The Chief Procurement Officer and the Director of Housing and Community Development Department are requesting Council approval of an ordinance authorizing a contract between the City of Houston and Baker Ripley, Inc. providing up to $15,000,000.00 from the City’s Cares Act 2020 fund, as authorized by City Council by Ordinances 2020-361 & 2020-362, to provide rental assistance for Houstonians delinquent on April 2020 and May 2020 residential rental payments.
In order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by reducing both evictions and the new entries into homeless shelters and provide grants to landlords/small businesses to reimburse the costs of business interruption caused by required COVID-19 closures, Baker Ripley will provide up to $1,056 of rental assistance per month to qualified low-to-moderate income individuals who are delinquent on their monthly rental payment for April 2020 and/or May 2020 rent. This program is anticipated to fund a minimum of approximately 13,636 rental months and assist a minimum of approximately 6,818 households.
Landlords who participate in the program will agree to the following:
- Waive all late fees, penalties and interest for the two months;
- Allow tenants to enter a payment plan for any rent due in excess of $1,056; and
- Rescind any prior notice to vacate and halt any prior eviction proceedings for the two months.
In order to qualify, tenants must:
- Reside inside the City of Houston;
- Be late on residential rental payments for either or both of the two months;
- Be current on their rent for all months prior to April 2020;
- Affirm that their inability to pay is due to financial hardship resulting from the economic impact of COVID-19; and
- Have income less than 80 percent of the Area Median Income or qualify for one of the qualifying programs listed in the application (e.g. Medicaid, WIC, SNAP, Head Start, or VA Pension).
Contract funding is as follows:
Category Contract Amount_________Percentage
Program Administration $600,000.00 4%
Rental Assistance $14,400,000.00 96%
This recommendation is made pursuant to Chapter 252, Section 252.022 (a) (7) (A) “a procurement necessary to preserve or protect the public health or safety of the municipality’s residents” of the Texas Local Government Code for exempt procurement.
MWBE Participation:
OBO approves the waiver of an M/WBE goal on this procurement because, as per Chapter 15 of the Code of Ordinance, a waiver is appropriate when the service is non-divisible and/or a public or administrative emergency exists which requires the goods or services to be provided with unusual immediacy.
Pay or Play:
The contract requires compliance with the City’s Pay or Play Ordinance regarding health benefits for employees of City contractors. In this case, Contractor provides health benefits for eligible employees in compliance with City policy
Hire Houston First:
The proposed procurement may be funded by a federal grant; therefore, exempt from “Hire Houston First” (HHF) ordinance that promotes economic opportunity for Houston Businesses and supports job creation.
Disaster Note:
This item is related to the impact of COVID-19 and expenditures eligible to be paid under the federal funding source are subject to applicable requirements of the Federal Government related to the funding source
______________________________ ___________________________
Jerry Adams Tom McCasland, Director
Chief Procurement Officer Housing & Community Development Department