Attached is the public hearing draft of the CAPER for Program Year (PY) 5, Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-2020, for the City of Sparks.  Each year, the City of Sparks is required to prepare and submit a CAPER to HUD.  Submission of the CAPER is a condition of receiving federal CDBG and HOME funding from HUD.  The City of Sparks receives HOME funding as a member of the WCHC, which is comprised of City of Reno, Washoe County, and the City of Sparks.  The City of Reno serves as the lead agency for the WCHC, and the City of Sparks and Washoe County are Participating Jurisdictions.  The City of Sparks must do the following three things to comply with HUD requirements: 

1. Conduct a fifteen-day public comment period for the CAPER.  However, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, HUD reduced the required public comment period to five days.
2. Conduct at least one public hearing.
3. Submit the CAPER to HUD. HUD extended the deadline to December 31, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CAPER provides an overview of how the City of Sparks expended CDBG funding, as well as how the WCHC spent HOME funds, and reviews City and WCHC community development and affordable housing accomplishments during PY 5, FY 2019-2020.  More specifically, the document provides a brief description of Sparks’s and the WCHC’s HUD-funded programs, including information on the projects undertaken during the prior year, the amount of funding expended, accomplishments achieved using grant and other funds, and a general assessment of progress made on the City's and WCHC's goals as specified in the Five-Year Consolidated Plan.  The Five-Year Consolidated Plan serves as a planning tool for implementation of community wide initiatives, goals, and priorities.  The CAPER is a programmatic review and done in addition to the City’s annual financial audit.

For FY 2019-2020, the City of Sparks received $691,196 in new CDBG funds.   The City committed 15 percent ($103,679) of its FY 2019-2020 CDBG allocation to provide funding support for the Community Assistance Center (CAC), a homeless shelter complex located on East Fourth Street in Reno.  The CAC is specifically used to serve the population of men experiencing homelessness in the region.  Additionally, the City supplemented the CDBG funds it provided to support the CAC with $176,526 from its general fund.

In FY 2019-20, the City of Sparks also allocated CDBG funds as follows:

A total of $104,115 for Planning and Administrative activities. An additional $90,000 was used for Housing Rehabilitation Administration activities to provide loans and grants to the Sparks community.

Up to $85,000 in Program Income (i.e., money paid back from previous loans) to support its Single-Family, Homeowner-Occupied Housing Rehabilitation Deferred Loan Program.

Up to $20,000 of new grant funding for the City’s Emergency Repair Grant Program.The maximum grant allowable under the Emergency Repair Grant program is $2,500 per household.  The applicant must meet the income guideline requirement of 60% or less of Area Median Income (AMI) as established by HUD.  These grants may only be obtained when conditions of the home affect the quality of life, health, and safety of household occupants (e.g., roof repairs, electrical improvements, plumbing repairs, etc.).

New CDBG grant funds in the amount of $228,271 for FY 2019-2020, plus an additional $75,000 in rollover funds for a total community investment of $303,271 for pedestrian improvements.These improvements were undertaken in the areas of D Street and16^th Street and along the eastern side of 15^th Street adjacent to the Sparks High School athletic fields (see Exhibit 1).  The work performed primarily consisted of removing and replacing concrete curb, gutter, and sidewalks; installing accessibility ramps and driveway approaches; and street repairs as necessary.

CDBG planning and administration funds in the amount of $17,648 to support the work of the Reno Alliance for the Homeless (RAH) on the Continuum of Care (CoC) planning and funding process. Also, the City of Sparks and the City of Reno jointly provided the sum of $50,000 ($25,000 each) to the Silver State Fair Housing Council to further fair housing initiatives and efforts throughout the region.

The WCHC uses HOME funds from HUD as well as other affordable housing funding sources to foster the development of affordable rental and for-sale housing in the region.  While no new HOME funding was earmarked specifically for projects in Sparks during FY 2019-2020, the WCHC invested upwards of $4,480,000 in various affordable housing projects in Reno and unincorporated Washoe County.

HUD’s CDBG regulations as well as the City’s HUD-approved Citizen Participation Plan (CPP) require a public comment period for the CAPER of at least 15 days. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, HUD granted a waiver of this requirement and a shorter public comment period of five days was allowed.

The City’s notice of the availability of the draft CAPER was published on November 6, 2020, in the Reno Gazette-Journal.  The public comment period began on November 6, 2020, and concludes with the City Council's public hearing on December 14, 2020.  On November 10, 2020, a meeting was held online via the Zoom platform to allow for public comment and input.  No public comment was received at the meeting. Any public comment received at the City Council's public hearing on December 14, 2020, will be documented and addressed in the CAPER submitted to HUD.

1. City Council may approve submittal of the CAPER to HUD as presented.
2. City Council may reject the CAPER and give further direction to the City Manager.

I move to approve the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) for Program Year 5, Fiscal Year 2019-2020, for the City of Sparks for submittal to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.