City Commissioners unanimously approved the city’s plan for the allocation of $1.026 million in HOME-ARP funds during their Feb. 15 meeting.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 appropriated $5 billion to provide housing, services, and shelter to individuals experiencing homelessness and other vulnerable populations, to be allocated by formula to jurisdictions that qualified for HOME Investment Partnerships Program allocations in fiscal year 2021.
The City of Great Falls was $1,026,477 of HOME-ARP funds, which are in addition to the annual allocation of $283,494 of HOME funding that the city received for the current fiscal year.
This is a one-time allocation of federal funds that can be spent in the community until fiscal year 2030.
The funds are granted through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and have specific rules for their use.
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HUD has outlined specific guidance on who qualifies for assistance as well as eligible activities as outlined below, according to the staff report:
- Homeless (as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act)
- At risk of homelessness (as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act)
- Fleeing, or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking,
or human trafficking - Part of other populations where providing supportive services or assistance would prevent
- family’s homelessness or would serve those with the greatest risk of housing instability
- or, veterans and families that include a veteran family member that meet the criteria in one of the above
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The eligible activities for the use of HOME-ARP funding are limited to the following:
- Development and support of affordable rental housing
- Tenant based rental assistance (TBRA)
- Supportive services to qualifying individuals
- Acquisition and development of non-congregate shelter units
Before developing the HOME-ARP Plan, the city conducted a community partner survey to gather input from agencies and service providers in the community.
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Consultation with community partners included the local Continuum of Care, homeless and domestic violence agencies, veterans’ groups, public housing agencies, public agencies that address the needs of the qualifying populations, and public or private organizations that address fair housing, civil rights, and the needs of persons with disabilities is a federal requirement.
The survey was distributed to 17 different organizations serving the community, with nine of those organizations providing valuable responses and feedback to assist in outlining priorities for the use of HOME-ARP funds.
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The feedback from the survey identified the priority needs in this order:
- Development and support of affordable rental housing,
- Supportive services to qualifying individuals and,
- Tenant based rental assistance and acquisition and development of non-congregate shelter units
“The additional information provided in the surveys further identified that the greatest need in the affordable rental housing category to be the need for a permanent supportive housing option in the community,” according to the staff report.
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In addition to the survey, one-on-one consultation was conducted with various community partners to gather further information and data needed to evaluate priorities for the use of HOME funds.
On Dec. 7, 2021, the City Commission held the required public needs hearing to gather input from community members.
The feedback from the meeting outlined the needs for affordable rental housing (permanent supportive housing), emergency shelters that are non-barrier or low- barrier, and services to homeless or those at risk of homelessness.
“Information gathered during the planning process undertaken by city staff, indicates that the top priorities for HOME-ARP funding are the development and support of affordable rental housing as well as supportive services to qualifying populations. These are the project priorities identified for funding in the proposed HOME-ARP Plan,” according to city staff.
The proposed plan is available in the agenda packet for the meeting.
The draft plan went out for public comment from Dec. 20 to Jan. 18. All comments were taken into consideration and are included in the plan attachments, according to staff.
“There were comments received during the comment periods regarding the need for an additional emergency shelter. Though this was not identified as the top need for the community after evaluating all of the information and data collected, city staff understands the concern. Because of this, city staff has provided additional information that directly relates to emergency shelters. The information includes the guidance outlined in the HOME-ARP legislation from HUD, homeless services that already exist in the community, as well as zoning requirements on the development of an emergency shelter within Great Falls. This information was provided to the City Commission and is included as an attachment in this agenda report,” according to the staff report.
In summary, the city’s proposal is to allocate the $1,026,477 of HOME-ARP funds as follows:
“Because the highest identified need in the planning process was the development of affordable rental housing, the largest allocation of funding is proposed to be devoted to this category,” according to staff.
According to the data contained in the plan, the city has a deficit of 1,235 housing units for households earning 0-30 percent of area median income.
“This deficit greatly limits housing choices for extremely low income households and those at risk of homelessness in Great Falls. This is why significant funding is proposed for this category,” according to staff.
The second need identified in the city’s proposed allocation plan is the category of “Supportive Services,” examples of which include services that are typically needed to assist homeless individuals or those at risk of homelessness are mental health services, substance abuse services, employment services, and transportation services.
The plan also includes 15 percent of the funding for administration of the program, which is authorized by federal rules and encouraged by HUD.
Commissioner Rick Tryon asked if there was a deadline to submit the plan and staff said there is not, but since it’s COVID relief funds, the sooner they use it the better since they’re more impacted now by COVID than they will be eight years from now, Planning Director Craig Raymond said.
Tonya Shumaker, the city’s CBDG/HOME grant administrator, said that once the plan is submitted, HUD has 45 days to respond, then the agency and city sign the agreement and the federal funds are disbursed.
Tryon said he believed the funding should be used for emergency non-congregate shelters, but staff is not recommending that use at this time.
Tryon asked if they could amend the plan in the future if they got a proposal for such a shelter and staff said that could be an option.
Sherrie Arey, director of NeighborWorks Great Falls, said that they supported the plan and staff recommendations.
She said that there’s a housing crunch in the community and any funds that can go toward developing affordable housing will be helpful.
NWGF is currently working on a permanent supportive housing project in the Baatz Building at 400 2nd Ave. S. that Arey said they believe is one solution to help with the current homelessness issues.
Arey said that emergency shelters cost three times as much to provide than permanent housing solutions.
Rev. Jeff Wakeley of First United Methodist Church at the corner of 2nd Avenue North and 6th Street said that they had hoped to use the funds for a homeless shelter but supported any plan to develop more housing in the community.
