HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 12172013 - HA D.2RECOMMENDATIONS
OPEN the public hearing on the Housing Authority's Annual Plan for fiscal year 2014-2015, RECEIVE testimony,
and CLOSE the public hearing.
ADOPT Resolution No. 5171 titled the "PHA Certification of Compliance with the PHA Plans and Related
Regulations Board Resolutions to Accompany the PHA Plan" approving the Public Housing Agency (PHA) Annual
Plan for fiscal year 2014/15 including revisions to the Admissions and Continued Occupancy Plan and the Section 8
Administrative Plan.
Action of Board On: 12/17/2013 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
Clerks Notes:
VOTE OF COMMISSIONERS
AYE:Candace Andersen, District II
Commissioner
Mary N. Piepho, District III
Commissioner
Karen Mitchoff, District IV
Commissioner
Federal D. Glover, District V
Commissioner
ABSENT:John Gioia, District I
Commissioner
Contact: 925-957-8028
I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the
Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: December 17, 2013
Joseph Villarreal, Executive Director
By: June McHuen, Deputy
cc:
D.2
To:Contra Costa County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners
From:Joseph Villarreal, Housing Authority
Date:December 17, 2013
Contra
Costa
County
Subject:2014-2015 PHA Annual Plan Submission
BACKGROUND
Any local, regional or state agency that receives funds to operate federal public housing or housing choice
voucher (Section 8) program must submit a Public Housing Agency (PHA) Plan. The PHA Plan is a template that
outlines public housing agency policies, programs, operations, and strategies for meeting local housing needs and
goals. There are two parts to the PHA Plan: the Five-Year Plan, which each PHA submits to HUD once every fifth
PHA fiscal year, and the Annual Plan, which is submitted to HUD every year.
The Five-Year Plan describes the agency’s mission and the long-term goals for achieving that mission over the
subsequent five years. The Annual Plan provides details about the PHA’s current programs and the resident
population served, as well as the PHA’s strategy for addressing the housing needs of currently assisted families
and the larger community. The Annual Plan also serves as the PHA’s yearly request for grants to support
improvements to public housing buildings (through the Capital Fund Program).
As required by HUD, HACCC staff provided public notice of this hearing in the Contra Costa Times on
September 28 and September 30, 2013. Staff met with the agency’s Resident Advisory Board (RAB) on
November 19 and December 12, 2013 to discuss the proposed Plan.
The following sections discuss the major changes proposed by staff to the Annual Plan and its elements approved
by the Board last year and to HACCC’s policies.
Public Housing
Chapter 9 of the current ACOP gives residents ten, fifteen or thirty days to report various household changes that
would affect their rent calculations. Reporting requirements in this chapter primarily focus on additions and
subtractions of household members and increases or decreases in household income. Staff proposes changing the
timelines in Chapter 9 to require that residents make all required reporting within fifteen calendar days.
Lease
Staff is proposing a number of modifications to the public housing lease. The modifications reflect the fifteen-day
reporting requirement proposed above, changes in HUD regulations, Board-approved changes in HACCC policy
and federal, state and local laws that have been enacted since HACCC last modified its lease. In addition to
grammatical and formatting changes, the new lease includes the following proposed modifications:
The term of the lease will automatically renew for twelve months at lease expiration. This is required by
HUD regulations.
Residents shall not allow anyone to stay at their home for more than fourteen consecutive calendar days or
a total of thirty days during any twelve-month period. Longer stays may be granted by HACCC with prior
written permission. The tenant must notify HACCC when a guest(s)/visitor(s) will be staying for more than
five consecutive days.
Children who are subject to a joint custody arrangement, or for whom a family has visitation privileges, and
who are not included in the lease as a Household Member because they live outside of the public housing
unit more than fifty percent of the time, are not subject to the time limitations of guests listed above.
Former tenants whom HACCC has evicted are not permitted as overnight guests.
Guests who represent the public housing unit as their own residence address for receipt of benefits or other
purposes will be considered by HACCC to be unauthorized occupants.
The tenant shall notify HACCC within twenty-four hours if any guest is a registered sex offender, or has
been convicted of the manufacture or production of methamphetamines. Failure to comply with this
provision shall constitute a material violation of the Lease and grounds for eviction.
The tenant agrees to obtain HACCC approval before allowing additional persons to move into the
Residence. Failure to comply with this provision of the Lease is a serious and material violation of the
Lease and grounds for termination of the Lease and eviction.
A live-in aide is defined as a person who resides with one or more elderly persons, or near elderly-persons,
or persons with disabilities, and who:
Is determined to be essential to the care and well-being of the persons;1.
Is not obligated for the support of the persons; and2.
Would not be living in the unit except to provide the necessary supportive services.3.
This change reflects HUD regulations.
The late charge will increase to $25 from $10.
In cases of returned checks, HACCC will charge the tenant for damages pursuant to California Civil Code
Section 1719. The existing lease states that residents are liable for all bank charges incurred by HACCC
and any reasonable charges HACCC may impose for returned checks.
Tenants will have the option to pay the security deposit in full at move-in or to make up to three monthly
payments from the date of move-in. The existing lease says that payments are an option, but is not specific
as to term and does not provide physical space on the lease to notate agreement to a term.
Tenants must report changes in household income or composition to HACCC within fifteen calendar days.
The existing lease only gives tenants ten days to report.
As provided by the Violence Against Women Act and related federal regulations, HACCC may consider
lease bifurcation (the removal of one or more members of the household, while leaving the remaining
members on the program) in circumstances involving domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking. The
existing lease does not address this issue.
Tenants must maintain the residence in a manner that prevents the growth of mold and/or mildew, including
properly ventilating rooms, cleaning, and promptly reporting growth of mold and/or mildew to HACCC.
