*Adopt and authorize submission of the FY 2024-25 Action Plan application for the Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnership, Emergency Solutions Grant, and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Programs to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Since 1995, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has required a single consolidated submission for the planning and application aspects of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), HOME Investment Partnerships, and Housing Opportunities for Persons with Aids (HOPWA) formula programs. The multi-year Consolidated Plan and annual Action Plans have replaced the Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS), the HOME program description, the Community Development Plan and the CDBG final statement, and the ESG and HOPWA applications. The City of Portland is the lead agency for the Consolidated Plan Consortium, which also includes the City of Gresham and Multnomah County. In accordance with HUD regulations, the Consolidated Plan Consortium is required to submit a Consolidated Plan every five years as a condition of receiving four Federal formula grants: Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnership Grant, Emergency Solution Grant, and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS. The Consolidated Plan contains a snapshot of the community’s housing and community development needs, identifies local priorities, and establishes the strategies each jurisdiction will use to address those priority needs. The Consolidated Plan also includes five-year numeric goals; each jurisdiction will be expected to measure its progress against those goals in the Consolidated Annual Performance Report (CAPER) filed in the fall. The 2021-2025 Consolidated Plan is the sixth five-year plan that was adopted in the fall of 2021. Consortium members also submit an annual Action Plan; Action Plan 2024-2025 is the fourth annual plan tied to the recently adopted Consolidated Plan and will be submitted this year as an application to the HUD entitlement programs. HUD regulations also require each Consortium receiving federal housing and community development funds to certify that it is affirmatively furthering fair housing. This requirement is guided by the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule. In 2020, HUD reduced the AFFH to simply an ongoing commitment toward fair housing for entitlement jurisdictions. Reverting that in April 2021, HUD released two interim rules: (1) restoration of AFFH and (2) reinstatement of the disparate impact rule. Subsequently, on February 9, 2023, HUD published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” [1] . The proposed rule would faithfully implement the Fair Housing Act’s statutory mandate to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH), which directs HUD to ensure that the agency and its program participants proactively take meaningful actions to overcome patterns of segregation, promote fair housing choice, eliminate disparities in opportunities, and foster inclusive communities free from discrimination. HUD will take the upcoming months to review public comments before making revisions and finalizing the rule. These rules will determine the nature of the required update to the Fair Housing Assessment and/or Analysis of Impediment (AI). For the Con Plan 2021-25, as per requirement, the Portland Consortium certified a commitment to furthering fair housing. Till the time the fair housing assessment is updated, the 2011 AI that describes the barriers to fair housing choice, which remain today, and includes recommendations for actions to address and eliminate them continues to remain the guiding document for affirmatively furthering fair housing. Most of these recommendations continue to be addressed by programs funded in the FY 2024-2025 Action Plan. The Consolidated Plan establishes local priorities, consistent with national objectives and priorities established by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to utilize funds allocated by CDBG, HOME, HOPWA, and ESG programs. Over the five years covered by the 2021-2025 Consolidated Plan over $75 million is expected to be available through these programs, including allocations and program income. Each federal funding source has specific program requirements that restrict eligible actions and projects. The Consolidated Plan and the annual Action Plans are required to be formatted to answer specific questions by HUD about how these federal funds will be spent. The federal program objectives and local housing goals to meet those objectives are listed below. CDBG Program Objectives : Provide decent housing; Create suitable living environments; Expand economic opportunity HOME Program Objectives: Expand the supply of decent, safe, sanitary, and affordable housing ESG Program Objective : Reduce and prevent homelessness HOPWA Program Objective : Provide housing for persons with HIV/AIDS Summary of the objectives and outcomes identified in the Consolidated Plan As determined in the Needs Assessment and Market Analysis included in this plan, the three broad needs and goals identified are described below: CONSORTIUM NEEDS ASSOCIATED GOALS 1. Affordable housing choice: The community needs safe housing, in good condition for all residents. Projects accomplishing this goal include home repair, down payment assistance, new housing development support, affordable housing development, rental housing rehabilitation and permanent supportive housing. 1. Increase and preserve affordable housing choice in ways that promote racial equity 2. Basic services & homeless prevention/intervention: There is a pressing need in the community to prevent and reduce homelessness and increasing stability for all residents. Projects accomplishing this goal include interventions across a broad spectrum, such as: supportive and emergency services, transitional housing, shelters, homelessness prevention through service interventions, Housing First models, Fair Housing enforcement and education, cultural and population appropriate program delivery and activities to increase self-sufficiency, e.g., job training, employment readiness and education. 2. Reduce and prevent homelessness in ways that can mitigate overrepresentation of BIPOC communities 3. Community and economic development: The community needs improvements to area infrastructure, facilities, economic opportunities, and economic development. Programs to improve employment outcomes and household economic stability include employment training, referral, and self-sufficiency, and economic enhancement programs. Projects will also support micro-enterprises and business development, as well as, public facilities, parks, and transportation improvements. 3. Improve livability through Infrastructure, employment, and anti-poverty strategies [1] Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing

This annual Action Plan FY 2024-2025 will bring just under $14.5 million in federal grant resources for the referenced fiscal year for housing, homelessness prevention, and community economic development. The Consolidated Plan identifies three investment goals for federal funds. These three goals are: Affordable housing choice (Need); Increase and preserve affordable housing choice (Goal) Basic services & homeless prevention/intervention (Need); Reduce and prevent homelessness, including mitigating the overrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color experiencing housing instability (Goal) Community and economic development (Need); Improve livability and promote economic development in low and moderate-income areas by investing in community infrastructure, employment training, and anti-poverty strategies for area residents (Goal) Grant Amount Entitlement Area Community Development Block Grant $8,389,797.00 City of Portland HOME Investment Partnership Program $3,226,728.28 Portland HOME Consortium Emergency /Solutions Grant $743,275.00 City of Portland Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS $2,124,392.00 City of Portland for EMSA (Clackamas, Clark, Columbia, Multnomah, Skamania, Washington, and Yamhill Counties) Matching funds estimated to equal $806,682.07 are required for the HOME program. HUD requires a 25% match from entitlement jurisdictions. The members of the HOME Consortium each contribute their pro rata share of the match. Key sources of the match include local Tax Increment funds; local General Funds; grant funds from the State Housing Trust Fund, the value of below-market financing using the Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit; the value of the donated property and donated labor; the value of property tax exemptions for low- and moderate-income home ownership properties developed in distressed neighborhoods; the value of property tax exemptions for low‑ and moderate-income rental housing owned by charitable nonprofits and rented to income-qualified tenants; the value of property tax exemptions for low- and moderate-income housing developed under the New Multi-Unit Housing program; the value of building permit fee waivers and system development charge waivers; and the value of contributions from charitable and corporate sources. Federal regulations do not require a General Fund match for the HOME grant. Notably, an excess match of $26,365,745.03 has been carried over from past fiscal years. Consequently, the City of Portland has a surplus match available for the upcoming fiscal year and beyond. Dollar-for-dollar matching funds are required for the ESG program. The source of the $743,275 match is expected to be the General Fund allocated in the Portland Housing Bureau budget to Housing Access & Stabilization programs benefitting people experiencing homelessness.

This annual Action Plan for the fiscal year 2024-2025 was prepared during a time when Portland Consortium continues to transition from the COVID-19 Pandemic era. Consequently, the City of Portland has relied on hybrid (in-person & Zoom) hearings, routine advisory committee meetings, and online surveys for soliciting public comments. Additionally, the Consortium makes available around the year ‘Comment Card’ to submit comments. Further, the comment card has been translated into four different safe harbor languages: Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Russian, and Vietnamese based on the Consortium language access guidance. Similarly, the City of Portland has relied on over-the-phone consultations, inputs from multiple task forces convened to address the needs created by public health emergencies, and ongoing feedback from area service providers and various regional partners. In addition to the survey opportunities, the city of Portland held a hybrid Zoom Hearing in Summer 2024 to share the highlights from the Consolidated Plan and Action Plan. Community residents also get an opportunity to offer comments at the respective City Council Hearings for Gresham and Portland and the Oversight Board for Multnomah County. The meetings were advertised in widely circulating dailies and through the gov delivery email blast. Draft plans were made available online along with the option to avail paper version upon request. Calendar of events for the annual Action Plan FY 2024-2025 Activity Date Community Needs Meeting City of Gresham & Multnomah County Nov 16, 2023 Multnomah County CDBG Action Plan Public Hearing (CDBG Policy Advisory Board) April 24, 2024 City of Gresham Hearing (Community Development & Housing Subcommittee) May 30, 2024 City of Gresham Council July 2, 2024 City of Portland Action Plan FY 2024-2025 Community Hearing July 9, 2024 City of Portland Council July 31, 2024 This Action Plan responds to testimony regarding the need to protect the interests of renters, especially low-income renters, renters of color, and all other protected class groups. The majority of public comments have been about hardships imposed by the public health emergency, the ongoing economic turmoil including but not limited to decades of high inflation, the plight of the population experiencing homelessness, the continued lack of affordable housing options of all types and in all locations throughout Multnomah County. As an expression of the focus on racial disparities across the nation and in the Portland Metro area, residents have brought up exacerbated inequities experienced by the BIPOC population. A summary of comments received thus far includes eviction risk, economic instability, decreasing supply of homes for sale, increasing rents, housing discrimination, scarcity of living wage jobs, and lack of financial support for small businesses. Displacement risk for low-income residents to areas with fewer amenities continues to be a problem. As another impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, area residents also noted a spike in mental health services needed, as the pandemic has negatively impacted community members’ mental health, especially children and teens struggling with impacts from distance learning. Strategies suggested included culturally specific housing services tailored to the needs of these populations, reducing screening barriers, and increasing household incomes. The public involvement process is contained in the Citizen Participation Plan (CPP) and is a part of the 2021-2025 Consolidated Plan. The community participation process for this annual Action Plan follows the CPP guidelines and the HUD entitlement program waivers regarding public participation. Other Government Participation Government partners and stakeholders solicited in the creation of this plan emphasized the need for housing and services that will serve the low-income households in the jurisdiction and also emphasized the need to serve the needs of the population experiencing homelessness. Serving the needs of populations with added vulnerabilities such as physical or mental health problems, age, children, race, sex, gender, domestic violence, ethnicity, and immigration status was also brought up. Partner agencies also noted how health, housing, and household prosperity and stability are interrelated.