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CDBG and HOME Programs Project Overview The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program and HOME Investment Partnerships Program have been important and long-standing community development funding resources for the City of San Leandro. The City has allocated CDBG for important capital improvement projects that have enhanced the City’s physical environment over the years. CDBG funds were vital in the construction of the City’s new senior community center, which opened in 2011. Other notable CDBG-funded capital improvement projects include: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements for City parks and community facilities, ADA accessible wheelchair ramps/curb cuts, and providing loans for low-income serving non-profit public service agencies to renovate their facilities. The City continues to have significant capital improvement needs, including making all City facilities/parks fully ADA accessible and providing home rehabilitation assistance to lower-income homeowners, particularly fixed-income seniors. Due to limited local and State revenue sources, federal CDBG funds are even more critical for the City in addressing infrastructure needs. CDBG funds have assisted local non-profit agencies in providing needed services to over 10,600 lower income San Leandro residents annually. The types of social services funded include: emergency food and clothing, mental health counseling, healthcare, employment services, emergency shelter for homeless families, support services for abused children, hot and nutritious meals for seniors as well as meal delivery to homebound seniors. These are vital services that often serve as a safety net for the neediest residents and require adequate CDBG funding to continue. The City utilized its HOME funds to assist in the construction of Phase 1 of Marea Alta Apartments, a 115-unit affordable rental housing complex that is currently under construction and projected to be completed in Spring 2016. With the State’s elimination of redevelopment, the City lost a substantial annual stream of affordable housing funding used to acquire, rehabilitate, and/or build affordable housing. HOME funds are more vital than ever to the City because it has become the City’s primary affordable housing funding source to address the continuing housing affordability problem in the Bay Area. Funding Request San Leandro is seeking support and advocacy to restore CDBG and HOME funding to FY 2010-11 levels in order to more effectively address its community development and affordable housing needs. Reductions of more than 20% in its annual CDBG entitlement grant allocation ($786K vs. $628K in FY15-16) and nearly 57% in its HOME grant ($329K vs. $141K) have occurred in the last five fiscal years. These significant funding reductions have continued despite increasing demands from San Leandro residents for vital social services and affordable housing particularly amidst skyrocketing rents and home prices in the Bay Area that have significantly impacted low and moderate income community residents.