Department: County Administration
Department Head/Elected Official: David Berry, County Administrator
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Contract - Amendment
Project ID (if applicable): pending
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): BakerRipley
MWDBE Participation (if applicable): N/A
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
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Request by the Office of County Administration for approval of an amendment to the contract with BakerRipley in the additional amount of $2.2M for the Houston-Harris County Emergency Rental Assistance Program.
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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 are 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 the first 40% of allocated funding in May and the remaining 60% in early September. As of November 10th, 2021, the Houston-Harris County Emergency Rental Assistance Program has pledged and provided more than $247M in rental assistance to nearly 64,000 eligible households.
Expected Impact:
The contract amendment will provide an additional $2M in rental assistance to continue to support eligible Harris County tenants experiencing housing insecurity due to COVID-19. The amendment also includes $200K for BakerRipley for application processing and payment, data management and duplicate payment analysis and recoupment. Funding for this amendment will be fully provided by th...
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