HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary HCDC PacketHOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
COMMISSION (HCDC)
February 18, 2021
Electronic Regular Meeting – 6:30 PM
Zoom Meeting Platform
AGENDA:
1.Call to Order
2.Consideration of Meeting Minutes: January 21, 2021
3. Public Comment of Items not on the Agenda
Commentators shall address the Commission for no more than 5 minutes.
Commissioners shall not engage in discussion with the public concerning said items.
4.Question and Answer Session for FY22 Applications: Community Development
Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME), and Emerging
A2A Programs
Applications can be found online at www.icgov.org/actionplan. At this meeting, HCDC
will host a question and answer session with applicants. Applicants are encouraged
to send a representative to answer any questions. For CDBG and HOME applications,
ranking sheets found in the Applicant Guide will focus questions. Emerging A2A
Electronic Meeting
(Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8)
An electronic meeting is being held because a meeting in person is
impossible or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of
Commission members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19.
You can participate in the meeting and comment on an agenda item by
going to:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwkcu6prD8iGNFwwPQtpbnUHHD4Z
V7ebgB2
to visit the Zoom meeting’s registration page and submitting the
required information. Once approved, you will receive an email
message with a link to join the meeting. If you are asked for a meeting
or webinar ID, enter the ID number found in the email. If you have no
computer or smartphone, or a computer without a microphone, you can
call in by phone by dialing (312) 626-6799 and entering the meeting ID
989 5712 4825 when prompted. Providing comment in person is not an
option.
2
If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate in this program or event, please
contact Brianna Thul at brianna-thul@iowa-city.org or 319-356-5230. Early requests are strongly
encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.
applications do not have a ranking sheet. No action will be taken this meeting. HCDC’s
funding recommendations for Council will be made next meeting (currently scheduled
for March 11).
5.Iowa City Council Meeting Updates
Two commissioners are assigned each month to monitor Council meetings. This
agenda item provides an opportunity to review assignment schedule and for brief
updates on City Council activity relevant to HCDC business.
6.Housing & Community Development Information
7.Adjournment
Housing and Community Development Commission
November 19, 2020 Meeting Packet Contents
Agenda Item #2
•January 21, 2021 HCDC Draft Meeting Minutes
Agenda Item #4
•FY22 CDBG/HOME Application Summary
•FY22 Emerging Aid to Agencies Application Summary
•FY22 Resources Summary
•FY22 CDBG/HOME Evaluation Criteria
•City Steps 2025 Priority Needs Table
(Full consolidated plan, City Steps 2025, is available at icgov.org/actionplan)
Agenda Item #6
•February 3, 2021 Correspondence from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (CAPER)
MINUTES PRELIMINARY
HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
JANUARY 21, 2021 – 6:30 PM
ELECTRONIC MEETING
MEMBERS PRESENT: Peggy Aguilar, Megan Alter, Matt Drabek, Theresa Lewis, Nasr
Mohammed, Peter Nkumu, Maria Padron
MEMBERS ABSENT: Lyn Dee Hook Kealey, Kyle Vogel
STAFF PRESENT: Erika Kubly, Brianna Thul
OTHERS PRESENT: Sara Barron, Heath Brewer, Missie Forbes, Mark Sertterh
CALL MEETING TO ORDER:
Padron called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM.
CONSIDERATION OF MEETING MINUTES: NOVEMBER 19, 2020:
Drabek moved to approve the minutes of November 19, 2020. Alter seconded and a vote was taken and
the motion passed 7-0.
PUBLIC COMMENT FOR TOPICS NOT ON THE AGENDA:
Sara Barron (Affordable Housing Coalition) wanted to update the Commission on a couple of things. The
first is that they are resuming their community meetings in 2021, they had suspended them because of
the pandemic but since they don't know when they'll be able to gather again, they're going to be doing
them over zoom. Meetings will be on the fourth Friday of every month, from noon to one, and all are
encouraged to join. The topic for January is to review all of the changes that are happening very rapidly
with the COVID relief, both in terms of policies and funding, so that everyone in the community knows
about the newest round of federal assistance, as well as the extension of the eviction moratorium and
how coordinated entry is working. The link for the meeting is on the Facebook page. Barron also wanted
to just bring to the Commission’s attention that they're still accepting people to sign up for their training
that they're offering for boards, commissions, elected officials and city staff about housing, funding and
programs. They held their first session today and it was a success, although they will have to scale back
the amount of information to make it all fit in one hour, but they really want to provide a comprehensive
overview about how the puzzle fits together and encourage all to use that information to ask more
questions and think more strategically about how to allocate funding and what else is needed in Johnson
County to secure affordable housing for all residents. Barron noted they are also holding a community
meeting open to all residents to provide general information. The meetings with the boards, commissions,
elected officials and city staff are a little more technical about the funding and program stuff and oriented
toward decision makers and policy advisors.
HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:
Padron wanted to mention is that not only this has been an extremely difficult and different year, their
meetings have also been very unique and different and this format is new for everyone. Since these
meetings are now recorded and able to be viewed by everyone in the community, she encourages all to
remember this is diverse community and to keep the meeting as formal as possible and to not eat or drink
on camera and keep distractions at a minimum.
Agenda Item #2
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Padron also wanted to mention that Nkumu has been appointed as the representative for the Housing
and Community Development Commission to the new Affordable Housing Steering Committee. Nkumu
noted he is looking forward to participating on this committee and that they are planning on having the
first meeting sometime in February.
OVERVIEW OF THE COORDINATED ENTRY PROCESS:
Mark Sertterh (Executive Director, Shelter House) presented an overview of the coordinated entry
process. Coordinated entry is something he has worked very hard on to bring to the local community, at
least the last five years or so, and he wanted to talk about that and especially how it actually impacts and
really helps how they do services in the community, not just Shelter House but many of the other different
providers as well. Coordinated entry is a system that ensures that all people that are experiencing a
housing crisis have fair and equal access, are quickly identified, assessed, referred and connected to
housing assistance programs based on needs that they might have. Sertterh stressed the whole point of
this process is fair and secure and it prioritizes the assistance programs that are offered. Coordinated
entry began several years ago as a HUD mandated program for homeless assistance providers. Anybody
that was receiving HUD money for the Homeless Assistance Program was required to participate in
coordinated entry. Sertterh noted that was a very small number of providers originally in the Johnson
County and Iowa City Community but has certainly evolved. Coordinated entry has gotten a lot more
attention lately with other providers, not just HUD funded, and with other people in the community,
because of the pandemic as there's a lot more needs and things have changed in the community since
the pandemic has started. There is also a lot more need for homelessness assistance, homelessness
prevention, eviction prevention, etc. Sertterh noted the organizations that are part of the coordinated entry
process are Shelter House, DVIP, HACAP, Inside Out Reentry, Johnson County Jail Alternatives,
Community Crisis Services (formerly Crisis Center), the VA hospital, United Action for Youth, Abbe
Mental Health Center and the Center for Worker Justice is the newest organization to join. This group of
service providers is large and diverse providing different types of services. As this Commission knows
there is a lot more need in the community than there will ever be funding so they have to make sure that
they're getting the assistance programs to the people that need it most and how to prioritize that is always
a tricky thing. That is what coordinated entry does, they try to prioritize the needs and funding. Sertterh
stated while this is a local thing, it is also in everyone other county in Iowa in some variation. He would
venture to say that Johnson, Linn and Polk County have a pretty streamlined system and he has done a
lot of training with other communities in Iowa to try to teach them how to do this more efficiently and fairly.
