File #: 21-987   
Status: Agenda Ready
File created: 6/28/2021 In control: Special Meeting
On agenda: 7/14/2021 Final action:
Title: Receive information from community stakeholders regarding the shelter and housing needs in Clark County and, in particular, the shelter and housing needs of the communities that were disproportionately and negatively impacted by the public health emergency and direct staff accordingly. (For possible action)
Attachments: 1. Staff Report, 2. Interim Final Rule.pdf, 3. State and Local Recovery Funds FAQ 6.24.pdf, 4. Clark County strategic priorities.pdf, 5. Meeting Handout 071421 BCC Item No. 3.pdf, 6. Documents Submitted at Meeting 071421.pdf
Date Action ByActionResultAction DetailsMeeting DetailsVideo/Audio
7/14/2021 Special Meeting  

Agenda note: DOCUMENT(S) SUBMITTED: 1. Clark County American Rescue Plan Act Workshop - Affordable Housing powerpoint (27 pages) submitted by representatives of Management Partners) 2. Prioritizing Households with Extremely Low Incomes (8 pages) submitted by CSH (Corporation for Supportive Housing) SPEAKER(S): Present DISCUSSION: Following introduction of the item, the Board was addressed by Andrew Belknap, with Management Partners, who provided a brief overview, reviewed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), and identified community housing needs; advised that the ARPA came from the CARES Act which provided the County with emergency funds to be used for basic needs (including food, housing, and medical assistance); discussed the approved uses of the funds including public health, revenue loss, infrastructure, and economic impacts; expanded uses in Qualified Census Tracts (QCT) or lower income areas; and discussed impacts resulting from the pandemic including on public health and unemployment. Kevin Schiller, Assistant County Manager, and Tim Burch, Administrator of Human Services, addressed the Board regarding the Basic Needs Assistance Program regarding topics including homelessness diversion, transitional housing, leases, food assistance, disproportionately impacted communities, landlord and tenant counseling, domestic violence services, and youth support; addressed immediate services, secondary needs, and ongoing services; projected the need for assistance to the community; and discussed front door services including outreach, prevention, diversion, and rapid exit; and housing capacity issues. In response to Commissioner Kirkpatrick, Tim Burch advised that studies suggested moving away from the traditionally built congregate sheltering and suggested making an investment by building scatter site housing (such as bridge, well-being, and transitional) so people could be transitioned in place with wrapped services without having to “shelter up.” Kevin Schiller advised the Board that, to maximize Federal funding, the shift away from shelters was being made prior to the pandemic; and added that capacity was not lost during the pandemic, and that the population numbers and needs increased as well as the capacity; and further advised that the time frame for the need has moved up due to the pandemic and projected the need for approximately 5,000 additional affordable housing units over a four-year span. In response to Commissioner Jones, staff advised that substance abuse and mental health needs intertwine with housing needs; the County’s mental health system was determined to be one of the most inadequate in the nation; and reiterated that the stabilized housing was necessary as a starting point but each individual’s entry point into the system was at various mental and physical levels which all necessitated wrap support services to maintain people within that type of housing. Kevin Schiller and Andrew Belknap addressed the Board regarding the alignment of the County’s strategic priorities with housing including sustaining safe and secure communities, collaborating with the public to encourage inclusive community-based problem solving, providing respectful service, cultivating resources and services for a strong community, creating affordable, stable, and livable communities, and creating a reliable and connected transportation network; reviewed the diverse County demographics; increased County poverty rate by education level; and a housing overview including that housing prices grew over 150% since 2012 while wages did not increase at a similar rate; the County will be subsidizing housing because the cost will be eight to ten times higher if someone is de-housed; began working on a Clark County trust fund to form a land trust approximately three years ago to expedite the construction and retention of affordable housing through innovative new approaches. Tim Burch addressed Commissioner Segerblom’s questions regarding the cost for constructing affordable housing; advised that the cost for permanent supportive housing was approximately $120,000,000; the cost for shallow subsidy and maintaining or revitalizing existing structures was approximately $31,000,000; and Kevin Schiller added that the target was to build into the 5,000 new housing units while maintaining and revitalizing existing affordable housing through incentives and various funding sources. In response to questioning, Yolanda King, County Manager, advised that expanded uses of ARPA funding within qualified census tracts included addressing educational disparities, investing in housing and neighborhoods, and promoting healthy childhood environments. Bryon Marshall advised that the next steps included additional workshops and town halls, community and stakeholder surveys, a County web page on the Rescue Plan act, acceptance of pre-applications for funds, and the County will begin screening the applications then will request a more detailed application from programs and projects best aligned with County objectives. Evelyn Leslie, from Nevadans for the Common Good (NCG), advised that NCG was a broad-based community organization comprised of over 40 local institutions and individuals, are not service providers, advocate on behalf of its members; NCG requested that the County invest in partnerships and programs to work on the