Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) Funding – Florida Housing Finance Corporation - Subrecipient Agreement for Coronavirus Relief Funds – No Funding Required

1:02:19a motion. Move approval. Of a motion. Second. Second. All in favor, aye. Aye. Aye. R six coronavirus aid relief and economic security act care funding, Ford Housing Finance Corporation.

1:02:32Ms. Marcy? Thank you.

1:02:41Good morning, Marcy Esperg, Director of Community Development. I'm just having a moment because I'm usually not sitting standing here before 2 30. So just let me enjoy this while I'm here.

1:02:53Yeah.

1:02:54Do we have the slides ready? So uh we are here to talk about uh another program that we're uh releasing for uh the citizens of our community. Um CARES Act funding, the Coronavirus Relief Funds was also distributed. We got a direct allocation from uh the CARES Act, the county did, but it was also distributed to the state of Florida. and distributed to the Florida Finance Housing Corporation, who is our ship agency. They

1:03:24administer the SHIP program. And so then they distributed a CRF allocation to counties and cities who are recipients of SHIP funds. We received $1,566,900. We have to expend it by December 30th, like all the other CRF funds. And we have designed this program a little differently than Pasco Cares and Community Cares. So we designed it specifically

1:03:54to fill the gap that it was not reaching with those other programs. So on the next slide, I'll explain a little bit about what the program is like. First, we're doing a higher level of income, up to 120% of the median income. Again, people have to have a legal status here and be Pasco residents. They do have to show that they were economically impacted by COVID-19. So when it

1:04:25comes to s taking care of their their mortgage and the rent, we're going way over and above the other programs. So we can do assistance up to nine months. They have to have been current in March, but so it would be April on, we could do assistance. And 10% of the award that we received can be used by our office for administrative purposes. So we've also listed the eligible activities that we've decided to include. So

1:04:55they're mortgage payments and buy-downs. We will be doing a short window of emergency repair of housing at the maximum award of ten thousand dollars or the cost of a roof or AC. So that's all we'll be doing. And we'll be specifically looking for People who uh could not proceed with that kind of repair due to COVID-19. They uh were out of work. They had to spend their money on other things, et cetera. We would do

1:05:25some housing re-entry assistance and we expect to do that in conjunction with other funding that has been leveraged from HUD. So for people that have had had to move or be relocated because of COVID, we would help them to move in with security deposits. Utility deposits and first last and security, and that would be a maximum award of $5,000. And then uh we do know that there are a number of people

1:05:55that are on um foreclosure and eviction lists, uh so we want to be able to assist with prevention. So we could go to pay arrears between three and six months. Months and fees. And then lastly, believe it or not, there are a lot of people that are relocating and buying homes at this time. And so we would also be able to do some home ownership counseling. So those are the eligible activities and how people can apply. This

1:06:27is gonna be old school. Paper. So no portal, no nothing like that. So we have applications that are available. They'll be first come, first complete, and then served. So we found through Pasco CARES and Community CARES that we get a lot of applications that come in and it takes people a long time to give us their driver's license or sign a piece of paper or whatever the case might be. So we will be screening applications,

1:06:58and the ones that come through that are completed will be served first. And the applications will be available online tomorrow pending your approval. And hard copies will also be available at various locations around the county. And on the next slide, I want to thank the libraries and Parks and Rec. So we're we're all throughout the county. So people could go to Atlanta Lakes, they could go to Dade City, they could go to Zephyrhills, they could go anywhere

1:07:28in the county and get the assistance to download the application. It's not an application for the faint of heart because we ask a lot of questions, but they will be able to get the application, fill it out. And it needs to be returned to our office. And we actually have a new red mailbox outside of our office so that people could come in at any time, be socially distant, and drop their paperwork off in a secure way so that we could start

1:07:58to serve them. So that is the new program. Looking for your approval and happy to answer any questions that you might have.

1:08:07Well, you know, I um I love all this stuff that we're doing. I think, you know, I obviously this is one of the main things I think we can do with some of this money is make sure that our our residents can stay in their homes during this time when the government is asking them to um behave a certain way. So uh I know I know in some of our other ones, you know, we've opened the portals and we've had to shut them down, you know. Within hours, right? Um so I think this is smart to go to the completed application and

1:08:37um I just really grateful for everything you're doing and that what staff is doing. Um, you know, I s I serve on that national committee uh Community economic development and workforce at National Association of Counties. So I'm frequently on national calls on what other counties around the country are doing. And I am looking forward to when uh we can um share what we're doing with the country. because I think we're doing great stuff. And

1:09:07I'm I'm wondering, have you sent up our programs to NACO? Because they have a website Um where they are they are um showcasing all the best practices and I would really like to make sure that Pasco County has our programs um listed there so that they can see what what we're doing as well.

1:09:25I'll get that link from you and and be happy to do that. Great. We'll work on

1:09:30getting that up.

1:09:30Mr. Mariano? Yes. Marsh, you you mentioned that uh part of the funding we're using is for counseling. Um I know Habitat for Humanity, when they have their counseling, they make people go through a

1:09:43Yeah. Is this is it a duplication of services if we can have them work maybe work with Habitat Provided instead of us doing it?

1:09:50We don't do it. We actually work with Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation.

1:09:54If you would if you would take take a look at Habitat, they might be able to provide it and and I think the way they do it if they zoom Zoom technology anyway to add in other people might might save us some money if we're paying for it. Um Yesterday I was out with uh Some seniors that were trying to help with veterans. Uh they're from the Heritage Springs Veterans Group. And they said, Jack, what can we do to help? So I t actually took him down to Leisure Lane the town and country village project down there, kind of show them what was going on there. And I says, you know, this project's gonna be a while before we can actually help somebody. While

1:10:25I was there, a lady was driving by, kinda I don't know if we flagged her down, she flagged her down, us down, we started talking. Um she's in a was a gray squid of Xion Zion or maybe. Um anyway, so we talked for a little bit. This is a lady that got her stimulus money. And paid her bills ahead of time. She struggles making her bills. She doesn't make much money. She does Uber. She does other things, et cetera, just trying to make ends meet. And uh she says, I might have to leave this neighborhood and go. So would you want to actually

1:10:55yeah, she says, would you want to buy my house for like forty or fifty grand? I says, Well, frankly, we don't do that type of thing. Uh but You know, tell me what tell me what's going on. Maybe there's some way we can try to help you. So she's got a flooring issue that's out there. We're going to be able to do that. The floors are kinda woke whatever from maybe water or flooding or whatever. Sh her roof's okay, her AC is okay, she's got all the bills paid up. Do you see a window of opportunity that we can probably help her with this funding?

1:11:21Not with this funding, but we have our regular owner occupied rehab program, so I'd be happy to take her name and number and have our office contact her. Okay.

1:11:29All right, I'll I'll get you that information. Um next thing. I know f for probably years like we struggled with a few things trying to help people with roofs that need to be done and try to make that work. Do we have a list of those people that have been trying to get a roof done that we can actually use get them into this program quickly. Like I mean, you know, walking around you see blue tarp roofs, et cetera, here and there. So we do have a list we're gonna tap into. Yes. Fantastic. Thank you.

1:11:55Any other questions? Commissioner Starkey?

1:11:57Well, um, are you gonna be I'm hoping that you'll stay because under commissioner items I'm gonna be talking about um A resident that is gonna need your attention. So I'll stay. Okay, thanks.

1:12:10Anything else? Retain a motion.

1:12:12Over approval. Second.