Coordinated entry is to be able to prioritize folks that have need and so they have criteria and screening
tools and assessments they do with everybody that fairly judges people's situations so that they can get
them to the services they need. This started with rapid rehousing and some of the homeless programs.
If there's someone who is literally homeless, on the streets or in a shelter their information is entered and
they do this assessment. Sertterh confirmed that all their information is in a database which has the
highest security because HUD requires that's the case. He also noted he is asked a lot about folks that
are not citizens will they be turned in, or people are worried about giving social security number or saying
they don't have one, well nobody can ever get this information out of the database, even in warrant, so it
is really good in that respect. With this database there is one list that comes out, anybody who's newly
identified homeless that week, or has been on the list prior that hasn't been scored the highest acuity to
get pulled for a housing program, and review the list against openings at Cross Park or elsewhere. They
look at the scores and people situations and use that criteria to enroll folks in programs and start working
with them to try to meet their needs, whatever that may be. Recently what’s come into context is
homelessness prevention or eviction prevention funding, which Iowa City was the first on board with it
locally to fund eviction prevention activities. Shelter House has some HUD funding along with that and
are also administering the CDBG assistance. Meeting with all the agencies is good because they may
have some different types of funding that may provide some assistance. Having coordinate entry and
these meetings twice a week, so that they can prioritize those people who have the highest needs, is a
very efficient process. They can go through a whole list of almost 75 people (like they did today) in 20
minutes because of the information in the database and seeing the need. Sertterh acknowledged there
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are times when there are a lot of calls for assistance, especially for the eviction prevention and people
that are behind on their rent, but they are trying to get them all assessed as quickly as possible and are
actually investing some more resources into people that can just answer the phones and return phone
calls. There is a major need out there and the coordinated entry process really works.
Drabek asked hypothetically if the City did have enough money to help everyone in need, would it be like
increasing the current funding by 10 or 50 or 100 times. Sertterh said he can't really give an answer to
that because they can't imagine all the people may need help, plus he can't imagine how many people
every month scratch and claw to make ends meet that don't ever come across their system. He talked to
a woman a couple of weeks ago that was literally talking about how she was picking up and taking cans
back to pay the last $30 on a rent or utility bill. For now, they do have enough money to help most in
need, however he anticipates they will run out of this type of funding before the end of 2021 unless there's
another stimulus bill and more rental assistance. Sertterh also noted it is hard to tell right now because
there's so much related to the pandemic, which is exacerbating everybody's problems.
Alter asked how long has the coordinated entry process been in existence. Sertterh said it has been
since 2017 or 2018, it started smaller because most of the homelessness assistance dollars were
federally mandated, so it was DVIP, Shelter House and HACAP. They then got others involved such as
Inside Out Reentry because they got the Housing Trust Fund dollars as they provided to some of the
same folks as Shelter House worked with and that didn’t make a lot of sense to be duplicating each other.
That is another benefit of coordinated entry, so there isn't duplication of spending money or three
organizations working with the same person to help them have one outcome.
Mohammed asked if this money a grant or a loan that people need to pay back. Sertterh confirmed that
none of these programs require people to have to pay back funds, it's money given to them. Even if it is
funds for security deposit, that's their money even though they might actually get that money back at the
end of their lease term. Sertterh also noted they give the funds directly to the landlord or municipality
rather than to the individual so they know the money was used for the purpose needed.
Padron asked if the funding is separate from the funding that these organizations receive from Aid to
Agencies. Sertterh stated the City of Iowa City's eviction prevention program is outside of that and there
are also VA dollars, HUD dollars and some other different types of money.
Nkumu asked how they determine who actually need the service. Sertterh said if anyone contacts any of
the agencies that agency will enter the person into the coordinated entry database to be discussed. He
did note lately they have been seeing more and more due to COVID and loss of income that people are
behind in their utilities and needed help with that. Unfortunately people that are that are only behind on
their utilities are way low on the prioritization schedule, they prioritize first of all people that have eviction
filed in court and try to work with legal aid to help those folks. Additionally there are calls from folks who
are scared of not being able to pay future rents but they're not in arrears yet. Again, that's scary for them,
but it’s not a priority. However they have hired some interns and staff to do some housing counseling to
help them as sometimes when in a crisis they are not able to think straight so talking with them about
what other options they may have is all they need and not really housing assistance.
Mohammed asked about funds available for the homeowners as well. Sertterh replied there are different
programs available for mortgage assistance that they do through coordinated entry. Again, the key to
most of them is the person has to have some sort of income eligibility requirements and prove that it's a
loss of income related to COVID as to why they haven't been able to pay their mortgage.
Heath Brewer (Habitat for Humanity) noted through the IFA programs there's some additional funding to
support them and some forbearance assistance out there as well that may fall outside of this homeowner
network. There might be some other assistance for mortgages, which is not as readily available as rental
assistance, so people can contact him for mortgage assistance, they have a pretty good network.
