Primary Department: Housing and Community Development
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Thao Costis, Executive Director
Secondary Department: County Administration
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official: Diana Ramirez, County Administrator
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Financial Authorization
Project ID (if applicable): FLEX_AHMFACQ, FLEX_AHSFACQ, FLEX_AHSFREC, FLEX_AHSFREH, FLEX_CHHP2, FLEX_LEGAL, FLEX_AFH
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable):
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Not a grant item
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by Housing and Community Development for approval to allocate up to $3.7 million in FLEX Funds to Housing Portfolio programs, aligned with ARPA priority outcomes, to continue funding part-time support positions in 2025-26.
end
Background and Discussion:
The County Administrator’s ARPA Project Management Office (OCA PMO) and Housing and Community Development (HCD) request approval to designate as FLEX funds up to $3.7 million of the ARPA SLFRF Housing Portfolio, all of which are already part of the previously approved portfolio budget. The ARPA Steering Committee approved this recommendation on January 15, 2025.
These funds will only be applied for expenses related to hourly personnel support. As such, these positions (finance, administration, or other programmatic support functions) book time whenever they support these programs (rather than those employed to support the portfolio on a full-time basis). Because this portion of the budget is not obligated through a contract or assigned FTE, OCA PMO have recommended HCD designate this portion of the budget to FLEX Fund 1040.
A breakdown of this program support budget is outlined below and has not changed in its purpose or use in terms of assigned program allocation.
|
Program |
Program Support Budget |
|
Multifamily Development |
$278,057 |
|
Single Family Supply |
$264,358 |
|
Single Family Reconstruction |
$1,123,727 |
|
Single Family Rehabilitation |
$863,270 |
|
CCHP |
$95,853 |
|
Legal Aid |
$63,126 |
|
Affordable Housing Administration |
$1,004,754 |
|
Total |
$3,693,145 |
To facilitate projects in the ARPA portfolio for which general funds are a more appropriate fit than federal funds, eligible expenses currently budgeted in the General Fund are charged to the ARPA grant, as allowed under the ARPA guidance. Moving eligible expenses to the grant frees up General Fund budget which can be transferred to FLEX Fund 1040 for projects aligned to the ARPA priority outcomes and approved via the ARPA governance processes.
Expected Impact:
No new fiscal impact, but rather a change in $3.7M of the ARPA Housing Portfolio already allocated (moving from ARPA to FLEX Fund 1040).
Alternative Options:
Not moving this portion of the budget to FLEX Fund 1040 would prevent team members not fully dedicated to ARPA from supporting ARPA programs in the Housing portfolio through December 2026 and would not allow the County to maximize finite grant resources.
County Strategic Plan Goal: 6. Help residents achieve housing stability.
County Strategic Plan Objective: U: Build and preserve affordable housing, particularly for low-income families.
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): N/A
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): N/A
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): N/A
Health Initiative (Goal 4): N/A
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): N/A
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): N/A
Additional notes related to the Strategic Plan: This transaction supports countywide efforts to preserve and increase affordable housing stock.
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
3/30/2021 |
367 |
Approval of the process, accountability mechanisms, and priorities for the spending of Harris County Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds |
|
6/14/2022 |
4 |
Approval to create FLEX Fund 1040 from budget made available by transferring ARPA-eligible expenses to Fund 2651 |
|
8/27/2024 |
432 |
Approval to increase maximum budget for FLEX Fund 1040 by up to $45 million. |
Location:
Address (if applicable): N/A
Precinct(s): Countywide
|
Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
|
Service Name |
|
|
|
|
Current Fiscal Year Cost |
Annual Fiscal Cost |
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Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
Recurring Expenses |
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Funding Sources |
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|
Existing Budget |
|
|
|
|
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Existing Budget |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
|
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Additional Budget Request |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Funding Sources |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Grants - Proposed Budget (For Grants Items only) |
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Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
No. of Grant Years |
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Local Match Source - Existing Budget: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
|
Local Match Source - Additional Budget Request: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
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Grant Funds Applied for/Awarded (Total) |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
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Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
|
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Current Position Count for Service |
- |
- |
- |
- |
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Additional Positions Request |
- |
- |
- |
- |
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Total Personnel |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Anticipated Court Date: 2/6/2025
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): Click or tap to enter a date.
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Amanda Rocha, Director, Policy & Partnerships, Housing & Community Development; Romeo Solis, Director, ARPA Portfolio Management Office, Office of County Administration
Attachments (if applicable):