HomeMy WebLinkAbout20-2191RESOLUTION NO.20-2191
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON AUTHORIZRqG
AND RATIFYING A LETTER OF INTENT FOR THE CITY TO SUPPORT THE UNITED
WAY OF DENTON COUNTY’S APPLICATION AND PROPOSAL FOR EMERGENCY
SOLUTIONS GRANT CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUNDING ROUND TWO FOR
HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION AND RAPID RE-HOUSING THROUGH A
CONTRIBUTION OF FUNDING IN THE AMOUNT OF $500,000; AND PROVIDING AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the CARES Act created the Coronavirus Relief Fund (“CRF”) to provide
financial resources to state and local governments; and
WHEREAS, Denton County received an allocation of the CRF funds and allocated
amounts to the United Way of Denton County’s (“UWDC”) COVID- 19 Relief & Recovery Fund
to provide grants to nonprofits responding to the impact of the coronavirus in the community, and
to provide financial assistance to households at risk of losing their housing due to the pandemic
(“Eviction Prevention Program”); and
WHEREAS, since its inception in March 2020, UWDC’s Eviction Prevention Program has
assisted 994 City of Denton households with 1,813 months of rental, mortgage and utility
assistance, and as of October 30, 2020, $4,489,307.83 has been allocated county-wide in Denton
County for rental, mortgage, and utility assistance; and
WHERAS, as CRF funds must be spent by December 31, 2020 per the CARES Act,
UWDC’s Eviction Prevention Program is planned to come to an end with a December 1, 2020
deadline for any last applications of rental, mortgage, and utility assistance; and
WHEREAS, the CARES Act allocated $4.96 billion to be distributed through the
Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program nationally, with certain provisions of ESG regulations
waived, to serve people experiencing homelessness and/or at risk of homelessness affected by
COViD-19 through street outreach, emergency shelter, rapid re-housing, and homelessness
prevention funding (“ESG-CV”); and
WHEREAS, the ESG-CV funding allocation was divided into two tranches known as ESG-
CV-I (Round 1) & II (Round 2); and
WHEREAS, in Texas, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs
(TDHCA) receives the ESG-CV funding and TDCHA has charged the Continuum of Care (CoC)
Lead Agencies to perform the role of ESG Coordinator for their respective geographies to lead the
competitive application process and make funding recommendations to TDHCA; and
WHEREAS, Denton County is part of the Texas Balance of State Continuum of Care (TX
BoS CoC) with 215 counties and the Texas Homeless Network (THN) is the CoC Lead Agency
for the TX BoS CoC; and
WHEREAS, the City of Denton applied on behalf of Denton County for ESG-CV-I Round
1 funds and were awarded $1,425,000 by TDHCA to provide homeless services (street outreach,
emergency shelter, rapid rehousing, and homeless prevention) in partnership with agencies
throughout Denton County; and
WHEREAS, on October 26, 2020, THN announced the local competition for ESG-CV-II
Round 2 funds allocated by TDHCA to the area served by the TX BoS CoC with approximately
$26 million dollars available for rapid re-housing (RRH) and homelessness prevention (HP)
funding only; and
WHEREAS, applications for ESG-CV-II were due to THN by November 8, 2020; and
WHEREAS, the City of Denton helped to coordinate a collaborative review with Denton
County agencies of THN’s ESG-CV-II application and award criteria to help evaluate which
agency(ies) would be best positioned to make an application and leverage the most possible funds
for Denton County; and
WHEREAS, based upon the evaluation criteria and that UWDC’s established Eviction
Prevention Program is set to expire on December 31, UWDC intends to apply for $9,491,894 in
ESG-CV-II grant dollars for Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing for residents in
Denton County; and
WHEREAS, to support UWDC and help try to bring these available federal dollars to
Denton County, the UWDC has requested assistance and support through initial contributions from
the cities of Denton and Lewisville and Denton County, so that if UWDC is awarded ESG-CV-II,
UWDC could begin to accept applications for housing assistance immediately once they have a
contract with TDHCA and be able to continuously process applications, rather than wait for
reimbursements from TDHCA; and
WHEREAS, since the grant application was due by November 8, 2020, City staff provided
a letter of intent to UWDC and staff is seeking City Council authorization and ratification of the
Letter of Intent; and
WHEREAS, the City Council believes it to be in the best interest of the citizens of Denton
to authorize and ratify the Letter of Intent to UWDC; NOW, THEREFORE
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON HEREBY RESOLVES:
SECTION 1. The findings and recitations contained in the preamble of this resolution are
incorporated herein by reference.
SECTION 2. The City Council hereby authorizes and ratifies the Letter of Intent executed
by the City Manager to provide a contribution of $500,000.00 to UWDC in order to seek
$9,491,894 in federal ESG-CV-II grant dollars available for Homelessness Prevention and Rapid
Rehousing for residents in Denton County. The contribution will be provided by the City in
accordance with the terms of an Agreement between the City and UWDC to be considered by City
Council at a later date and prior to the transfer of the funds. The Agreement would address the use
of the contributed funds and other terms, including addressing the limitation of the City’s funds to
City of Denton residents and how UWDC will return the contribution to the City.
SECTION 3. This resolution shall become effective immediately upon its passage and
approval.
The ms)tion to approve this resolution was made by
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resolution was passed and approved by the
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Nay Abstain Absent
Mayor Chris Watts:
Gerard Hudspeth, District 1 :
Keely G. Briggs, District 2:
Jesse Davis, District 3 :
John Ryan, District 4:
Deb Armintor, At Large Place 5 :
Paul Meltzer, At Large Place 6:
PASSED AND APPROVED this the \OUday of NoN % be ,(, 2020.
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By: Mayor Pro Tem Gerard Hudspeth
ATTEST:
ROSA RIOS, CITY SECRETARY
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APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM:
AARON LEAL, CITY ATTORNEY
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