Department: Management and Budget
Department Head/Elected Official: Daniel Ramos, Executive Director
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Grant
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the Office of Management and Budget for approval to transfer remaining Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA2) grant funds in the estimated amount of $3,000,000 to the Housing and Community Development Department (HCDD), and for HCDD to assume ERA2 program management and implementation.
end
Background and Discussion:
In January 2021, the U.S. Treasury Department established the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program to provide funding to state and local governments to assist eligible renter households impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, funded via the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. Commissioners Court established the 2021 Houston-Harris County Emergency Rental Assistance Program on February 9, 2021, in collaboration with the City of Houston. The program administrators were BakerRipley, Catholic Charities, and the Alliance.
Additional funding was allocated to the ERA program via the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), and subsequently allocated to state and local governments. Harris County received a total of $71M as part of this ERA2 funding. Due to limited grant funds remaining at the end of 2022, Catholic Charities became the sole ERA2 program administrator beginning in 2023.
Nearly 4 years since the start of the pandemic, high eviction rates and housing instability for Harris County households impacted during COVID-19 continue. To ensure that the limited ERA2 funds remaining are utilized efficiently and effectively, the Catholic Charities contract was reduced by $3,300,000 in December 2023. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is requesting approval to transfer the available ERA2 funds to the Housing and Community Development Department (HCDD) for future use. Upon grant funding transfer, the program oversight and management will shift to HCDD, and OMB will continue to provide support for their respective portion and use of this funding overall, detailed in the attached roles and responsibilities document. The final amount will be calculated prior to the transfer.
Expected Impact:
The transfer will allow HCDD to use the available ERA2 funds for eviction diversion and prevention. The total available balance to be transferred will be determined in coordination with the Auditor’s Office Grants Accounting division, as final invoices from current vendors are processed and paid out.
Alternative Options:
If the funding is not transferred, no other contracts or agreements exist to use the ERA2 funds, and they will have to be returned to the U.S. Treasury.
Alignment with Goal(s):
_ Justice and Safety
X_ Economic Opportunity
X_ Housing
X_ Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
_ Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
12/05/2023 |
23-7114 |
Approval of an amendment to the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA2) agreement with Catholic Charities to reduce the agreement by $3.3 million |
|
06/27/2023 |
23-3528 |
Approval of an amendment to the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA2) agreement with Catholic Charities in the amount of $3.2 million |
|
04/04/2023 |
23-1900 |
Approval of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Catholic Charities to increase ERA1 funding by $2.3 million and recharacterize expenses from ERA2 in that same amount to meet ERA1 requirements |
|
03/14/2023 |
23-1658 |
Approval of an amendment to the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA2) agreement with Catholic Charities in the amount of $1.3 million. |
|
12/13/2022 |
22-7608 |
Approval of amendments to the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA2) agreement with Catholic Charities in the additional amount of $1.3 million and to extend the term of the agreement. |
|
03/22/2022 |
22-2120 |
Approval of amendments to the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) agreements with Catholic Charities to extend the term of the agreements. |
|
09/14/2021 |
21-4893 |
Approval of amendments to the contracts with BakerRipley in the additional amount of $21.4M and Catholic Charities in the additional amount of $21M for the Houston-Harris County Emergency Rental Assistance Program. |
|
06/08/2021 |
21-2771 |
Approval of contracts with BakerRipley and Catholic Charities for rental assistance application processing and payment, funded by additional allocations to the US Treasury Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA2) via the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). |
Location:
Address (if applicable):
Precinct(s): Countywide
|
Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
|
Service Name |
ERA2 |
|
|
FY 24 |
FY 25 |
Next 3 FYs |
|
Incremental Expenditures (do NOT write values in thousands or millions) |
|
Labor Expenditures |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Non-Labor Expenditures |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Incremental Expenditures |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Funding Sources (do NOT write values in thousands or millions) |
|
Existing Budget |
|
Grant |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Current Budget |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Additional Budget Requested |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Additional Budget Requested |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Funding Sources |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
|
Current Position Count for Service |
- |
- |
- |
|
Additional Positions Requested |
- |
- |
- |
|
Total Personnel |
- |
- |
- |
Anticipated Court Date: January 30th, 2024
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): February 20th, 2024
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department:
Jennifer Bell, Rental Assistance Program Manager, Office of Management and Budget
Janet Gonzalez, Director of Budget and Performance, Office of Management and Budget
Jo Ann Estrada, Community Impact Director, Housing and Community Development Department
Attachments (if applicable): Court Order