REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: GEORGEANNE A. WHITE, City Manager
Office of the Mayor & City Manager
BY: KELLI FURTADO, Chief of Staff
Office of the Mayor & City Manager
SUBJECT
Title
Actions related to the One Fresno Housing Strategy to address the production of new housing and leveraging adaptive reuse opportunities:
1. ***RESOLUTION - Adopting the 22nd Amendment to the Annual Appropriation Resolution (AAR) No. 2022-154 Appropriating $175,000 for One Fresno Housing Strategy Related Activities (Requires 5 Affirmative Votes) (Subject to Mayor’s Veto)
2. Affirm the City Manager’s Finding that LeSar Support Services is Uniquely Qualified
3. Approve a Consultant Agreement with LeSar Support Services for $175,000 to Provide Consultant and Grant Writing Services
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council approve a consultant agreement with LeSar Support Services for an amount not to exceed $175,000 for the term of the agreement through June 30, 2023, for consulting and grant writing technical assistance services.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Office of the Mayor and City Manager seeks City Council approval of a professional services agreement with LeSar Support Services, a firm specializing in housing policy and grant writing services. The proposed agreement will allow the City of Fresno (City) to apply for a highly competitive funding source announced by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in December 2022, focused on strategic investments that can quickly provide housing at scale and catalyze economic opportunity. In addition to grant writing services, LeSar Support Services (LeSar) will also provide technical assistance and interface with HCD to ensure Fresno meets the many density, unit-count, unit-mixture, and other eligibility requirements. LeSar is uniquely qualified to provide these services in a timely fashion and ensure the City’s applications are competitive as part of HCD’s expedited two-stage process, with deadlines of January 31, 2023, and March 2023.
BACKGROUND
Beginning in 2021, the LeSar Support Services team worked with the Governor’s housing team, and three regions of California to craft a conceptual funding program to implement LeSar’s Affordable Housing Scaling Strategy, a scalable approach to achieving housing affordability utilizing a five-point strategy to control cost and leverage resources. The conceptual program was moved forward exclusively by the Governor’s office through negotiations with the state legislature.
In early December 2022, HCD issued a memo to potential applicants, announced the IIGC funding opportunity, which provides Fresno with the opportunity to apply for funding in 2023; funds must be used by 2027. HCD will open a grant portal on December 29, 2022, announcing the Catalytic Qualifying Infill Area Program guidelines for Phase I. Qualified jurisdictions will develop and submit Concept Proposals by no later than January 31, 2023, an approximate 30-day window. Next, HCD will release a Notice of Funding Availability in February 2023, detailing programmatic requirements and specific scoring criteria. Only applicants deemed eligible in Phase I will be invited to submit an application for Phase II. Again, HCD’s published timeline indicates that there will be an approximate 30-day timeline to submit Phase II applications.
On December 16, 2022, HCD provided a webinar with additional information related to the funding opportunity. It was announced that over 200 individuals were in attendance, underlining the high interest in the IIGC. Staff participated in the webinar and learned more about the threshold guidelines, eligible use of funds, selection criteria, and much more.
Large jurisdictions such as Fresno, can apply for up to $45 million of the Infill Infrastructure Grant Catalytic Qualifying Infill Area (IIGC). If awarded, grant funds are to be used as gap funding for infrastructure and adaptive reuse improvements necessary for specific residential or mixed-use infill developments. The Administration plans to evaluate and focus on infrastructure and adaptive reuse improvements in Downtown Fresno to scale from 3,000 to 10,000 residents. Downtown Fresno meets the IIGC threshold requirements, has streamlined zoning and land use regulations, encourages the acceleration of housing production by allowing housing development to occur ministerially, and has significant potential for developing housing at scale. A successful grant award would support the infrastructure needed for higher density residential development.
A total of $105 million is available for the State of California’s 2022-23 fiscal year, $90 million of which is dedicated to large jurisdictions. HCD estimates the maximum award for large jurisdictions will be $45 million and the minimum is $15 million, based on this information there are expected to be between two to six large jurisdiction awardees, respectively. The maximum grant amount will be determined through a calculation of the total number of housing units proposed within the identified Catalytic Qualifying Infill Area, the room count of these units, and the density and affordability of the proposed housing.
LeSar Support Services proposes to work in phases mirroring the HCD phases. Phase I is dedicated to preparing and submitting a Concept Proposal, inventorying available land, and identifying eligible and strategic plots in Downtown Fresno. Submitting the Concept Proposal by January 31, 2023, is included in Phase I. Phase II will include implemented should Fresno be invited by HCD to submit a Phase II grant proposal. Notification of this determination by HCD is expected in February 2023, with a 30-day timeframe to submit a full proposal in March 2023.
According to HCD, many former commercial and underutilized areas have significant potential for developing housing at scale but lack the infrastructure necessary to support higher density residential development. In addition to vacant infill parcels, the IIGC proposals may include industrial, vacant or underutilized structures. If awarded, HCD grant funds are to be used as gap funding for infrastructure and adaptive reuse improvements necessary for specific residential or mixed-use infill developments.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
This item is not a project as defined by CEQA.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local Preference was not implemented because LeSar Support Services is uniquely qualified.
FISCAL IMPACT
The source of funding for the agreement is American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funding. An appropriation of $40 million dollars in ARPA funds was made as part of the adoption of the fiscal year 2023 City Budget. The General Fund is not impacted.
Attachments:
Annual Appropriation Resolution
Uniquely Qualified Memo
Consultant Agreement - LeSar Support Services