Item 09 - First Amendment to Emergency Rental Assistance Program Spending Plan

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5 of 6 All jurisdictions seeking to claim their State Reserved Funds by opting-in to the State’s Rental Assistance Program are encouraged to submit an Expression of Intent Survey to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) by February 3, 2021. The final Expression of Interest Form (attachment 2) will be required by February 12 and will initiate a Standard Agreement Process with HCD. In order to opt-in to the State’s Rental Assistance Program, jurisdictions do not need to apply to the UST for a direct federal allocation. If the jurisdiction did NOT apply to the UST for direct federal allocation by the January 12 deadline, these funds will roll into the state’s direct allocation and the amount the jurisdiction would have received directly will be added to that jurisdiction’s reservation amount. If the jurisdiction has already applied, they may sign a reimbursement agreement with HCD, allowing HCD to administer the jurisdiction’s direct federal funding in addition to the jurisdiction’s allocation of state administered funding. Features of the State Rental Assistance Program: • State outreach and education campaign with adaptability for local messaging. • Standardized, federally consistent application and eligibility criteria, accessible to both landlords and tenants. • Contracted solution with a state-wide network, including rural areas. • Robust, multi-lingual client support and technical assistance. • Processing of Applications (input, review, verification, fraud control, notifications to tenant and landlord, verification of accounts, disbursement of payment, reporting per state and federal government requirements, downstream audit management). • Central privacy protections and fraud control. • Management of duplication of benefits in accordance with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. • Application portal will open in early March 2021 to begin receiving applications from landlords and tenants. B. Block Grant Option Under the proposed framework, counties and cities with populations over 500,000 are eligible to request their state reservation amount through a block grant. Cities and Counties with populations between 200,000 and 499,999 are also eligible to request a block grant, but must attest that they have the capability to implement the resources within the parameters established by federal and state law. All counties that receive a block grant must also attest that they will distribute assistance equitably and consistent with demonstrated need within the jurisdiction. The size of the block grant is based on a jurisdiction’s proportionate share of statewide population, as set by the State Reservation Table (attachment 1). All eligible jurisdictions are encouraged to complete the survey by February 3, 2021, but must submit the Expression of Interest Form to HCD by February 12, 2021 to be eligible EXHIBIT 7EXHIBIT 1