social and economic challenges facing residents today and in the future; residents struggle to access rental assistance through CARES Housing Assistance Program (CHAP), more resources are needed so people can access the system and understand and submit the required documents; the community navigation system already in place did not help those waiting in the queue or those who will not file with the court; NCG requested funding to build a community navigation system. Barbara Paulsen, from Nevadans for the Common Good (NCG), advised that the community navigation system being proposed was to expand and enhance the capacity of the existing case management system and connect the system to resources within the community; would employ case managers who understood the housing resources within the Valley, partner with community based organizations located in communities with the greatest need to help residents identify resources and navigate the process; the community can reach and interact with many residents who will not initially go to an official agency for assistance, and then the organized case management system would assist the resident in receiving the necessary services; many who need housing assistance also need additional services immediately and long-term to be successful; building the relationships between people and a network of services will help residents build a stronger future; NCG does not know how much funding this requires, but wants to work with the County to identify the resources necessary to build the system and ensure residents stay in their homes which strengthens the local communities. Commissioner Kirkpatrick requested that Tim Burch provide an update of the CHAP system; and advised that the system was processing up to 1,000 applications per week, people were working around the clock, and the County’s system demonstrated more progress than other states, some of which had to return funding. Tim Burch advised that over 27,000 households were served; over 800 applications were being processed per week, which included three personal outreach telephone calls; included several partners including the Culinary Academy and HopeLink of Southern Nevada; during the last week of December over 30,000 applications were received, although the funds were exhausted, and were held until the second round of funding was received; the backlog has been processed and new applications submitted during and after March are being processed; and further advised that after receiving an eviction notice residents may go through the Justice Courts, Legal Aid Self Help Center, or file a response through a pop-up center; and reported that as long as a resident has applied and is in the system, they may not be evicted; and residents may benefit from having additional community partners brought in and access to the Community Wide Homeless Management System that lists providers. Commissioner Gibson advised that responsibilities were delegated to experienced partners at the beginning and the County discovered that partners experienced difficulty in accomplishing the responsibilities, so the County took back the process; and requested that Kevin Schiller discuss case management. Kevin Schiller advised that during the second round of funding the County Information Technology (IT) Department was required to update the computer system to match the Treasury guidance requirements; some entities were forced to return funding due to not meeting the requirements of the guidance in accordance with the system; the capacity issue was very demanding so the County brought the process back from the partners, expressed support for public-private partnerships for non-profits to provide assistance with wrapped services; and several non-profits were already contracted to work as part of the CHAP program, in addition to almost 300 temporary staff, to support the structure; and partnerships include Legal Aid, Mediation Program, the Eviction Program, and the State (for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP and Welfare) to structurally support avoiding evictions, including the passage of the bill at the end of the legislative session which supported continuing to protect those individuals; and expressed the need to build capacity with a holistic approach not just focused on rental capacity. Commissioner Jones and Tim Burch discussed pre-applications; incomplete applications halt the process; potentially utilizing partners, instead of staff, to call applicants regarding incomplete or missing paperwork; the process being used prevents applicants already in court procedures from completing the process and being evicted; pre-eviction filing; funds used for administrative costs; and reduced to the minimum staffing model on other mandated services in order to redirect staff, with additional part-time staff, to assist with this matter. Commissioner Kirkpatrick advised that Evelyn Leslie and Barbara Paulsen submit specific programming to be considered. Brooke Page, representing Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), advised of prioritizing households with an extremely low income including rent burdened seniors, the homeless, and individuals released from detention; focused on the subset of households who make from zero to thirty percent of the area’s median income; advised of working with the Nevada Housing Coalition; affordable and stable housing should be offered in conjunction with wrapped services; requested that 20 percent of the available funding that was set aside for affordable housing be used for households with extremely low income; requested 2,372 units out of the 5,000 proposed by Kevin Schiller; racial disparity issue, advised of the need to have culturally specific organizations working with community members to maintain stable housing; CSH used a racial disparity index which recognized that across 16 systems (such as Social Services, Child Welfare, Justice systems, and homelessness) Blacks, Native American, and American Indian populations were overrepresented five times higher than other populations in those systems, need to ensure culturally specific services