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Agenda Item

12 21-0093 Subject: Emergency Rental Assistance Funding From: Housing And Community Development Department Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution: 1) Accepting Emergency Rental Assistance Program ("ERAP") Funds In The Amount Of Twelve Million Eight Hundred Seventy Four Thousand Seven Hundred Sixty-Four Dollars ($12,874,764) Awarded By The United States Department Of The Treasury ("US Treasury") To The City Of Oakland ("City") To Provide Financial Assistance, Including Rental Assistance, And Housing Stability Services To Eligible Households Impacted By COVID-19; 2) Appropriating The Twelve Million Eight Hundred Seventy-Four Thousand Seven Hundred Sixty Four Dollars $12,874,764 In ERAP Funding From The US Treasury To Be Budgeted And Identified As One-Time Stimulus Funding In Fund 2071, Organization 89919, Project Code To Be Determined, Account 54011; 3) Authorizing The City Administrator Or Designee To Take All Steps Necessary For The City To Receive The ERAP Funds Awarded By The US Treasury, Including, But Not Limited To, Signing And Submitting The US Treasury Acceptance Of Award Terms Form, Without Returning To Council; 4) Awarding Grant Agreements For The Provision Of Rental Assistance To Eligible Households To Bay Area Community Services, Inc., Catholic Charities Of The Diocese Of Oakland, Doing Business As Catholic Charities East Bay, Centro Legal De La Raza, Inc. And Collective Legal Services - The Eviction Defense Center, A Non-Profit Law Corporation In A Total Amount Not To Exceed Nine Million Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($9,750,000); 5) Authorizing The City Administrator Or Designee To Select Additional ERAP Fund Sub-Recipients And To Award Grant Agreements To Said Sub-Recipients For The Provision Of Financial Assistance, Including Rental Assistance, And Housing Stability Services To Eligible Households, Without Returning To Council; And 6) Authorizing The City Administrator To Amend Grant Agreements Awarded Pursuant To This Resolution To Increase The Amount Of The Grants Or To Reallocate Funding Between Grants If Necessary, To Ensure Timely Expenditure Of ERAP Funds, Without Returning To Council

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    Betsy Schwarzwalder almost 4 years ago

    Dear City Council Members:

    My name is Betsy Schwarzwalder, I am Bay Area Community Services (BACS)' HR Director, and I am writing in support of Agenda Item 12 12-0093 today. I have been with BACS for close to a decade and every day feel so grateful and honored to work with such an amazing, dedicated group of employees who are so passionate and committed to the work they do with our participants. Our agency employs over 350 staff from the community, 80 percent of whom are people of color, and we have robust and competitive wages and amazing benefits. We have cut thousands of rent checks to help tenants stay housed, and we hope the City Council supports BACS' mission, which started in 1953 when the local Oakland churches banded together to form what is now BACS, the longest standing agency of this kind.

    Thank you for your consideration.