ANNUAL PROJECT MONITORING PRESENTATIONS:
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Missie Forbes (4C’s Community Coordinated Child Care) stated they receive the funds from CDBG are
used for childcare providers in their Starting Strong Program which is for low income individuals who are
setting up child development homes. In order to be a part of the Starting Strong Program, these providers
are required to have at least 50% of the kids in their care on childcare assistance. Forbes noted their
consultants provide technical assistance to these providers, assisting them with setting up appropriate
early education environments, a lot of discussion around appropriate best practices such as safe sleep
and learning through play. Forbes stated a lot of the providers that are in the Starting Strong Program
come from the refugee and immigrant population so they also spend a lot of time discussing cultural
differences and how to care for children. They are also exploring some ways to create some materials on
childcare language, because for example when they say hang your coat in your cubby, that doesn't
necessarily translate. Forbes confirmed obviously COVID put quite a strain on this program as they
canceled all of their trainings and are attempting to reach the providers via the telephone which is not a
really great strategy for connecting with someone who's watching children. They also run into a lot of
technological barriers and access to the internet as well as language is an issue as well. In the warmer
weather in the spring and summer months their consultants were able to meet outside with providers and
talk and engage and provide support, but then once winter hit, they had to look at more creative ways to
reach those individuals. Even with the challenges they continue to be approached by individuals
interested in becoming childcare providers, the word of mouth in the refugee and immigrant populations
has been especially helpful and 4C’s will continue to do identifies better ways to reach them. A lot of them
use WhatsApp, but are very unfamiliar with zoom, they are also trying Facebook and YouTube stories
that providers can access at any time those resources. They also have a weekly Friday check in and are
doing some CDA trainings with that group. Morale has been really high in this program, as is the
commitment to their programs. One provider who is currently not taking children because of COVID did
renew her registration with DHS so while she is not currently willing to watch children in her home, she
anticipates that she will continue with the program in the future and Forbes believes that's a true
testament to the commitment that their consultants have as well as the connection that they feel to the
4C’s consultants through this program. Forbes stated that one of their consultants has a weekly zoom
meeting with English language learners to discuss pertinent childcare topics such as best practices for
safe sleep, early literacy activities, and other topics of interest identified by the group and these meetings
are conducted in English with the intention of giving these providers an opportunity to practice English in
a safe space, and that has been very well received by that group of people. Forbes stated that due to
COVID they had a slow start in the middle of the year with the funding but they have some ideas around
robust training coming up within the next couple of months to continue to support those in the program
that aren't necessarily people who are educated in the field of early childhood education.
Forbes stated with the CDBG COVID money they received in the fall, 4C’s and Dream City opened up a
neighborhood nest (which stands for nurturing every student together safely) and that was an idea that
some community members came up with to support at risk students. The Dream City nest took care of
supporting academically junior and senior high students, and the 4C's nest provided school support and
wraparound childcare to families that were experiencing homelessness. They worked with Shelter House,
DVIP, and Prelude to support some families in their programs. The 4C's nest ended in the winter break
but with the next round of CDBG COVID money that they received will be to provide scholarships to
families so that their elementary students can attend child care programs and with that their intention is to
address two timely issues of supporting students during hybrid learning and also supporting childcare
programs that are struggling to stay open. These scholarships are intended to help the families through
the end of the school year, and they believe they have enough funding to be able to carry those kids
through June.
Nkumu asked how many immigrant refugee run childcare providers are available in Iowa City. Forbes is
not sure of the total number but said of the 30 Starting Strong Programs that they work with about 50% of
them are from the refugee and immigrant population and most of them are in home childcare programs.
Alter asked how they reach out to these different caregivers, especially if there's language differences.
Forbes said Susan Gray, the former executive director, was really good at networking in that community
and she would attend refugee group meetings once a month. Forbes noted before she started with 4C’s
they were somehow was connected with Catherine McAuley and received some funding from them as
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well. Forbes said now she believes it is really word of mouth at this point that keeps that population
continued with recruitment.
Padron asked if there is a deadline to spend all the funding for the Starting Strong Program. Kubly
responded that right now their agreement is through May 1. They get a $25,000 allocation of technical
assistance and it's usually about a year to spend that amount but because it's COVID year they extended
it a little bit. Forbes believes they have gotten a lot of positive feedback and came up with some creative
ideas of how to reach the people in those programs and how to continue that technical assistance that's
needed.
Heath Brewer (Habitat for Humanity) is reporting on FY19 and FY20 funds. In FY19 funds were initially
received for acquisition of property, the timing of which were to be used to purchase properties that
Habitat had an option on.The receipt of those funds did not occur prior to the closing on those properties.
So working with a previous person in neighborhood services, Kirk Lehmann, they transferred those funds
to down payment assistance and those funds paired with the FY20 funds are all to be used for down
payment assistance to serve homebuyers under 50%. Obviously, the pandemic last year and the
transition of the funds from acquisition to down payment assistance delayed them a little bit, however they
have a very busy year coming up with seven new builds that they will complete this calendar year so all of
the funds from FY19 and FY20 will be utilized in the purchase of those properties and will all be direct
subsidies to the home buyer. Brewer stated four of those funding opportunities will be utilized in the
southeast portion of Iowa City where they have some lots in the Saddlebrook Meadows subdivision and
they also have a new partnership with Steve Gordon and his development team to develop five new
homes on Indigo Court. While there has been a delay in the use they will expend those funds prior to the
end of calendar year 21.
Thul stated they were to have a report from the Mayor's Youth and they had something come up last
minute and could not attend but did send some quick notes on the project. The Mayor’s Youth
Empowerment project was an FY20 construction project that was for the building of two single family
homes, each with three bedrooms, for people with disabilities. The location of those homes are 191
Huntington and 177 Huntington. Thul stated the project is almost complete, they are fully leased up on
one of the homes and the other is not yet fully occupied but are actively seeking and working with current
referrals to fill the second home and their hope is that home is filled within the next several months.
Padron asked if that project be considered complete when they are able to rent the residence or when
they finished building the houses. Thul replied technically it's when the property is fully leased up as
that's when their period of affordability starts and both houses are 20 years. Once the City gets that
completion form that says it's fully leased up and have the demographic information, then it's technically
complete.
Lewis asked if the homes are for families who are caring for a person with a disability or are they for
individuals living together that have disabilities. Thul said this project would be for the individuals.
FY22 CDBG/HOME TENTATIVE CALENDAR:
Padron stated staff will provide an overview of tentative CDBG and Home and Aid to Agencies calendar
and answer any questions the Commissioners may have about the role of HCDC as it relates to the
funding cycle.
Thul noted in the agenda packet there is a calendar for the grant cycle, they opened the grant period
December 28 and it will close the January 29. Staff hosted two applicant workshops via zoom for people
who had questions and also answered several emails and phone calls about questions about projects.
The next HCDC meeting will be a Q&A with the applicants who apply for the funds.
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Kubly added that when they get applications on the 29th they’ll try to get those out quickly. Usually staff
does a staff summary and then sends them out to the Commissioners, so it will likely be mid-week the
first week in February. However, that still is time to review before the Q&A.
Padron noted they will only be reviewing the emerging agencies because legacy agencies don’t have to
apply. Kubly confirmed and said the review will be of CDBG and Home annual projects and then
emerging agencies, they won't have the whole aid to agency allocation this year, it will just be housing
projects and public facilities type projects.
