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Second Amendment to the Emergency Rental Assistance Program Spending Plan and Appropriation Adjustment of $9,268,716.56 December 7, 2021 Page 3 eight nonprofit service providers and the Orange County United Way, pending negotiation of their agreements. The City has assisted everyone who is eligible for emergency rental assistance so far and currently has 215 applications in process (as of November 19, 2021). In total, the City has disbursed over $21.5 million in assistance to date, including Community Development Block Grant — Coronavirus funds (CDBG-CV), State of California Coronavirus Relief Funds (State CARES Act Funds), ERA1 and ERA2 funds. A map of all of the residents who have been assisted as of November 19, 2021, is attached as Exhibit 3. With the amount of ERA2 funding remaining, the City will be able to assist everyone who has an application in process. However, the City's eight nonprofit service providers have been conducting enhanced outreach and engagement to help households apply for emergency rental assistance and the City receives over 100 applications a week from new applicants seeking assistance. The City is actively meeting the need for emergency rental assistance in our community and the additional $9.2 million will assist more families who have not been served. The City is also receiving a substantial amount of fraudulent applications. Approximately 50% of applications received each week are fraudulent. Staff have been removing fraudulent applications each week and has also implemented the following measures to reduce fraud, among other actions- 1 ) The title report for large requests is being pulled to confirm the ownership of the rental unit. 2) Applicants are required to meet at least once in person with their assigned nonprofit service provider to verify their identity and lease agreement. 3) If a property owner fails to participate in the program, a tenant is eligible to receive payment directly. If the tenant becomes eligible to receive payment, the tenant is required to pick up their check in -person and show proof of identification. 4) Additional information is being requested to verify tenants' lease agreement (e.g. where a tenant reports that they are paying $3,500 per month for a one -bedroom and they are a low-income household.) With the $9.2 million in additional funds, the City will continue to pay off 100% of the rental arrears / past due rent for everyone who applies for assistance. The City will also continue to proactively implement a whatever -it -takes model to prevent evictions for tenants who owe past due rent. The City will continue to work with eight nonprofit service providers to obligate/approve the assistance for each family assigned by the City, and the Orange County United Way will continue to disburse funds for each family approved by the City's eight nonprofit service providers. Our CARES for Tenants Program must conform to the new statutory requirements of the State ERA2 funds. Staff is still in the process of revising the Program Guidelines, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Flyers for the CARES for Tenants Program to City Council 18 — 3 12/7/2021