for these populations to stay stably housed; needed soft subsidies to incentivize the developers to consider doing this type of project, including low income tax credits, State and local fiscal recovery funds; and discussed the need to leverage State partners such as Health and Human Resources, Justice partners, and other entities receiving American Rescue Plan funding; and concluded that CSH had the training and experience to measure outcomes and make sure individuals remained stably housed. In response to questioning by Commissioner Segerblom, Brooke Page advised that CSH thinks about the big picture and works with the State and jurisdiction partners to provide incentives to work on the joint project focused on the subset population of extremely low income. Following questioning by Commissioner Jones, Brooke Page advised that the State has work groups which need to be brought to a community table to discuss this issue, obtain a collective vision, leverage all of the conversations so effort is not duplicated, and maximize resources at every stage. In response to Commissioner Kirkpatrick’s question regarding how to bring everyone to the table, Brooke Page advised that a neutral entity (not the government) would be needed to identify and bring the conversations to the table combined with collaborative funding used to leverage the conversations; and then the intermediatory organization could coalesce the conversations, ideas, and plans both statewide and locally. Brooke Page, in response to Commissioner McCurdy, advised that CSH already had service partners and developers throughout the State but the infrastructure for a community table was lacking; and further advised that the task force and Housing Coalition were developing an approach to the State together which would provide the mechanism to bring all partners to one table for the conversations. Commissioner McCurdy recommended that an asset map to facilitate between the various divisions would be helpful. Bob Cleveland, Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada (RTSN), which provides critical home repairs for low-income Veterans, seniors, and people with disabilities; provided repairs for over 8,000 homes during approximately 27 years in the Valley; the average client was 72 years old, an annual income of under $16,000; already experiencing an affordable housing crisis prior to the pandemic; Clark County had an owner occupied housing rate of 54 percent, which was ten percent below the national average; the County’s poverty rate was 13.3 percent, which was higher than the national average; the average cost of a home went up $100,000 during the last four years, and only 14 percent of available units were considered affordable; the Housing Assistance Council reported that 30 percent of the units in Clark County were inadequate and required some sort of critical repair; the numbers add up to a shortage of 78,112 affordable housing units in Clark County; RTSN spends an average of $7,500 per home to replace items and install accessibility modifications to preserve existing affordable housing in order to allow clients to safely age in place; prior to COVID RTSN assisted approximately 200 clients per year and maintained a wait list of approximately 75 clients; during COVID, RTSN continued working and assisted approximately 370 households, with a waiting list of over 280 households; RTSN’s goal was to keep clients in their homes; it was more cost effective to repair the existing affordable housing than for low income seniors (the majority of RTSN’s clients) to move into assisted living or long-term care facilities for $38,400 per year on average; low income seniors cannot afford the facilities so tax-payers contribute, other outcomes include a loss of independence due to finances, diminished health, and reduced quality of life; RTSN rebuilt 370 households for a cost of less than three million dollars, the cost for placing the 370 households into assisted living or long-term care facilities was $14,208,000 in the first year; and requested that Clark County fund RTSN’s Critical Repair Program with an additional one million dollars per year during the crisis, to increase staff, help increase homes served to 500 per year, eliminate the waiting list, and keep the vulnerable community members in their homes. In response to Commissioner Gibson, Bob Cleveland advised that RTSN had six full-time staff with plans to expand; licensed contractors worked for the company at a discounted rate, and 1,500 volunteers provided services not critical for the home, such as painting or landscaping. Commissioners Kirkpatrick and Gibson requested that Bob Cleveland submit to the Board a summary of the company’s work, and a map detailing which clients were helped and those remaining on the waiting list. Assemblywoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong spoke regarding affordable housing; advised of working with Christine Hess and the Nevada Housing Coalition and others such as the Nevada Preservation Foundation (NPF); the NPF was located in the West Side School and has done research on a revolving fund which would permit the remediation and rehabilitation of vacant and abandoned homes which would then be sold as affordable housing, funds would reenter the fund to begin the process again, this process would help stabilize housing; approximately three to five million dollars would help the NPF and would be beneficial for the community; SB448 was about weatherization, looking at the entire house from the roof to the floors; and spoke regarding rehabilitating older homes to meet safety standards and be energy efficient. Fuilala Riley, representing HELP of Southern Nevada, spoke regarding ending homelessness and providing weatherization services funded through Department Of Energy (DOE) funding and the Nevada Housing Division; averaged 300 to 400 units per year; struggled with the amount of funding available for remediation and repair to get the house ready to receive the $8,000 to $10,000 of weatherization services; most of the recipients were senior citizens who needed to fall within the 150 to 200 percent of