RACIAL EQUITY TOOLKIT:
Staff provided an overview of the racial equity toolkit it's a resource that's available to all City departments
to review services, policies, initiatives, programs and budget issues to identify and address impacts on
communities of color. Kubly noted she is not the expert on the toolkit but has used it before for some of
their projects, one in particular was the South District Homeownership Program. The toolkit has three
stages, stage one is to determine whether the proposal will have an impact on equity or not. One would
go through and describe the project and intended outcomes and then select determinants of equity that
might be affected by the program. There's a list provided which includes things like housing,
transportation, food systems, equity and City practices. A project may impact several on the list. Next is
stage two which is the equity assessment, where they identify who is likely to be affected by the project.
There are specific questions based on the type of program, is it a City-wide program, is it focused on a
geographic area like the South District Program, etc. They can use census data or GIS maps to depict the
demographics of who would be impacted, focusing on race and ethnicity, income level and limited English
proficiency. Then at stage three they identify impacts to certain populations and actions to take. They
would list out which population might be disproportionately affected and how to either mitigate negative
impacts or an enhanced positive impact and then prioritize the action steps. The last section is
recommendations and assessment of whether those are realistic to implement, and then identification of
project benchmarks. Staff would fill this out, depending on who's implementing the program. When Kubly
did one she worked pretty closely with Stephanie Bowers, the City’s equity director, who helped guide
Kubly through the process. There is some information in the agenda packet about the toolkit and also a
list of some of the outcomes that the City’s had as a result of toolkits such as outreach efforts that people
made or translation services for different programs.
Alter stated they know that this has been well implemented within the City government in years past and
current, but has there been any review of the Equity Toolkit or plan to do so as all plans tend to be
reassessed and reevaluated at times. Kubly stated the toolkit came about in 2018 and she doesn’t know
that there are plans to revise or review it at this time, however the City is working on other ways to review
equity within programs.
Lewis asked if using the toolkit is a requirement or can departments decide if they it. Kubly said for
certain programs it is a requirement, for example they always use it for homeownership programs.
However, typically it's more of a recommendation that comes from Council or a commission or maybe the
public or staff member but it’s not required at this point.
IOWA CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS UPDATES:
Pardon stated the Commission decided last year to have two commissioners per month monitor the Iowa
City Council meetings and then either write a very short report or give a quick report if there are any
topics that they think the Commission should know about, or if something happens that will affect them.
Padron asked if the Commission wanted to continue to do this practice and if so they’ll need volunteers
for each month this year.
Drabek stated he thinks it's worthwhile as long as they have volunteers to do it, he has learned a few
things from the updates.
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Overall the Commission felt they should keep doing it and asked for volunteers for the first three months.
Padron and Lewis will do January, Drabek and Alter will do February and Mohammed and Aguilar will do
March.
AID TO AGENCY VISIT REPORTS:
Padron stated she has only called the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County as they were not
receiving visits. Others probably have not been able to visit their agencies yet but others may have
something to report.
Mohammed stated he was able to visit his organizations, Shelter House and Prelude Behavior Services.
He met with Chrissy, the executive director of the Shelter House, and Christine, the development director
of the Shelter House, and they gave an amazing presentation of everything about the services and
operation of the Shelter House. The presentation started with an overview about the services that are
offered, the Shelter House shelters over 950 individuals each year but more than that they offer programs
and support focusing on emergency stabilization and long term intervention in the area of the housing,
employment and mental health recovery. Shelter House helps hundreds of individuals every year,
including men, women and children. Currently Shelter House has an emergency shelter facility on South
Gate Avenue that houses about 50 guests. Emergency shelter guests frequently suffer from a variety of
problems such as domestic violence, permanent disabilities and mental and physical health concerns.
60% of the guest list just lost their most recent permanent housing. 100% of the tenants are living in
poverty. The Shelter House helps individuals and families to stabilize and to go back to the community.
One way they do this is to help clients make security deposits, offer rental assistance, connect them with
other available benefits, move them to safe and stable houses, and facilitate the selection and delivery of
furniture on the first day they are in their new homes. The Shelter House guests are experiencing chronic
homelessness higher than national average and the major driver is the medical services located in the
City like the VA hospital and University of Iowa hospitals. A second driver is the city location at the
intersection of the interstates 380 and 80. When the novel coronavirus pandemic hit the community
Shelter House like many other organizations were on the front line providing case management,
employment counseling, shelter and other services. To overcome all the COVID-19 challenges they made
drastic changes to keep guests safe as possible. These include some difficult decisions such as reducing
the emergency shelter capacity from 70 to 45 and remaining open at the Shelter House facility 24 hours
and suspending drop-in services including laundry and showers. These changes allow the organization to
minimize direct contact between individuals but requires significant additional work of finding alternative
housing for the guests who moved out of Shelter Houses utilizing existing programs like the Rapid
Rehousing Program and a new program like the municipal partnership to move guests to individual hotel
rooms.
Mohammed also met with Ron Berg, Chief Executive Officer, of Prelude Behavioral Services, and Berg
started with giving an overview about Prelude services such as prevention and treatment services to
citizens across Iowa that include drug abuse, gambling addiction, alcoholism, marijuana, etc. Berg
explained that the organization serves more than 4500 patients annually. In Iowa City, the organization
has three levels of patient care, level one and level two are outpatient services and level three includes
338 beds for patients. Berg also talked about the clinical services offered by the organization and the
excellent continuing care services and group programming, such as counseling for individuals and the
halfway house services. The organization has faced challenges due to the COVID-19 and they had to
adapt the situation by limiting services and using telehealth services to evaluate the cases before meeting
them in person. They are also using proper social distancing and wearing masks when they met in
person with patients. The pandemic affects the organization operational limit and cuts their services by
nearly 20%. Their services were also affected by the recent storm and had to wait for internet services to
be restored. They concluded the meeting with an inspirational story about the individual that has an
extensive history of substance abuse and how the organization helped that individual to recover from
substance abuse and to reconnect with his family and children.
Lewis noted that last month one of her agencies, DVIP gave a presentation and her other agency, 4C’s
gave a presentation this evening but if at the next meeting if they want her to present any additional
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information on either of those agencies she is happy to do that. Padron noted that these visits from the
Commissioners were envisioned to be something more personal as they can always do the research and
find all those numbers. For example if you visit DVIP you can say like, the kitchen is beautiful and you
saw all these women cooking and it was so great. It doesn't have to be a formal report of numbers, it can
also be some personal information because that also impacts how the agencies are funded. The
information in the applications that the agencies give us is wonderful, but sometimes going into the
agencies and experiencing or talking to the people that they're helping shows things that are not on the
application.
