Monrovia City Council Approves Proposal for Block Grant Funding Allocation

At Tuesday’s meeting, the Monrovia City Council approved staff’s proposal for the Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Response Supplement (CDBG-CV) funding.

The CommunityDevelopment Block Grant (CDBG) Program is part of the Housing and CommunityDevelopment act and is meant to improve the quality of life for people of lowto moderate incomes in low-income census tract areas, aid in the prevention ofneighborhood deterioration, and meet other urgent community development needsthrough funding to local communities.

The Los AngelesCounty Development Authority (LACDA) administers CDBG funding fornon-entitlement cities with a population less than 50,000. Monroviaparticipates in LACDA and receives an annual allotment of CDBG funds. Monroviautilizes this money to fund a portion of the Code Enforcement program as well asproviding Home Improvement Grants to income qualified property owners.

On March 27, the CARESAct was signed into law, which includes $5 billion in additional CDBG funds to dealwith the COVID-19 pandemic. As a direct allocation, $2 billion of the $5billion goes to state and local governments. The City of Monrovia has beenallocated $127,380 from the $13,668,315 received by LACDA. These additionalfunds can be used immediately to assist low to moderate income individuals andhouseholds who have been impacted by COVID-19. The city must be spent by Sept.30, 2022.

While there is noshortage of needs in the community, four programs were identified by staff toutilize the CDBG-CV supplemental funding to provide assistance to Monrovia’svulnerable and low-moderate income residents. The proposed programs include:

• $60,000 to assistrenters.
• $20,000 to assistresidents with utility payments.
• $20,000 for theSan Gabriel Valley Volunteer Center to assist with the Meals on Wheels program.
• $20,000 forFoothill Unity Center to assist with food costs.

Programs that provide direct assistancemust ensure that recipients meet the income restrictions set by the U.S.Department of Housing and Urban Development. The rental and utility assistance programswill be managed by the Community Development Department. This will be administeredsimilar to the Home Improvement Grant Program.

Foothill Unity Center has an incomequalification system in place to ensure assistance is directed towards low to moderateincome residents. However, the San Gabriel Valley Volunteer Center does notcurrently base its services on income. Therefore, city staff will assist thecenter to incorporate income qualification into their process to ensure that CDBGfunds are utilized in accordance with the funding guidelines.

City staff iscurrently in the infant stages of preparing for this new. Additional detailswill be released soon by the city. 

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