place. After this information has been verified and documented, staff may proceed in obtaining authorization and utilization of entitlement funds for the activity. 2. Desk Review. Before processing an invoice for payment, staff reviews the invoice to verify that the item or service is an eligible expense and it is part of the contract budget. Staff also reviews ensure that the performance reports and supporting documentation submitted with the invoice to contractor is performing in accordance with the terms of the contract and the scope of work. This level of monitoring is performed on an ongoing basis throughout the duration of the contract. DRAFT​ ​ ​  3. Records Audit. A records audit includes a review of all file documents as needed. A file checklist is used to determine if the required documents are present. Through the review of performance reports and other documentation submitted by the contractor, staff is able to identify areas of concern and facilitate corrections and/or improvements. Should problems be identified, a contractor or recipient of funds may then be provided technical assistance as necessary to reach a resolution. 4. Selected On-Site Monitoring. A risk assessment is conducted internally and is used to determine the priority of site reviews to be conducted. Based on the results of the risk assessment, a selected number of projects may be subject to an on-site review. The performance of contractors is reviewed for compliance with the program guidelines and the terms and conditions of the contract. In particular, staff verifies program administration and regulatory compliance in the following areas: ∙ meeting a national objective, conducting eligible activities, achieving Performance ( e.g. ​ contract objectives, performing scope of work activities, maintaining contract schedule, abiding by the contract budget); ∙ Record keeping; ∙ Reporting practices; and ∙ Compliance with applicable anti-discrimination regulations. There will be follow-up, as necessary, to verify regulatory and program administration compliance has been achieved. 5. Failure to resolve identified problems. If no resolution of identified problems occurs or the contractor fails to perform in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract, the City of Austin has the authority to suspend further payments to the contractor or recipient of funds until such time that issues have been satisfactorily resolved. 6. Contract Closeout. Once a project activity has been completed and all eligible project funds expended, the staff will require the contractor to submit a project closeout package. The contract closeout will provide documentation to confirm whether the contractor was successful in completing all performance and financial objectives of the contract. Staff will review and ask the contractor, if necessary, to reconcile any conflicting information previously submitted. The project closeout will constitute the final report for the project. Successful completion of a project means that all project activities, requirements, and responsibilities of the contractor have been adequately addressed and completed. Long-term Monitoring Acceptance of funds from the Housing and Planning Department (HPD) Office of the City of Austin, or its sub-recipient Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) obligates beneficiaries/ borrowers to adhere to conditions for the term of the affordability period. HPD is responsible for the compliance oversight and enforcement of long- or extended-term projects and financial obligations created through City- sponsored or -funded housing and community development projects. In this capacity, HPD performs the following long-term monitoring duties: DRAFT​ ​ ​ ​ ​  ∙ ∙ ∙ Performs compliance monitoring in accordance with regulatory requirements specified in the agreement; ∙ Reviews and verifies required information and documentation submitted by borrowers for compliance with applicable legal obligations and/or regulatory requirements; Enforces and takes corrective action with nonperforming loans and/or projects deemed to be out of compliance in accordance with legal and/or regulatory terms and conditions; and If the beneficiary has been uncooperative, non-responsive, or unwilling to cure the existing default by all reasonable means, staff will discuss with management and will refer the loan to the City Attorney for review, with a recommendation for judgment and/or foreclosure. The first step in the monitoring process includes the development of a risk assessment that is essential in guiding the monitoring efforts of the department. Based on the results of the risk assessment, additional projects may be monitored. Monitoring may be in the form of a desk review, on-site visit, or Uniform Physical Conditions Standards (UPCS) inspection. Technical assistance is available to assist beneficiaries/ borrowers in understanding any aspect of the contractual obligation so that performance goals are met with minimal deficiencies. DRAFTAttachment II D: Relocation Policy DRAFTCity of Austin/Austin Housing Finance Corporation ANTI-DISPLACEMENT and RELOCATION ASSISTANCE POLICY INTRODUCTION The City of Austin Residential Anti-Displacement and Relocation Assistance Policy (Displacement Policy) as set forth herein, pertains where applicable to projects assisted with funding provided by The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which may include among others, funding with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investments Partnership Program (HOME), HUD Lead Hazards Control Grant (LHCG) program and Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) funds and which, because of the HUD assistance, cause residential