Drabek gave his report, he visited Inside Out Reentry and Community. For Inside Out Reentry he visited
them back in the fall, in September, he visited their facility and met with their director, Michelle Heinz.
Due to COVID they were the only people in the facility and were wearing masks and sat at opposite ends
of an enormous conference table. So it was as personal is could be in COVID. Inside Out Reentry works
with people who are incarcerated in the prison system and are moving toward the stage of reentering
society and reentering the community. During normal times they maintain a physical space for
community support for people to come in for meetings, they have a children's play area and people can
come in for in person assistance. A lot of that obviously been disrupted, they are no longer running
community meetings and community spaces. In September they had a serious issue that they could not
go and physically visit people in prison. Drabek has not followed up to see if that is still the case but
assumes it is. Their normal services are mainly about finding housing and employment and COVID has
effected that enormously as employment was an issue in March and April when the country lost 40 million
jobs, but employment hasn't been quite as big of a barrier since those initial bad months but housing
almost it seems like it went in reverse. It started out as not such a big problem right away but then as
things compiled over time, as people were out of work for some time housing became more of an issue.
Housing discrimination is a problem that they've always seen, but seem to see more of now, it's
particularly difficult for anyone with the sex offense on the record to find housing and there's just rampant
discrimination against those particular offenders. One impressive thing about the organization they've
always run donation pardoned clothing and items like that and they were still running those services as of
September.
Drabek stated he met with Community in November via a zoom meeting and mostly Community was
doing a virtual presentation of their new food pantry space on the southeast side of town at Pepperwood
Plaza. The big thing about Community, or as they were formerly known as Crisis Center, they provide a
very wide range of services. They do a lot of food aid, hunger aid, shelter aid, but they also do suicide
prevention. They have a wide range of services and that allows them a unique ability to compare
services and also do cross referrals within their own organization. So a person very well might come in for
food aid and there's also a mental health issue that they can also provide services for and do a cross
referral within their own organization. They were having an issue at the time where because if you recall
pre COVID their food aid was done in their South Gilbert facility, a person went down there, they could go
in and they could pick out the food themselves, it was a lot of personalization and a lot of control.
Whereas with COVID, they started doing prepackaged food where a person was just would pick up a set
amount and doing it this way leads to a lot of waste. It may be there's not the right amount of food, or
there may be some food in that prepackaging that a family doesn't like, and that food can become food
waste, which they're obviously looking to avoid. They also reported a massive drop in volunteers because
of COVID and a lot of their services are volunteer heavy. So they were having to spend a lot of money to
get around that issue and high proportion of their volunteers also are in high risk groups for COVID, large
numbers of retirees, for example. They had a lot of losses in terms of numbers and granted things may
have changed a bit with the vaccine, but they expect a lot of those losses to continue through the
calendar year of 2021.
Padron said those two were great reports and was thinking many organizations volunteer forces are
people who are retired and they are in the high risk groups.
Kubly stated she knows that it's hard to get to the agencies right now but something she found helpful is
following them on social media, a lot of them have Facebook pages and they'll post volunteer
opportunities or their needs so people can help.
Housing and Community Development Commission
January 21, 2021
Page 9 of 10
9
HOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION:
Thul stated that they did the second round of nonprofit funding and were able to fund eight organizations.
Community was one of them for the second food pantry as they asked for some additional staffing, in the
first round the City funded them for their rent. She also wanted to reiterated information about the
Affordable Housing Coalition community meeting that was mentioned that earlier, if anyone wants that
link let her know.
Kubly stated they are partnering with EC-COG to offer the COVID Business Assistance Program and that
application period has come and gone. They're reviewing the business submissions to see who's eligible
and scoring them to see who’s eligible and then get those funds out into the businesses in the
community.
Padron reiterated the next meeting is February 18 and that's when they'll do Q&A with applicants. That
next meeting is going to be important, because after they read the applications, they can ask the
applicants for clarification or more information. It can be really helpful and can bump up their rating or
ranking. When they present in person it is so much so much better than just reading the application but it
is important to read the applications in order to have questions ready.
ADJOURNMENT:
Alter moved to adjourn. Lewis seconded the motion and a vote was taken and the motion passed 7-0.
Housing and Community Development Commission
January 21, 2021
Page 10 of 10
10
Housing and Community
Development Commission
Attendance Record 2020-2021
•Resigned from Commission
Key:
X = Present
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
--- = Vacant
Name Terms Exp. 7/16 8/20 9/17 10/15 11/19 1/21
Aguilar, Peggy 6/30/22 O/E X X O/E O/E X
Alter, Megan 6/30/21 X X O/E X X X
Drabek, Matt 6/30/22 X X X O/E X X
Kealey, Lyn Dee Hook 6/30/22 X X X O/E X O/E
Lewis, Thersea 6/30/23 X X X X X X
Mohammed, Nsar 6/30/23 X X O/E X X X
Nkumu, Peter 6/30/22 O/E X O/E X X X
Pardon, Maria 6/30/21 X X O/E X O/E X
Vogel, Kyle 6/30/23 X X X O/E X O/E
Order of
Submission Organization Type of Project Brief Description of Project
Requested
Amount
Planned to
Assist
City Steps 2025
Goal Indicated Initial Staff Comments
1 Unlimited Abilities Rental Housing Acquisition
Acquisition of a 3-5 bedroom home to provide housing to
people with disabilities due to chronic mental illness who are
below 30% AMI
$125,000.00 3-5 clients
(below 30%AMI)
Provide public
services
2
Domestic Violence
Intervention Program
(DVIP)
Public Services Funding for rent and and staff for emergency overflow
apartment space $109,330.50 99 clients
(below 80 % AMI)
Serve
homeless/reduce
homelessness
Project was marked as public facilities, but it
appears to be a public service activity based
on the description
3 Successful Living Rental Housing Acquisition
Acquisition of a 5 bedroom home to provide housing to people
with disabilities due to chronic mental illness who are below
30% AMI
$55,000.00 5 clients
(below 30% AMI)
Increase affordable
rental housing units
4 Successful Living Rental Housing Acquisition
Acquisition of a 5 bedroom home to provide housing to people
with disabilities due to chronic mental illness who are below
30% AMI
$55,000.00 5 clients
(below 30% AMI)
Increase affordable
rental housing units
5 Successful Living Rental Housing Acquisition
Acquisition of a 5 bedroom home to provide housing to people
with disabilities due to chronic mental illness who are below
30% AMI
$55,000.00 5 clients
(below 30% AMI)
Increase affordable
rental housing units
6 Neighborhood Centers of
Johnson County Public Facilities (CDBG only)Rehabilitation of Broadway and Pheasant Ridge Centers $37,242.00 2012 clients
(below 80% AMI)
Improve public
facilities
7 Shelter House Public Facilities (CDBG only)Rehabilitation of emergency shelter's HVAC system $225,000.00 850 clients
(below 30% AMI)
Improve public
facilities
8 Shelter House Rental Housing
Rehabilitation/Reconstruction
Rehabilitation of Amhust St. home that was destroyed by a
house fire $150,000.00 6 clients
(below 50% AMI)
Rehabilitate/improve
renter occupied
housing units
$811,573
FY22 CDBG/HOME Application Summary
Total Requested
Agenda Item #4
Order of
Submission Organization Type of Project Brief Description of Project
Requested
Amount
Planned to
Assist
Initial Staff
Comments
1 Sudanese American
Community Services Inc. Public Services
Funds to purchase iPads and laptops for
online programming during the pandemic
including classes and meetings
$15,000.00 500 people
(below 50% AMI)
2 The Center for Worker
Justice of Eastern Iowa Public Services Operational funds to pursue wage theft
complaints $15,000.00 225 people
(below 80% AMI)
3 The Dream Center (Dream
City)Public Services
Operational funds for Connection Academies
which specialize on the following areas:
performing
& fine arts, health & wellness, youth
leadership, and family
$15,000.00 470 people
(below 30% AMI)
4 Corridor Community Action
Network Public Services
Funds for retail space for clothing closet that
would provide free quality clothing to
community
members in need.