Tenants must also cooperate fully with HACCC in the abatement of mold and/or mildew, including moving
furniture away from walls, emptying closets, removing items from cupboards, and other actions necessary
to make the affected areas accessible for abatement. The existing lease does not address this issue.
Tenants must immediately report any smoke/carbon monoxide detector malfunctions to HACCC. Tenants
must not damage, remove, tamper with or otherwise interfere with the normal operation of smoke/carbon
monoxide detectors, sprinklers, or other safety devices within the Residence or Development. Tenants must
not remove live batteries and must report worn out batteries to HACCC. If a Tenant tampers with
smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, sprinklers or other safety devices in the unit, they will be charged a
minimum of $50.00. The existing lease does not address this issue.
Tenants must not violate any law regarding smoking while on the premises; must not smoke in any
non-smoking dwelling unit; and must not smoke in any multi-unit residence common area where smoking
is prohibited. This language is proposed in order to comply with County/City ordinances. The existing lease
does not address this issue.
Tenants must not block or obstruct any window in the dwelling unit that may be required for emergency
egress. This provision is being proposed because HACCC continues to lose points on HUD’s physical
inspections of public housing units. This is considered a significant violation. The existing lease does not
address this issue.
Tenants must comply with HUD’s community service requirements as described in HACCC’s existing
community service policy. HUD regulations require placement of this requirement in the lease. The
existing lease does not address this issue.
Capital Fund
The Capital Fund program provides PHAs with annual funding from HUD for public housing development,
financing and modernization as well as for management improvements and security costs. Capital fund dollars
cannot be used for luxury improvements, direct social services, costs funded by other HUD programs or any other
ineligible activities as determined by HUD on a case-by-case basis. PHAs must report annually on how they plan
to use outstanding capital funds as part of the PHA Plan process.
The proposed PHA Plan shows ongoing and planned capital fund activity. The following projects have been
budgeted in the proposed PHA Plan:
$818,000 for additional Sheriff and police Coverage at El Pueblo in Pittsburg, Las Deltas in North
Richmond and Bayo Vista in Rodeo
$370,000 for site improvements, paving, exterior modernization, exterior lighting and new locksets for
exterior doors at El Pueblo in Pittsburg
$276,000 for electrical repairs at Alhambra Terrace in Martinez, Los Nogales in Brentwood and
Bridgemont in Antioch
$172,000 for resident services at Las Deltas in North Richmond
$142,000 for site improvements and exterior modernization at Bayo Vista in Rodeo
$140,000 for playground repair and roof replacement at Vista Del Camino in San Pablo
$125,000 for waste pipe repairs and repainting exterior metal trim at Hacienda in Martinez
$122,000 for site improvements and exterior modernization at Las Deltas in North Richmond
$100,000 for exterior lighting repairs and metal roof replacement at Casa De Serena in Bay Point
$70,000 to enable on-site management offices at various properties
$40,000 for general site improvements at various properties
$40,000 for accessibility improvements at various properties
Housing Choice Voucher
Staff propose that a wait list preference be provided to all applicants who live or work in Contra Costa County.
Currently, a Board-approved waiting list preference is provided to applicants who live or work in HACCC’s
jurisdiction. For the housing choice voucher program, this encompasses all of Contra Costa County with the
exception of Pittsburg and Richmond. This selection preference causes confusion among applicants, which in turn
makes it more difficult for the data processing and computer vendors that conduct wait list openings for HACCC
to correctly rank applicants. Incorrect ranking of applicants can cause HACCC to receive lower SEMAP scores
and audit assessments than the agency would otherwise be entitled to. HACCC’s vendors and staff spend a
considerable amount of time on manual quality control to ensure the wait list data is correct. Significant cost
savings could be realized by changing HACCC’s local preference to encompass all of Contra Costa County. A
customer service goal would also be realized by making the local preference easier for applicants to understand.
HACCC manages a project-based voucher (PBV) program that has grown to nearly 500 units, many of which will
first become available for occupancy in the coming year. In order to efficiently serve clients and maintain steady
occupancy levels at the properties, HACCC will permit site-based wait lists at all PBV properties. A separate wait
list will be established and managed for each PBV property. Until a site-based list is established, HACCC and the
PBV property manager will use the centralized voucher wait list to fill empty units.
The site-based PBV units will use the same preferences as are used on HACCC’s centralized wait list with the
following additions:
Eligible “in-place families”, those living in a unit that converts to PBV assistance, will receive 200 ranking
points.
Eligible families from the centralized voucher wait list will receive 150 ranking points. These families will
not lose their place on the centralized voucher list.
In addition to HACCC’s local preference for applicants who live or work in Contra Costa, an additional
local preference of 32 points will be assigned to applicants who live or work in the city where the PBV
property is located.
A complete copy of the proposed PHA Plan and attachments as well as the Administrative Plan and ACOP are
available for review at HACCC’s main office.
FISCAL IMPACT
No direct financial impact.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION
Should the Board of Commissioners elect not to approve the PHA Plan, HACCC will be out of compliance with
HUD requirements and may not receive any funding via HUD’s Capital Fund program until the PHA Plan has
been submitted to, and approved by, HUD. HUD may also impose additional sanctions beyond the withholding of
Capital Fund moneys.
CLERK'S ADDENDUM
CLOSED the public hearing; and ADOPTED Resolution No. 5171 titled the "PHA Certification of
Compliance with the PHA Plans and Related Regulations Board Resolutions to Accompany the PHA Plan"
approving the Public Housing Agency (PHA) Annual Plan for fiscal year 2014/15 including revisions to the
Admissions and Continued Occupancy Plan and the Section 8 Administrative Plan.
ATTACHMENTS
Resolution No. 5171
Annual Plan Attachments