ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the City Manager and the Community Development Director with a Request to APPROVE $25,000.00 from the Community Investment Plan (CIP) Housing Programs Project to REBUILDING TOGETHER for Housing Rehabilitation Projects. (City Wide)
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BACKGROUND: On November 25, 2015, as a part of the 2015 Community Investment Plan (CIP), the City Council allocated $25,000 for "Housing Programs." This amount of funding on its own is not sufficient to undertake a substantial stand-alone house rehabilitation program. However, used as leverage for an existing program, the $25,000 can be stretched to provide service to a larger number of Peoria residents.
For many years, the Rebuilding Together organization (formally Christmas in April) has received federal funding through the City's allocation of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Although the use of CDBG funds is appropriate and permitted, the federal regulations that are attached to the funds can make their use difficult. Rebuilding Together identified the $25,000 in the CIP and has made a request (see attached letter) to the City to use these funds as match for their private fund raising and in-kind assistance.
Rebuilding Together provides housing rehabilitation assistance to low-income home owners, disabled home owners, and veteran home owners. Their services are provided free of charge and entail a variety of repairs that make houses safe and livable. The goal for 2015 is to provide rehabilitation assistance to ten (10) households.
Over the past 21 years of partnership between Rebuilding Together and the City, over 230 homes have been repaired:
* 132 in the first Council District,
* 39 in the second Council District,
* 57 in the third Council District, and
* 9 in the fourth Council District.
If approved by City Council, Rebuilding Together has pledged to use the $25,000 allocatio...
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