the poverty line to receive some of the limited funding available; and requested some of the funds available be set aside for the remediation of older neighborhoods. Commissioner McCurdy spoke regarding weatherization and redeveloping older neighborhoods for the benefit of the community. Commissioner Kirkpatrick requested an overall report on ideas for redeveloping neighborhoods all over the Valley. Assemblywoman Summers-Armstrong advised that the revolving fund was restricted to the redevelopment agencies; NPF was focused on the Historic West Las Vegas; suggested that other community development organizations may want to use the NPF as a model; and advised of working on expanding the DOE income levels and building capacity so more people could be helped. Audra Hamernik, President and CEO of Nevada HAND, advised that Nevada HAND was Nevada’s largest nonprofit affordable housing developer; has 35 properties throughout southern Nevada serving approximately 4,600 working families and seniors; estimated that 15 new housing developments may be constructed from the $140 million funds under the American Rescue Plan Act; may be constructed quickly from the subsidy and the gap money which would help stay out of the nine percent tax credit round (which occurs once per year) and go into the four percent tax credits that are automatically generated and which do not count against the allocation that the State gets for the nine percent, and could use tax exempt bonds which would be less pressure than using the low income tax housing credits; was estimating between 3,000 to 4,500 units which was close to Kevin Schiller’s estimate of 5,000 units; Nevada HAND, Ovation, and other developers keep resident service coordinators at every site which links resources to many of the other entities which already provided presentations; will bring many resources into the project and have the ability to move very quickly; will be reviewing current programs to determine the fit; located two properties in high income areas as potential sites; will have 900 units under construction this fall, the need is 79,000 units; conducted a quick outcome study of every family household leaving Nevada HAND, and ten percent were leaving to purchase their own home; would add permanent supportive housing to staff’s chart of steps; want to be good community partners and help the organizations meet their goals to get housing to special needs populations (partners included Catholic Charities, HELP of Southern Nevada, St. Jude’s Ranch, and The Blind Center); and needs to obtain project based housing vouchers from The Housing Authority because the community wants long-term stable housing. In response to Commissioner Jones, Audra Hamernik advised that Nevada HAND could construct 5,000 new units if provided with deep subsidies, partners knowledgeable in housing construction, and additional partners helping to provide wrap around support services; and further advised of the need for rental assistance for long-term stability with ten year renewable contracts. Kevin Schiller clarified that the weatherization project would go into a zoom grant application and there would be separate RFPs on the affordable housing piece so an application would not be needed within ten days. Lizette Guillen, with Nevada Partners, advised of helping the community for approximately 30 years; in 2013 became the lead agency for the West Las Vegas Promise Neighborhood which was a collective impact initiative working to provide equity and justice in areas of race including employment, housing, and social justice; worked with over 50 multi-sector partners to develop the stable foundation of housing; focused on five areas: healthy children, families and communities, education and youth development, the future of work, affordable housing and wealth creation, and civic participation and social justice; built a cradle-to-career model; worked with community partners to leverage resources including a client management system; is a CARES organization providing resources for rent, utilities, and mortgage assistance; requested funding to increase staff to join CARE coordination teams to provide the services to the community through a household approach instead of individual case management, with a one to twenty case ratio; the client management system would allow the full community to track individuals, see success, and do a warm handoff with a holistic approach. Ela Garcia, Project Manager for Affordable Housing and Wealth Creation for Nevada Partners, advised of supporting 87 first time home buyers during 2020 with approximately $1.7 million in down payment assistance; provided financial education to the homeowners in order to provide tools, such as budgeting and access to resources, so the homeowners will keep their homes; educated more than 1,800 residents on financial topics including credit building and savings; supported the expansion of affordable housing in the West Las Vegas Promise Neighborhood; and proposed that some of the Fiscal Recovery Funds be used for transitional housing for youth, including youth aging out of foster care, dealing with mental health issues, and addiction to ensure the youth has access to education, financial literacy tools, and transitional housing resources. Eric Chavez, Director of Housing Programs at Nevada Partners, advised that Nevada Partners was a HUD approved non-profit housing counseling agency; the neighborhood stabilization program was successful due to being partnered with the non-profit HUD approved housing agencies which were already staffed with knowledgeable individuals; was recognized by the United States Senate for contributions and achievements in the real estate industry and generate over three million dollars in down payment assistance annually; provided wrap around services to help home buyers and homeowners, home maintenance, tax preparation, medical services, job placement, and additional services. Commissioner Kirkpatrick expressed appreciation for Nevada Partners assisting applicants with completing documents for the CHAP process.
  Action details Meeting details Video/Audio Video/Audio

