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Project Overview <br />The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development's (HUD) Community Development Block Grant <br />(CDBG) Program and HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) have been important and long- <br />standing community development funding resources for the City of San Leandro. <br />The City has allocated CDBG for important capital improvement projects that have enhanced the City's <br />physical environment over the years. CDBG funds were vital in the construction of the City's new senior <br />community center, which opened in 2011. Other notable CDBG-funded CIP projects include: Americans <br />with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements for City parks and community facilities, ADA accessible <br />wheelchair ramps/curb cuts, and providing loans for low-income serving non-profit public service agencies <br />to renovate their facilities. The City continues to have significant capital improvement needs, <br />including making all City facilities/ parks fully ADA accessible and providing home rehabilitation <br />assistance to lower-income homeowners, particularly fixed-income seniors. Due to limited local and State <br />revenue sources, federal CDBG funds are even more critical for the City in addressing <br />infrastructure needs. <br />CDBG funds also have assisted local non-profit agencies to provide needed services to over 14,000 lower <br />income San Leandro residents annually. The types of social services funded include: emergency and <br />support services for homeless women and children facing domestic violence, emergency food, clothing, <br />healthcare, mental health counseling, employment services, landlord -tenant counseling, rental assistance, <br />and meal delivery to homebound seniors. These are vital services that often serve as a safety net for the <br />neediest residents and require adequate CDBG funding <br />to continue. �. <br />The City has utilized its HOME funds to acquire, \ 7i �W� _ <br />rehabilitate, and construct more than 200 units of 111 — h •,1 <br />affordable rental housing, including Estabrook Place, a no "I'I �^ <br />51 -unit senior rental housing complex completed in <br />2010. With the State's elimination of <br />redevelopment, the City lost a substantial <br />annual stream of affordable housing funding <br />used to acquire, rehabilitate, and/or build <br />affordable housing. HOME funds are more vital <br />than ever to the City because it has become the City's <br />primary affordable housing funding source to address the continuing housing affordability problem in the <br />Bay Area. <br />Funding Request <br />San Leandro is seeking support and advocacy to restore CDBG and HOME funding to FY 2010-11 levels in <br />order to more effectively address its community development and affordable housing needs. Reductions of <br />about 30% in its annual CDBG entitlement grant allocation ($786K vs. $561K in FY FY12-13) and about <br />60% in its HOME grant ($329K vs. $142K) have occurred in the last two fiscal years. These significant and <br />continual funding cuts compound the lingering impacts of the national economic downturn on cities such <br />as San Leandro, which face limited local capacity and local/State funding resources to enhance inadequate <br />infrastructure and increasing demands for vital social services and affordable housing. <br />