75B - PH - CDBG PROGRAM 13-14 - Laserfiche WebLink

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lit. PROGRAM/PROJECT DESCRIPTION-DETAIL In the space below, describe the program/project. Include information as to how the program/project wiil'benefit low-income peopieinousenoias. (max. cnar. 2uuu) Providing fair housing education, counseling & enforcement services to current or potential Santa Ana households, Added to this Is landlord/tenant counseling to assist housing providers and consumers. Specific services are: A. FAIR HOUSING ENFORCEMENT: - Respond to 10 or more allegations of discrimination of sufficient merit to open a case file. We will address all allegations of housing discrimination made by current or potential Santa Ana households, if fewer than 10 case filesare opened, to compensate, we will perform paired, on-site audit tests of multi- famliy housing, substituted on a one-for-one basis. B. COMMUNITY EDUCATION: - Involvement in at least 8 Santa Ana events reaching over 120 heads of households; distribute about 700 information packets; offer a poster/essay contest within elementary schools. Hold 2 landlord workshops and 4 tenant workshops in English and Spanish. Conduct presentations on landlord-tenant and fair housing laws. Provide training and technical assistance to City staff as well as to real estate agents, lenders, apartment managers/owners, and other housing industry professionals. C. LANDLORD/TENANT COUNSELING: Handle about 930 requests for service, from about 840 unduplicated - households, addressing about 2,960 inquiries, disputes or issues. Most discrimination occurs within the landlord/tenant relationship, so this service facilitates our primary goal. About 30% of the discrimination investigative caseload comes from landlord/tenant contacts. We assist housing consumers and providers in resolving questions and avoiding disputes over evictions, deposit rbturns, substandard conditions, and other landlord/tenant matters. Staff counsels individuals about their respective rights and responsibilities. D. CITY ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT: - Provide data collection, analysis and reporting to city CDBG administrators as well as HUD auditors as required. We will support efforts to implement actions to overcome fair housing impediments and report actions and progress to HUD. IV. STATEMENT OF NEED In the space below, describe why this program/project is needed. Include information as to any effects if CDBG funds are not awarded and whether similar. pro rams/projects are available in the community. (max. char. Luuu) Federal regulations require CDBG eligible jurisdictions to plan for and undertake actions to "affirmatively further fair housing" (AFFH). Jurisdictions must annually certify that they have programs in place to AFFH. These services largely help fulfill that obligation. Housing discrimination occurs in Santa Ana in violation of federal and California fair housing laws, We project at least 10 current or potential Santa Ana households will allege acts of housing discrimination sufficiently meritorious to warrant us opening a case file during the next fiscal year, Perhaps twice as many additional households will raise the issue of housing discrimination, for which we will provide counseling but will not.open a case file. Other housing disputes and law violations arise within Santa Ana. Based on the service demand over many years serving Santa Ana, including the,year ending June. 30, 2012, we anticipate about 840 unduplicated .Santa Ana households, making about 930 service requests, will seek help with about 2,960 landlord/tenant Issues, disputes or inquiries, during the 2013 - 2014 year.. . In addition to a need for services to address housing discrimination and other general housing law.violations, issues or disputes, there, Is a need for housing-related community education. Education facilitates the opportunity for housing consumers and providers to understand their fair housing rights and obligations and to correct wrongful policies or behavior. In addition to direct counseling services from our offices; we will conduct walk-in counseling clinics and workshops for tenants and landlords. We will also distribute over 700 information packets,-covering specific aspects of fair housing and/or landlord-tenant law to individuals from Santa-Ana. Based on prior experience and the above identified need, we anticipate Santa Aria's unrestricted "service demand rate" for FY 2013-14 will be about 16.1 % of our entire program output designed to "affirmatively further fair housing". 75B-10