CLARK COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

AGENDA ITEM

 

Petitioner:

Yolanda King, County Manager

Recommendation: 

title

Receive information from community stakeholders regarding the shelter and housing needs in Clark County and, in particular, the shelter and housing needs of the communities that were disproportionately and negatively impacted by the public health emergency and direct staff accordingly.  (For possible action)  

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FISCAL IMPACT:

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Fund Name:

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Funded PGM/Grant:

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Additional Comments:

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BACKGROUND: 

Clark County was recently awarded $440 million in State and Local Government Fiscal Recovery Funds (Fiscal Recovery Funds) under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).  These resources lay the foundation for a strong, equitable economic recovery, not only by providing immediate economic stabilization for households and businesses, but also by addressing the systemic public health and economic challenges that may have contributed to more severe impacts of the pandemic among low-income communities and people of color.  Low-income communities and workers and people of color have faced more severe health and economic outcomes during the pandemic, with pre-existing social vulnerabilities such as low-wage or insecure employment, concentrated neighborhoods with less economic opportunity, and pre-existing health disparities likely contributing to the magnified impact of the pandemic.

Under ARPA, local governments have been afforded greater discretion in designated low-income areas. There are approximately 100 of these Qualified Census Tracts (QCT) within Clark County. This additional discretion is intended to allow local governments to make investments in housing and neighborhoods to address systematic public health and economic challenges that hinder these communities.

Prior to the public health emergency, the State of Nevada had the fewest affordable available rental homes in the country. In Southern Nevada, there is a shortage of 145,000 in affordable, very low and extremely low-income units.  The negative economic impacts of the public health emergency have exasperated the need for affordable and attainable housing in the community.  Building stronger communities and neighborhoods through investment in housing and neighborhoods will alleviate the immediate economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing insecurity, while addressing conditions that contributed to poor public health and economic outcomes during the pandemic, namely concentrated areas with limited economic opportunity and inadequate or poor-quality housing.





Clark County is requesting community stakeholders to provide a brief overview of potential housing developments and programs designed to address the shelter and housing challenges our hardest hit communities are facing.  Eligible programs and services include but are not limited to the following:

                                          U.S. Treasury will presume that certain types of services, outlined below, are eligible uses when                                                                provided in a QCT, to families and individuals living in QCTs:                     
                                          o                     Services to address homelessness, such as supportive housing, and to improve access to                                                                                     stable, affordable housing among unhoused individuals;
                                          o                     Affordable housing development to increase supply of affordable and high-quality living                                                                                     units; and
                                          o                     Housing vouchers, residential counseling, or housing navigation assistance to facilitate                                                                                     household moves to neighborhoods with high levels of economic opportunity and                                                                                     mobility for low-income residents, to help residents increase their economic opportunity                                                                                     and reduce concentrated areas of low economic opportunity.

                                          More information regarding eligible services can be found in the attached Interim Final Rule                                                                (pages 10 - 33)

Presentations should provide a brief overview of the programs including the following:
                                          The shelter or housing needs addressed;
                                          Identify which of the County’s attached “Strategic Priorities” the program addresses;
                                          The location of the services and/or housing development;
                                          How the services and/or housing development will assist in the community’s overall recovery;
                                          How the services provided will address root causes and lead to sustainable improvements;
                                          How many individuals, units or households will be impacted;
                                          Estimated cost of the program;
                                          The intended outcomes; and
                                          How the outcomes will be measured.