The American Rescue Plan was signed into law on March 11, 2021 to provide federal funding to address the ongoing impact of the COVID Pandemic. To address these needs, Congress allocated ARP funding to be administered by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) as part of the department’s Home Investment Partnership (HOME) Program, to address qualifying populations to include homeless individuals and families, persons at risk of homelessness, and other vulnerable populations at risk of homelessness.
HUD notified the City of Independence that, pending an approved HOME-ARP Allocation Plan, it would allocated $1,684,853 in HOME-ARP funding. HUD released the final HOME-ARP Implementation Notice that established the HOME-ARP Requirements. This Implementation Notice outlined the HOME-ARP allocation plan must include:
· A summary of the consultation process and results of upfront consultation;
· A summary of comments received through the public participation process and a summary of any comments or recommendations not accepted and the reasons why;
· A description of HOME-ARP qualifying populations within the jurisdiction;
· An assessment of unmet needs of each qualifying population;
· An assessment of gaps in housing and shelter inventory, homeless assistance and services, and homelessness prevention service delivery system;
· A summary of the planned use of HOME-ARP funds for eligible activities based on the unmet needs of the qualifying populations;
· An estimate of the number of housing units for qualifying populations the PJ will produce or preserve with its HOME-ARP allocation; and
· A description of any preferences for individuals and families in a particular qualifying population or a segment of a qualifying population.
The City’s consultation process included agencies and service providers whose clientele include the HOME-ARP qualifying populations to identify unmet needs and gaps in housing or service delivery systems. In addition to this consultation, the City hosted two (2) public meetings to provide for and encourage citizen participation in the development of the HOME-ARP allocation plan.
After consultation and receiving input from stakeholders as well as conducting statistical research, the City developed this draft HOME-ARP Allocation Plan describing planned activities to address the qualified target group clientele noted above. The City also provided copies of this plan in seven (7) locations for the public to access during the public comment period.
The Allocation Plan has been developed in accordance with the HUD requirements for the use of HOME-ARP Funds. The Allocation Plan is required to be submitted to HUD on or before March 31, 2023.