Motion authorizing submittal of the Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER) for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program.

Public hearing followed by motion authorizing submittal of the CAPER.

On June 8, 2020, the City Council adopted the City of Mankato 2020–2024 Consolidated Plan for utilization of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding. The plan details how the expected funding will be used in conformance with CDBG guidelines. The third funding year of this plan ended on June 30, 2023. The federal regulations that govern the CDBG program require two public hearings every year. The purpose of the first hearing is to review the Action Plan for the coming year and the Consolidated Plan (when applicable), which was held by the City Council on May 8, 2023. The purpose of the second hearing is to review the program performance for the previous year, which is the subject of the requested action and summarized in a standardized format referred to as the Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report or CAPER. Staff has completed the CAPER and it is attached.
  
The 2022 program year operated from July 1, 2022 and ended June 30, 2023. Activities completed during the 2022 program year included activities committed from prior program years and include the following:
 

• Public Service grants were provided benefitting low to moderate income households to help meet the identified needs of health services, subsistence payments, food support, homeless shelter operations, COVID-19 outreach and education of special needs groups.
   
  • The Equity Network produced COVID-19 outreach toolkits that were available in multiple languages and included sanitizer, mask and information about COVID-19. MY Place increased their operating hours to better serve the needs of students during the pandemic. ECHO Food Shelf used CDBG-CV funds for sanitizing/disinfecting carts and the facility to assist with preventing COVID-19 and for additional staff hours that increased in response to COVID-19. Connections Shelter used CDBG-CV funds for cleaning supplies to prevent COVID-19 and additional staffing coverage costs while volunteers and staff were quarantined with COVID-19. Feeding Our Communities Partners purchased food for food packs that contained breakfast, lunch and a snack for each day of the weekend or school break for low-income elementary school children to provide hunger relief when school isn't in session. Minnesota State University, Mankato provided comprehensive dental exams for low-income individuals. Subsistence payments were made to landlords for past due rent benefitting low income households to prevent eviction and homelessness.
• Public facility rehabilitation was completed on a homeless shelter.
• Owner-occupied housing rehabilitation was completed on four dwelling units. This activity assisted with preserving the city's affordable housing stock, removal of lead-based paint hazards and improving the living conditions for low to moderate income households.

 
Goals that were not met for the 2022 program year include the following:

• Affordable housing had a goal of creating or preserving up to 100 affordable housing units. While there weren't projects completed during the 2022 program year for this goal, there are two pending affordable housing projects which are anticipated to begin by late 2023, which will result in the creation of 64 affordable units (Lewis Lofts) and preservation of 87 affordable units (Walnut Towers).
• Park improvements had the goal of providing improvements to a neighborhood park. Improvements to Erlandson Park are pending, which will include replacement of playground equipment. It’s anticipated the improvements will be undertaken by spring 2024. This activity will help improve the quality of life for residents.

Activities planned that are underway, but not yet complete include:

• Ten owner-occupied housing rehabilitation projects are currently underway which will improve living conditions for low to moderate income households.
• Two rental housing rehabilitation projects are currently underway which will improve living conditions for low to moderate income households.
• Public service grants for childcare, food support and COVID-19 vaccination clinics.
• Subsistence payments for past due rent and utilities to prevent eviction and/or cutoff of utility services and to ensure stability in the housing of residents experiencing temporary economic hardship.

The following table shows the Action Plan for the 2022 program year, including the funds obligated and spent during the program year.

 

Activity Goals for the 2022 Program year	Obligated	Disbursed	Encumbered	Unencumbered Balance
Affordable housing Shelter and Supportive Housing Project Low Income Housing Tax Credit project (reserved for successful application)	$200,000	$0	$200,000	$0
Park Improvements	$111,768	$0	$111,768	$0
Administration	$31,500	$9,970.26	$0	$21,529.74
Public Services	$60,576	$29,713	$30,863	$0

Public service activities were conducted during the 2022 program year, but the activities weren’t closed during the 2022 program year as payments were pending or staff were waiting for documentation to make payment to the public service provider. The unencumbered balance reflects areas where projects came in less than the allocated amount and these funds are then rolled into a future program year. The city has a total of eight years to expend funds from each program year.
 
The CAPER was posted for public comment on August 9, 2023 and will run through September 9, 2023. Any public comments received will be reported at the time of the public hearing on September 11, 2023.