$14,891.40 640 people
(below 80% AMI)
$59,891
FY22 Emerging Aid to Agencies Application Summary
Total Requested
Agenda Item #4
Expected Resources Total Requested Difference
Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG) $225,000 $371,573 -$146,573
HOME Investement Partnership
Program (HOME)$348,000 $440,000 -$92,000
Emerging Aid to Agencies (A2A)$30,000 $59,891 -$29,891
Total $603,000 $871,464 -$268,463.50
FY22 Resources Summary
Agenda Item #4
FY22 CDBG/HOME EVALUATION CRITERIAOtherPointsNeighborhood Centers of Johnson CountyShelter House #1 HVAC Unlimited Abilities AcquisitionSuccessful Living Acq. #1Successful Living Acq. #2Successful Living Acq. #3Shelter House #2 AmhurstDVIPI. Need Priority (max. 10 points)1 How well has the applicant documented the ability of the project to meet a primary goal identified in City Steps 2025?0-10 PointsII. Leveraging Resources/Budget (max. 35 points)1 Does the project have realistic cost estimates? 0-5 Points2 Does the project leverage community partnerships and/or volunteer resources?0-5 Points3 Does the project leverage other financial resources? Guide:0-25% = 0-6 pts26-50% = 7-12 pts51-75% = 13-19 pts76-99% = 20-25 ptsSubtotalIII. Feasibility/Community Impact (max. 40 points)1What primary percent of median income persons are targeted? Guide:0-30%=20 pts31-50%=15 pts51-60%=10 pts61-80%=2 pts2 Will the project assist any specific vulnerable populations?0-5 Points3 Does the project have a reasonable per-person/unit cost compared to other projects of similar scope?0-5 Points4 Does the project schedule adequately demonstrate the project will be completed within the required time period? 0-5 Points5 Does the project provide a long-term solution to the need identified?0-5 PointsSubtotalIV Capacity/History (max. 15 points)1 Has the applicant demonstrated it can successfully complete projects and that the current request is necessary? (i.e. past projects are substantially complete) 0-5 Points2 Does the organization have the capacity to complete the project based on current description of staff?0-5 Points3 Does the organization’s activities and portfolio provide evidence of ability to undertake the project as described?0-5 PointsSubtotalBonus: Is public facilities project documented in City Steps 2025?5 PointsMaximum Points: 100 TOTAL:Public FacilitiesHousing Agenda Item #4
City Steps 2025 Priority Needs
Priority Need Name
Expansion of
Affordable Rental and
Owner Housing
Options
Preservation of
Existing Affordable
Rental and Owner
Housing
Housing and Services
to the Homeless and
those at Risk of
Homelessness
Provision of Public
Services
Public Facility
Improvements
Public Infrastructure
& Neighborhood
Based Climate Action
Economic
Development
Administration and
Planning
Provide Facilities and
Services in Support
of Pandemic
Response
Priority Level High High High High High Low Low High High
Population
Extremely Low Income;
Low Income; Moderate
Income; Large
Families; Families with
Children; Elderly
Families; Public
Housing Residents;
Elderly; Frail Elderly;
Persons with Mental
Disabilities; Persons
with Physical
Disabilities; Persons
with Developmental
Disabilities; Persons
with Alcohol or Other
Addictions; Persons
with HIV/AIDS and their
Families; and Victims of
Domestic Violence
Extremely Low Income;
Low Income; Moderate
Income; Large
Families; Families with
Children; Elderly
Families; Public
Housing Residents;
Elderly; Frail Elderly;
Persons with Mental
Disabilities; Persons
with Physical
Disabilities; Persons
with Developmental
Disabilities; Persons
with Alcohol or Other
Addictions; Persons
with HIV/AIDS and their
Families; and Victims of
Domestic Violence
Chronic Homeless;
Individuals; Families
with Children; Persons
with Mental Illness;
Veterans; Persons with
HIV/AIDS; Victims of
Domestic Violence;
Unaccompanied Youth;
Extremely Low Income;
Low Income; Moderate
Income; Large
Families; Families with
Children; Elderly
Families; Public
Housing Residents;
Elderly; Frail
Elderly;Persons with
Mental Disabilities;
Persons with Physical
Disabilities; Persons
with Developmental
Disabilities; and
Persons with Alcohol or
Other Addictions
Extremely Low Income;
Low Income; Moderate
Income; Large
Families; Families with
Children; Elderly
Families; Public
Housing Residents;
Elderly; Frail Elderly;
Persons with
Mental Disabilities;
Persons with Physical
Disabilities; Persons
with Developmental
Disabilities; Persons
with Alcohol or Other
Addictions; Chronic
Homeless; Individuals;
Families with Children;
Persons with Mental
Illness; Veterans;
Persons with HIV/AIDS;
Victims of Domestic
Violence; and
Unaccompanied Youth
Extremely Low Income;
Low Income; Moderate
Income; Large
Families; Families with
Children; Elderly
Families; Public
Housing Residents;
Elderly; Frail Elderly;
Persons with
Mental Disabilities;
Persons with Physical
Disabilities; and
Persons with
Developmental
Disabilities
Extremely Low Income;
Low Income; Moderate
Income; Large
Families; Families
with Children; Elderly
Families; Public
Housing Residents;
Elderly; Frail Elderly;
Persons with Mental
Disabilities; Persons
with Physical
Disabilities; and
Persons
with Developmental
Disabilities
Extremely Low Income;
Low Income; Moderate
Income; Large
Families; Families with
Children; Elderly
Families; Public
Housing Residents;
Elderly; Frail Elderly;
Persons with
Mental Disabilities;
Persons with Physical
Disabilities; Persons
with Developmental
Disabilities; Persons
with Alcohol or Other
Addictions; Chronic
Homeless; Individuals
Families with Children;
Persons with Mental
Illness; Veterans;
Persons with HIV/AIDS;
Victims of Domestic
Violence; and
Unaccompanied Youth
Extremely Low Income;
Low Income; Moderate
Income; Large
Families; Families with
Children; Elderly
Families; Public
Housing Residents;
Elderly; Frail Elderly;
Persons with
Mental Disabilities;
Persons with Physical
Disabilities; Persons
with Developmental
Disabilities; Persons
with Alcohol or Other
