City Council is asked to approve a resolution authorizing the submittal of the Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) Program grant application by the City of Fairfield to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). If awarded, ongoing grant funds would be disbursed annually over a five-year term beginning with the execution of the PLHA agreement with the state.

City Council adopted a comprehensive Homeless Strategy in 2017 that includes four critical components: 1) Protect Health & Welfare; 2) Connection to Services; 3) Supportive Housing; and 4) Regional Homeless Strategy. Reducing homelessness continues to be a priority for City Council.  Thus, the City Council declared a Shelter Crisis by Resolution on September 4, 2018 and continues to seek permanent solutions to reduce homelessness in Fairfield.

In 2017, Governor Jerry Brown signed a comprehensive 15-bill housing package aimed at addressing the state’s housing shortage and high housing costs.  Specifically, this package included the Building Homes and Jobs Act (SB 2, Chapter 364, Statutes of 2017) that established a $75 recording fee on real estate documents deposited into the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund created in 2019 to increase the supply of affordable housing in California and address homelessness. As an Entitlement City, the City of Fairfield is eligible to apply through this NOFA for up to $390,910 per year for five years. Because the number of real estate transactions recorded in each county will vary from year to year, the revenues collected will fluctuate. The total grant amount over five years will not exceed $2,345,460, and can be used to:

• Increase the supply of housing for households at or below 60% of area median income
• Increase assistance to affordable owner-occupied workforce housing
• Assist persons experiencing or at risk of homelessness
• Facilitate housing affordability, particularly for lower- and moderate-income households
• Promote projects and programs to meet the local government’s unmet share of regional housing needs allocation
• Ensure geographic equity in the distribution of the funds

After consultation with senior staff in the Housing Services Department and the Police Department Homeless Intervention Team (HIT), it was determined that the highest and best use for these grant funds is to provide the HIT Team with assistance for persons experiencing homelessness by the creation of a new program, Going Home. Going Home will utilize PLHA funds for emergency shelter operations, allowing direct access to emergency shelter beds managed by an experienced shelter operator with extensive resources, ensuring long-term success. Through this program creation, homeless in Fairfield can be connected not only to immediate temporary shelter, but also access to extensive continuum of services such as case management, employment assistance, substance abuse assistance, and a transition into long-term supportive housing as needed. 

With the assistance of a local experienced service provider (to be identified through a Request for Proposal process) and the Fairfield Housing Authority, the HIT Team will have exclusive access to emergency shelter beds throughout the year.  Any homeless individual referred by the HIT Team will have the ability to successfully exit the Going Home program within six months and transition into permanent supportive housing with case management support by leveraging local homeless and housing resources, such as Homeless Emergency AID Program funds, California Emergency Solutions and Housing program funds, and the Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher and Tenant Based Rental Assistance Programs. 

Additionally, as required by the PLHA Program, State statute requires that at least 20% of each annual disbursement be expended to support Affordable Owner-Occupied Workforce Housing (AOWH). Therefore, 20% of each year’s allocation will be used to create a new Workforce Housing Program.The Program will fund down payment assistance and/or matching funds for predevelopment activities for development of for-sale housing for households making between 80-120% of area median income. 

In order to receive funding for the first and subsequent four years of the grant program, Cities must be in compliance with the state’s Housing Element requirements and Housing Element Annual Progress Report.  As a designated Entitlement City, the City of Fairfield is estimated to receive an annual allocation of approximately $390,910 and proposes to allocate the funds as follows over the next five years:

The grant application is being completed with the assistance of California Consulting, with a submittal deadline of July 27, 2020.  Each application must include a resolution authorizing the submittal of the application as well as authority to execute the grant agreement if awarded funds. Notice of funding awards is expected in August to October 2020. 

There is no cost to the City to apply for the grant. As an Entitlement City, the City is eligible for the funds as long as the City maintains compliance with the Housing Element mandates and applies for and submits a five-year plan for proposed use of the funds.  PLHA funds allow for 5% of the total grant to be used toward administrative costs, and will be incorporated into the City’s proposed budget to cover staff time to administer the grant, should the City be awarded the funds.  

City Council may choose not to adopt the proposed resolution authorizing the PLHA grant application. However, this is not recommended since this is a non-competitive grant, and the City currently does not provide any ongoing funding for shelter operations to be used by the Homeless Intervention Team, thereby reducing homelessness in Fairfield.

Dawn M. La Bar, Special Projects Manager

(707) 428-7749

dlabar@fairfield.ca.gov