displacement of low- and moderate-income persons from occupied dwellings rendered unoccupiable as a result of HUD-assisted conversions to a use other than affordable housing, or by demolition. Funding for these programs is made available to the City by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), under Title I of the Housing and Community Development (HCD) Act of 1974, as amended. The HUD funded programs are administered by the City’s Housing and Planning Department (HPD). Activities funded by HUD funded programs may be carried out by City employees, competitive procurement or agreements with subrecipients. All funded activities meet one or more of the national and local objectives for the program, which are: elimination of slum and blight; benefit to persons and households of low and moderate income, i.e., earning eighty percent (80%) or less of the median family income (MFI) for the Austin area; and meeting needs of particular urgency. RESIDENTIAL ANTI-DISPLACEMENT and RELOCATION ASSISTANCE POLICY The City of Austin shall implement this policy to minimize the displacement of persons as a result of HUD funded activities and assist persons actually displaced, either temporarily or permanently, as a result of such activities. It is the policy of the City to plan and to provide funding only for those HUD funding activities that will not cause permanent residential displacement or reduce the amount of affordable housing stock by conversion or demolition. However, activities such as rehabilitation of occupied housing may require temporary displacement to ensure the safety of residents during the rehabilitation of the units. The City will enforce this policy upon developers and other entities responsible for carrying out planned HUD activities. The Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 (Public Law 100-242) and the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987 (Public Law 100-17) made changes that affect the manner in which CDBG and other federal grantees treat displacement issues. The policy does not take into account all changes brought about by the 1987 legislative action. If necessary, this displacement policy will be amended at such time as HUD promulgates HUD rules that clarify the effect of the HCD Act of 1987 on CDBG- and other HUD grant funded related displacement issues. Page 1 of 3 DRAFTDISPLACEMENT POLICY The policy addresses temporary displacement of households participating in either owner- occupied or tenant-occupied housing rehabilitation programs assisted with HUD funds. Although the policy encompasses action relative to permanent residential displacement and relocation assistance, under no circumstances will HUD funds be used for any project or activity that will cause permanent displacement or relocation of families or the conversion of affordable housing to other uses. The term “family” as used herein refers to one or more persons occupying the same housing unit whether or not the individuals are related by birth or marriage. All classes of temporary displacees will receive equal and comparable treatment and assistance regardless of their status as owner or tenant. 1. TEMPORARY DISPLACEMENT/RELOCATION Owner-Occupied Housing Rehabilitation Programs Homeowners participating in a housing rehabilitation program that for their safety requires they vacate the residence during the course of construction, will be entitled to a dislocation stipend. The family will receive a fixed daily allowance for each day in which they cannot occupy their residence. The purpose of the stipend is to offset the cost of moving or storing their personal possessions and for related expenses, such as increased utility costs. The daily allowance will be set by the City of Austin’s Housing and Planning Department (HPD/AHFC). Payment will made either directly by HPD/AHFC or through other subrecipient organizations or developers under contract to HPD or AHFC to operate a housing rehabilitation program. The stipend rate will be reviewed periodically and may be adjusted if in the judgment of the HPD/AHFC it does not represent adequate compensation. The following services will be provided by the appropriate program operator (i.e., the HPD/AHFC or other subrecipient): Clients will be counseled and advised of their right to receive an allowance, notified of the approximate time of start of construction and given adequate time to make alternative temporary living arrangements. If necessary, clients will be assisted in locating decent and safe accommodations. The offices of the HPD/AHFC are fully accessible to people with disabilities and assist people who are mobility impaired. and portable Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf Spanish-speaking (TDD) with If subrecipients cannot carry out their counseling responsibilities toward clients with disabilities or non-English speaking clients by any other means, clients may be referred to the HPD/AHFC for assistance. read/print capability are available the hearing-impaired. Bilingual available clients staff for to is Tenant-Occupied Housing Rehabilitation the City of Austin HUD-funded rehabilitation of renter-occupied properties can be carried out by the Housing Authority of (HACA) on HUD-subsidized public housing or by subrecipients under contract to the HPD/AHFC for properties owned and operated by a non-profit or for-profit affordable housing developer. The Housing Authority, as a publicly-funded HUD recipient, will carry out its relocation responsibilities in accordance with the HUD rules pertaining to Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) or the Policy, whichever is more appropriate. Page 2 of 3 DRAFTPublic Housing: As an operator of multiple properties subsidized by HUD, the PHA may elect to relocate families by a method commonly called “checkerboarding,” i.e., the movement of families to previously rehabilitated units in the same complex. When this method is infeasible, HACA may elect to relocate a family to a unit in another PHA complex. Unsubsidized Housing: For properties operated by a non-profit or for-profit affordable housing developer, the organization’s contract with the HPD/AHFC will specify if and to what extent the clients are entitled to assistance under this policy. If all elements of the policy are to be carried out, each will be specified in the contract documents, counseling and other relocation services as above. 