Addictions; Chronic
Homeless; Individuals;
Families with Children;
Persons with Mental
Illness; Veterans;
Persons with HIV/AIDS;
Victims of Domestic
Violence; and
Unaccompanied Youth
Extremely Low Income;
Low Income; Moderate
Income; Large
Families; Families with
Children; Elderly
Families; Public
Housing Residents;
Elderly; Frail Elderly;
Persons with
Mental Disabilities;
Persons with Physical
Disabilities; Persons
with Developmental
Disabilities; Persons
with Alcohol or Other
Addictions; Chronic
Homeless; Individuals;
Families with Children;
Persons with Mental
Illness; Veterans;
Persons with HIV/AIDS;
Victims of Domestic
Violence; and
Unaccompanied Youth
Geographic Areas
Affected
AHLM Eligible Areas
Citywide
AHLM Eligible Areas
Citywide
Housing Rehab
Targeted Areas
AHLM Eligible Areas
Citywide
Citywide LMI Areas
Citywide
LMI Areas LMI Areas
Citywide
Citywide Citywide
Associated Goals
-Increase the number
of affordable rental
housing units including
through new
construction and
acquisition
-Provide Tenant-based
rental assistance
(TBRA) 3. Support
homebuyer activities
such as down payment
and/or closing cost
assistance
-Rehabilitate and
improve owner-
occupied housing units
-Rehabilitate and
improve renter-
occupied housing units
-Serve those
experiencing
homelessness and
reduce homelessness
-Provide public
services
-Assist Community
Housing Development
Organizations in their
regular
operations
-Improve public
facilities
-Improve public
infrastructure
-Support economic
and workforce
development
-Effective
administration of and
planning for the CDBG
and HOME programs
and
ability to respond to
emergency situations
-Provide facilities and
services in support of
the pandemic response
Description
The City has a strong
need to support the
development of
additional safe, decent,
and
affordable, units for
renters as well as
support homebuying
activities such as down
payment and closing
cost assistance for
The preservation of
affordable housing
options is important
and includes activities
such as
rehabilitation and/or
acquisition of affordable
units within both the
owner and renter
markets as well as
making accessibility
Providing a range of
supportive services and
housing assistance to
individuals and families
experiencing
homelessness or who
are at risk of
homelessness and
seeking to move
persons to or retaining
individuals in stable
Having a range of
public services is
essential to assisting
those with lower-
incomes.
Activities include but
are not limited to
childcare,
transportation,
health/mental health
The improvement of
public facilities includes
but is not limited to the
construction or
rehabilitation of parks,
playgrounds,
community centers,
youth centers, elderly
centers,
libraries, trails and
walkways and other
Improve public
infrastructure including
but not limited to street
and sidewalk
improvements, water
and sewer line
improvements, and
lighting and
neighborhood
improvements.
Enhance neighborhood
There are digital
literacy and language
barriers faced by LMI
persons and
immigrants/refugees.
Increased digital
literacy and language
classes are needed to
overcome barriers.
Education for hard and
soft skills (i.e. how to
Funding allows for the
effective administration
of, and thoughtful
planning for, the CDBG
and HOME programs.
Without planning and
administrative funds to
carry out required
planning, management,
and oversight activities,
Funding allows for the
allocation of federal
dollars to assist as
needed and as
permitted in support of
the pandemic
response.
Agenda Item #4
owners. In addition, the
City may assist local
nonprofits acquire
housing units to be
rented as affordable
housing. Increasing the
availability of affordable
housing through efforts
such as TBRA or rental
deposit assistance
is another effective way
to expand affordable
housing options.
modifications to
existing units to allow
persons with
disabilities to live in
their homes more
easily or for elderly
persons to age in
place.
Manufactured housing
communities are an
important component of
affordable housing
in Iowa City and the
City is committed to
supporting the
continuance of these as
a relatively
low cost housing type
in Iowa City. They are
thus included in this
goal. Weatherization
and
energy efficiency
upgrades are also
supported among other
activities that would
preserve
the number and quality
of affordable units and
improve the
sustainability and
reduce longterm utility
costs.
housing is integral. This
includes transitional
and permanent
supportive housing;
shelter operating
expenses; health,
mental health and
other supportive
services;
homelessness
prevention activities
including utility
assistance,
food pantries and other
services that can
provide stability and
allow individuals and
families
to stay housed or
become housed after
experiencing
homelessness.
services, youth
activities and
programming, elderly
activities and
programming,
assistance
for persons with
disabilities, food
pantries, services for
victims of domestic
violence,
services for immigrants
and refugees, utility
assistance and
financial literacy and
credit
repair programs.
public facilities for use
directly by the public or
for
service providers that
serve vulnerable
populations within the
com munity. This also
includes adding
amenities such as bike
racks.
sustainability through
tree
plantings in right-of-way
areas and other
measures that would
reduce
greenhouse emissions.
This also includes
adding amenities such
as bike racks.
be an employee) are
also needed, as are
services that allow
individuals to work,
such as childcare and
transportation. Finally,
supports for
entrepreneurship
should be encouraged
through technical
assistance and/or direct
loans.
activities would be
unable to receive
CDBG and HOME
funds and no
beneficiaries would be
able to be served.
Additionally,
funds could be used for
emergency situations.
Basis for Relative
Priority
High housing costs
reduce economic
opportunities and
access to prosperity.
