3A Public Hearing 2008 0915 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Most of the notable accomplishments with CDBG and HOME funds are mentioned above in earlier sections of this document. However, other accomplishments include Project Literacy serving 182 persons with special needs; thus, exceeding their goal by 21%. Project Literacy also recruited and trained seventy (70) new tutors and provided the community with 19,198 tutor service hours. Staff and volunteers represent a diverse community (e.g., Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Tagalog). Project Literacy offers ethnically and culturally diverse instructional resources for adult literacy students. Outreach services are provided in Spanish. Project Literacy provides parent literacy workshops and free children's book distributions at the main library and at community agencies which serve parents and their children, ages 0-4 years. Family Literacy clientele include teen mothers, low-income childcare providers and early education providers, CalWORKS single parents, and low -literacy parents. Project Literacy's computer lab helps improve each student's quality of life, too. The renovation of the former Islander Motel into the affordable apartments Casa Verde was completed. By May 2008 all sixty-eight (68) new affordable rental wits (including a unit reserved for the on-site manager) were fully Leased up and occupied. Furthermore, Mission Bell Apartments also continued to fulfill another Consolidated Plan's priority: to increase available service -enriched housing for people with special needs. Mission Bell has five (5) units set-aside for youth exiting from foster care, three (3) units for mentally disabled transition age youth adults, and two (2) units for adults with special needs (i.e. mentally ill and/or chronically homeless). The City entered into an Inclusionary Housing Agreement with one (1) private developer one (1) moderate income unit. During this past year, eleven (11) households purchased inclusionary ownership units approved prior to FY2007-08. The City also assisted two (2) existing Cherrywood subdivision inclusionary homeowners in finding income -eligible buyers. There were fifteen (15) loans approved for down payment/closing cost assistance under the City's First -Time Homebuyer Program (FTHB) which was significantly more than in previous years when the City averaged two (2) loans annually. The free FTHB education seminars sponsored by the City have been successful in educating prospective homebuyers. Due to limited City staffing and capacity, the City also contracted in FY2007-08 with an experienced non-profit Bay Area Homebuyer Agency (BAHBA) to streamline and improve administration of the City's homebuyer programs. The City has a policy of completing CDBG-funded projects in a timely manner to assure that the grant money is spent. Staff worked assiduously on this goal and successfully succeeded in timely CDBG grant expenditures. 4) Funds Used for National Objectives All of the CDBG funds were used for activities benefiting very low-, low- and moderate -income persons. Most of the funds were used for two (2) of CDBG's national objectives: provide a suitable living environment and decent housing. The City also used Redevelopment funds to preserve and improve housing stock through its Housing Rehabilitation Program and to assist eligible homebuyers under the First Time Homebuyer Program. The City's Office of Business Development primarily creates projects for economic opportunity using Redevelopment Agency funds. Final Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report: FY2007-2008 City of San Leandro Page 28