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Emergency Rental Assistance Program Spending Plan & Appropriation Adjustment <br />February 16, 2021 <br />Page 4 <br />4 <br />1 <br />9 <br />Our CARES for Tenants Program already conforms to the new statutory requirements of <br />the ERAP funds. The components that staff need to add to the program to conform <br />includes the following: <br />Provision to allow for payments directly to tenants if a landlord does not agree to <br />accept such payment from the City after the City documents outreach to the <br />landlord. <br />A prioritization (sorting of existing applications) for very low-income families who <br />earn less than 50 percent of the area median income. <br />A requirement to ensure that the City’s payment goes towards the family’s rental <br />arrears first before current or future rent. <br />A requirement that a family demonstrate a risk of homelessness or housing <br />instability by providing a past due utility or rent notice; a self-certification of current <br />housing-cost burden; a self-certification of doubling or tripling up with other <br />households; and/or a rent ledger from the landlord documenting an accumulation <br />of rent. <br />A current requirement in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) published by the <br />Department of Treasury to verify the income of each family we assist as opposed to <br />allowing the family to self-certify their income. (There is an effort by housing advocacy <br />organizations across the country to recommend the Department of Treasury change this <br />requirement to reduce the administrative burden on grantees and <br />participants. Preliminary indications show that the Department is going to update the <br />FAQs to respond to this recommendation.) <br />Staff is attaching the draft Program Guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions for the <br />CARES for Tenants Program that has been revised to conform with the new ERAP <br />funding (Exhibit 5 and 6). The Program Guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions are <br />provided in redline format for City Council to see what provisions were changed in order <br />to comply with this new source of one-time emergency rental assistance funding. The <br />draft Program Guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions are subject to further revision <br />by staff as needed in response to this pandemic. <br />This spending plan will be successful to assist as many families as possible if there are <br />no major changes to the application requirements that would require staff to relaunch a <br />new application process for our residents. This spending plan will allow us to assist an <br />additional 1,616 families with emergency rental relief. For families that have already <br />received assistance in the amount of $3,000, those families will be able to recertify for <br />additional assistance up to the $5,500 of assistance per family. This will change staff’s <br />projection of how many new families we will be able assist with these funds. <br />State Allocation for the City of Santa Ana <br />On January 28, 2021, the California Legislature passed the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act <br />(SB 91), extending eviction protections through June 30, 2021 and creating a mechanism