Data analysis
and stakeholder input
strongly points to high
housing costs as a
major issue in Iowa
City.
Stakeholders
consistently reiterated
the need for affordable
housing.
Stakeholders reported
the need for housing
rehabilitation and for
accessibility
modifications.
Rehabilitation or
modifications to
existing structures is
frequently more cost
effective than new
construction.
Additionally, Iowa City
generally has high
quality housing stock,
therefore, rehabilitation
is often a more efficient
use of funds.
Stakeholders also
noted that utility costs
can be high, which
indicates a need for
improving
weatherization and
other possible
sustainable
improvements that
would lower utility
costs.
Stakeholders reported
the significant need for
additional services for
those experiencing
homelessness or at risk
of homelessness.
Service providers
stated that the
complexity of
cases has increased
over recent years and
additional care is
needed despite a lack
of
increased funding to
adequately meet the
demand. Stakeholders
reported an increased
need for utility
assistance and that this
can be an effective
means of keeping a
household
stably housed in the
event of financial
hardship
Stakeholders identified
the numerous public
service needs through
stakeholder workshops
that were advertised
and open to the general
public. In addition,
needs have been
increasing over time
while funding has
remained stable or
declined, requiring
agencies to
do more with less and
creating a challenging
operating environment.
Stakeholders
commented that
funding is needed for
public facilities as well
as for facilities
used by service
providers.
Stakeholders
commented that there
is a need for
improvements to public
infrastructure and that
climate action initiatives
should be incorporated
into
projects.
Stakeholders reported
the need for
programming to
overcome barriers,
though other factors
were often considered
higher needs. However,
some economic
development activities
that provide services
allowing persons to
work, such as childcare
and reliable
transportation, were
noted as higher
priorities and improve
economic self-
sufficiency.
Effective administration
and planning are
essential to maximize
the impact of federal
dollars and ensuring
compliance with federal
regulations. Without
administration and
planning, no other high
priority items could be
addressed.
The pandemic poses a
threat to health and
safety of residents.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Omaha Field Office
Edward Zorinsky Federal Building
1616 Capitol Avenue, Suite 329
Omaha, Nebraska 68102-4908
February 3, 2021
Mr. Geoff Fruin
City Manager
City of Iowa City
410 East Washington
Iowa City, IA 52240
Subject: Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report – Program Year 2019
Dear Mr. Fruin:
HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development has sought to establish partnerships with
state and local governments. The focus of our partnership has been to work with communities to ensure
that our joint efforts result in housing and community development programs and policies that benefit and
serve low-and moderate-income persons. These efforts occur within the framework of the statutes that we
administer and the regulations and emerging policies that are designed to improve program performance.
The provisions of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended, and the
National Affordable Housing Act of 1990, require the annual submission of performance reports by grant
recipients receiving federal assistance through programs covered under these Acts. Additionally, these
Acts require that a determination be made by the Secretary, that the grant recipient complies with the
statutes and has the continuing capacity to implement and administer the programs for which assistance is
received.
Traditionally, these determinations were made through the review of annual reports submitted by
grantees for each individual program receiving assistance. With the implementation of the Consolidated
Planning Regulations of January 5, 1995, the Department is required to conduct a comprehensive
performance review of your overall progress at least annually (24 CFR 91.525). The review consists of
analyzing your consolidated planning process; reviewing management of funds; determining the
compliance of funded activities with statutory and regulatory requirements; determining the accuracy of
required performance reports; as well as evaluating your accomplishments in meeting key Departmental
objectives.
We congratulate you on your many accomplishments during program year 2019 on achieving
Departmental objectives. Some examples of the City’s accomplishments are as follows:
In 2019, Iowa City expended Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds that assisted
4,087 individuals with various public services and provided public facilities with needed improvements.
The city met and exceeded the goal of increasing the supply of affordable rental housing by 690% which
equates to an additional 59 units beyond the target.
The city adapted to the changing circumstances and established COVID-19 response as a high
priority goal and expanded public service, public facilities, and administration activities to accommodate
Agenda Item #6
2
the pandemic response. Local funds were also utilized to respond to the pandemic including $25,000 to the
Center for Worker Justice for COVID-19 relief, and $50,000 to Shelter House for eviction prevention.
The city continued to meet the needs of low-income persons with disabilities by completed projects
providing 16 affordable housing units to persons with disabilities that also offer supportive services. The
city expended about $399,958 to complete 18 CDBG-funded and 5 HOME-funded homeowner
rehabilitation projects.
Iowa City is committed to assisting chronically homeless individuals and families. The city
provided CDBG funds to Shelter House and DVIP. Shelter House provides emergency shelter for men,
women, and children experiencing homelessness and maintains a 70-bed shelter facility with dormitory
style sleeping and bathing accommodations for single adults and private bedrooms and bathing facilities
for families. Shelter House also prioritizes 11 beds specifically for veterans. DVIP serves youth and adult
victims of domestic abuse. They operate a 24-hour hotline, housing and financial services, advocacy,
counseling and support groups, education, and other related support for victims of domestic violence.
During the program year, the city also expended HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME)
funding to provide affordable housing options for low- and moderate-income households. HOME funding
provided for the rehabilitation of rental units and owner-occupied housing units.
The city certified that it would provide overall benefit to LMI persons for program year 2019 of at
least 70 percent. The actual principal benefit for the year was 100 percent, which complies with the
regulatory standard. The city utilized 14.97 percent of its CDBG funds for public service activities and
17.77 percent for planning and administration.
The city worked diligently to meet CDBG timeliness requirements. The city had a balance of 1.07
funds unexpended 60 days prior to the end of its 2019 program year, which meets the statutory standard for
timeliness at 24 CFR 570.902.
As part of the review of the CAPER, we are required to review the city’s compliance with the
Origin Year grant expenditure test at 24 CFR 570.200(g)(1). The city is required to expend no more than
20% of any origin year grant for planning and program administrative costs. In origin years 2015 through
2019, the city is currently in compliance with the expenditure cap on planning and program administrative
costs.
In conclusion, as a result of our analysis, we have determined that your overall progress is
satisfactory. This determination is based upon the information available to this office and does not reflect
a comprehensive evaluation of specific activities.
If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact Ms. Stewart Guderian, Community
Planning and Development Representative, at 402.492.3114, or via email at stewart.k.guderian@hud.gov.
Sincerely,
Tim Severin
Director,
Community Planning and
Development Division
Digitally signed by:
Francis Tim Severin
Date: 2021.02.03
06:47:07 -06'00'
3
cc: Tracy Hightshoe
Erika Kubly