2. PERMANENT RESIDENTIAL DISPLACEMENT/RELOCATION Replacement Housing: If through HUD funding, dwellings affordable to low- and moderate-income persons are demolished or converted to uses other than housing, the City (or developer) will provide comparable replacement housing units for the same number of occupants who could have been housed in the occupied or vacant units. The replacement housing will be located in the same general area as the houses deleted from the affordable housing stock and will be affordable to low- and moderate -income residents. The replacement housing will be designed to remain affordable to such families for a period of ten (10) years from the time of initial occupancy. Relocation Benefits: All occupants of the dwellings demolished or converted will receive relocation benefits to include: reimbursement for actual and reasonable moving expenses, security deposits, credit checks and other moving-related expenses, including any interim living costs. Low- and moderate-income persons will be provided either: a.) b.) Compensation sufficient to ensure that for a period of five (5) years the family shall not bear, after relocation, a ration of shelter costs to income that exceeds thirty percent (30%); or - If elected by the family, a lump-sum payment equal to the value of the benefits available under (a.), to permit the household to secure participation in a cooperative or mutual housing association. Replacement housing for persons displaced shall be decent, safe and sanitary, of adequate size to accommodate the family, functionally equivalent and in an area not subject to unreasonably adverse environmental conditions. Displacees have the right to elect, as an alternative to the benefits under this policy, benefits under the Uniform Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, if it is in their best interest to do so. If a claim for assistance under this policy is denied by the City/AHFC, the claimant has the right to appeal the decision to HUD. May 16, 2019 ******************** Page 3 of 3 DRAFTAttachment II E: Funding Table DRAFTCITY OF AUSTIN ACTION PLAN 2021‐2022 ‐ ALL FUNDING SOURCES *DRAFT* June 21, 2021  FY 2021‐22 Plan  Funding                   Source  New Funding   Services  Program / Activity SPECIAL NEEDS ASSISTANCE Child Care Services Subtotal, Child Care Services Senior Services Subtotal, Senior Services Mental Health Services Subtotal, Mental Health Services Subtotal, Public Services Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS AIDS Services of Austin AIDS Services of Austin‐CV Project Transitions Project Transitions‐CV HOPWA ‐ Adm HOPWA ‐ Adm‐CV Subtotal, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS HOMELESS ASSISTANCE Tenant‐Based Rental Assistance Subtotal, TBRA Security Deposits Emergency Rental Assistance ‐ Homeless Assistance Low Barrier Permanent Supportive Housing Program HEARTH Emergency Solutions Grant Shelter Operation and Maintenance HMIS 1 of 5 CDBG CDBG‐CV GF CDBG GF CDBG GF HOPWA HOPWA‐CV HOPWA‐PI HOPWA HOPWA‐CV HOPWA HOPWA‐CV HOME GF CDBG‐CV CDBG‐CV DDDB HESG HESG             485,279           179                          ‐                          ‐ 485,279             ‐                ‐                179                       125,461           175                          ‐ 125,461             ‐                175                       190,720           159                          ‐ 190,720             ‐                159                       801,460           513 1,303,120                                   ‐ 80,000               733,032                                      ‐ 62,973                                        ‐ 2,179,125          220           ‐                               ‐ 49             ‐                ‐                ‐                269                    1,133,205             85                          ‐ 1,133,205                         ‐ 85                                      ‐                ‐                          ‐                ‐             300,000             24             313,922        1,245               29,484 DRAFT 6/21/2021 Subtotal, Special Needs Assistance          2,980,585           782 DRAFTCITY OF AUSTIN ACTION PLAN 2021‐2022 ‐ ALL FUNDING SOURCES *DRAFT* June 21, 2021 Program / Activity HMIS‐CV Rapid Rehousing Programs Rapid Rehousing Programs‐CV ESG ‐ Adm ESG ‐ Adm‐CV Subtotal, HEARTH Emergency Solutions Grant Subtotal, Homeless Assistance RENTER ASSISTANCE Architectural Barrier Program ‐ Rental Tenants' Rights Assistance Subtotal, Tenants' Rights Assistance Subtotal, Renters Assistance HOMEBUYER ASSISTANCE Homebuyer Counseling Program Subtotal, Housing Smarts Down Payment Assistance Subtotal, Down Payment Assistance Subtotal, Homebuyer Assistance HOMEOWNER ASSISTANCE Architectural Barrier Removal ‐ Owner  Minor Home Repair Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program   Subtotal, Homeowner Rehab GO Repair! Program Subtotal, Homeowner Assistance HOUSING DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE Funding                   Source HESG‐CV HESG HESG‐CV HESG HESG‐CV CDBG CDBG GF GF HOME HOME ‐ PI CDBG CDBG HOME ‐ PI CDBG CDBG ‐ RL  FY 2021‐22 Plan   New Funding   Services                           ‐ 296,464             ‐                108                                    ‐ 30,000                                        ‐ 669,870                            ‐                ‐ 1,353                 2,103,075       1,462             185,000 7                                        ‐ 290,620                                      ‐ 290,620                            ‐ 360           ‐                360                       475,620           367 200,000                                      ‐ 200,000             200           ‐                200                                1,084,398 400,000          1,484,398 25             ‐                25                      1,684,398           225          1,510,000             80             900,000           200                                       200,000 793,152 40,000          1,033,152 ‐                9               ‐                9               GO Bonds          7,000,000           292       10,443,152           581 2 of 5 DRAFT 6/21/2021 DRAFTCITY OF AUSTIN ACTION PLAN 2021‐2022 ‐ ALL FUNDING SOURCES *DRAFT* June 21, 2021 Program / Activity Rental Housing Development Assistance Subtotal, Rental Housing Dev Assist Ownership Housing Development Assistance Subtotal, Ownership Housing Dev Assistance AHFC Acquisition and Development Subtotal, Real Property Acquisitions Subtotal, Housing Developer Assistance OTHER COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE CHDO Operating Expenses Grants Small Business Assistance to Child Care Centers Microenterprise Technical Assistance Subtotal, Microenterprise Technical Assistance Community Development Bank Neighborhood Commercial Management Neighborhood Commercial Management Family Business Loan Program Subtotal, Other Community Development Assistance Funding                   Source CDBG HOME HOME ‐ PI HOME (CHDO) GO Bonds HTF HPD UNO CDBG CDBG ‐ RL HOME HTF GO Bonds HOME (CHDO) HTF GO Bonds  FY 2021‐22 Plan   New Funding   Services                76,474 6                                        ‐ 218,182                         236,760        20,000,000                          ‐ 2,443,768                        50,000                ‐ 4               5               360           ‐                33                    23,025,184           408                          ‐ 55,000                                        ‐                          ‐ 6,000,000          236,760             6,291,760          ‐                ‐                8               6                              ‐ 2               16                                      ‐ 20,000,000        20,000,000                       ‐ 5               5                     49,316,944           429 HOME (CO)             150,000 2               CDBG‐CV CDBG GF CDBG CDBG ‐ PI CDBG ‐ RL Section 108 Section 108 ‐ PI                          ‐                          ‐ ‐                               ‐                          ‐                ‐                          ‐                ‐                          ‐                ‐                          ‐                ‐               50,000                ‐               40,000                ‐                      1,000,000 442,575 33                            ‐          3,483,911             37 DRAFT 6/21/2021 3 of 5 Non‐profit Capacity Building for Workforce Development CDBG          1,801,336 2               DRAFTCITY OF AUSTIN ACTION PLAN 2021‐2022 ‐ ALL FUNDING SOURCES *DRAFT* June 21, 2021 DEBT SERVICE Program / Activity Neighborhood Commercial Mgmt., Debt Service Section 108 ‐ PI Subtotal, Debt Service ADMINISTRATION  FY 2021‐22 Plan  Funding                   Source  New Funding   Services  CDBG CDBG ‐ PI HOME HOME ‐ PI GF             300,000 .                ‐             300,000                ‐                                                           1,589,510 10,000 315,680 81,818 8,515,559 ‐                ‐                               ‐ ‐                               ‐        10,512,567                ‐       81,300,252       3,883 Subtotal, Administration TOTAL Programs, Debt Service, and Admin Cost  4 of 5 DRAFT 6/21/2021 DRAFTCITY OF AUSTIN ACTION PLAN 2021‐2022 ‐ ALL FUNDING SOURCES *DRAFT* June 21, 2021 Program / Activity  FY 2021‐22 Plan  Funding                   Source  New Funding   Services  FUND SUMMARIES: HOPWA HOPWA‐CV HOPWA‐PI HESG HESG‐CV CDBG CDBG‐CV CDBG ‐ PI CDBG ‐ RL HOME HOME (CHDO) HOME (CO) HOME ‐ PI HTF Section 108 ‐ PI Section 108 GO Bonds CIP GF HPD DDDB UNO                       2,099,125                                   ‐ 80,000               669,870                                      ‐ 7,947,552                                   ‐ 60,000               135,000             2,533,283          473,520             150,000             900,000                                      ‐ 742,575 1,000,000 53,000,000                                                      ‐ 8,715,559          2,443,768 300,000 50,000                                    269           ‐                               ‐ 1,353                       ‐ 1,177                       ‐ ‐                               ‐ 118           7               2               4                             6                ‐ 33             657                     200 33             24                            ‐ 0 Totals        81,300,252        3,883 5 of 5 DRAFT 6/21/2021 * These figures are subject to the availability of both federal and local funding. ** Housing Trust Fund is not included after FY 18‐19 because continued funding is not assured. DRAFT