San Bernardino offers federal grants for housing, addressing homelessness

The city of San Bernardino is seeking grant applicants for around $3 million in funding for housing and homelessness projects, officials announced Tuesday. 

Money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grants, Emergency Solutions Grants and Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation Programs seeks to bolster local housing supplies and efforts to address homelessness. San Bernardino officials said the city anticipates receiving approximately $2.7 million in CDBG funds and $270,000 in ESGs.

San Bernardino’s CDBG program can finance “eligible community and economic development activities and fair housing,” according to a city statement. Eligible projects are required to fulfill one of the three “national objectives,” according to city officials: 

“1) principally benefit low- and moderate-income people, 2) eliminate slums and blight, and 3) meet an urgent need. The types of projects and programs that may be considered for funding, subject to national objectives compliance, are … construction and rehabilitation of publicly owned facilities; improvements to public and private buildings to make them accessible to people with disabilities; and infrastructure improvements to include sidewalks, street, drainage, and water and sewer systems.”

Emergency Solutions Grants aim to help individuals and families quickly regain stability in permanent housing after experiencing homelessness or crises, officials said. ESG-eligible efforts include street outreach, emergency shelter, homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing assistance and data collection via the Homeless Management Information System.

The Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation is a forgivable loan program designed to assist low-income residents with home repairs and improvements that meet the city’s health and safety code regulations. “This may include administration of the program and/or undertaking rehabilitation efforts,” the city statement said. 

Qualified OORP applicants include community housing development organizations, for-profit and nonprofit developers and construction companies.

Additional information is available on the city’s website sbcity.org.

Applications are due no later than Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. Officials instructed applicants to apply using the Participant Portal at the Neighborly website, portal.neighborlysoftware.com/ sanbernardinoca/Participant.

Applicants who need special assistance may email Barbara Garcia, CDBG coordinator, at housing@sbcity.org.

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