AgdaPkt 2020-04-06 Special - Laserfiche WebLink

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S.A. - Page 13 of 21 Federal Stimulus Package On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) which includes several funding provisions that could benefit Redwood City residents. • Recovery Rebates for Individuals — Adults residents who have an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less will receive a $1,200 one-time refundable tax credit. For each child age 16 or under, the credit will be an additional $500. Married couples with no children earning $150,000 or less will receive a total of $2,400. The credit decreases until it phases out altogether for individuals earning $99,000 or married people who have no children and earn $198,000. This tax credit is not available to residents who are undocumented. • Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) The CARES Act includes a $5 billion allocation to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. o $2 billion will be allocated to entitlement jurisdictions based on the existing CDBG allocation formula. The City will receive approximately $448,000, in addition to the $761,626 the City is receiving for its FY 2020-2021 allocation. o $1 billion will be allocated to states and insular areas o $2 billion will be allocated to states and local jurisdictions based on an allocation formula to be developed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The allocation formula will take into consideration COVID-19 related factors such as risk of transmission, number of cases compared to the national average, and economic and housing market disruptions resulting from coronavirus. The City may receive additional funding under this formula however the amount is unknown at this time. The CARES Act also suspends or reduces some of the CDBG regulations to allow for greater flexibility and expedited use of funds. o The Action Plan submission deadline has been extended from May 15 to August 16, 2020. In order to utilize this new funding, the City will likely either need to amend its FY 2019- 20 Action Plan or incorporate the funding into its upcoming FY 2020-21 Action Plan. o HUD is allowing reduced citizen participation requirements including a five-day public comment period for the Action Plan instead of a 30 -day comment period and a waiver of the in-person public hearing requirements. Virtual public hearings will be allowed. The City will need to submit a waiver to HUD to receive these reduced citizen participation requirements. o The CDBG regulations limit the City to only spending 15% of its annual allocation on public service activities (e.g. safety net services, homeless services, legal services, emergency rental assistance, etc.). However, the CARES Act suspends the public service spending cap for the new CDBG funding as well as the City's fiscal year 2019 and 2020 CDBG allocations. Staff is awaiting further guidance from HUD and is exploring how the City can use CDBG funding to expand emergency rental assistance funding for low-income residents impacted by COVID-19. Unemployment Insurance Expansion The State Employment Development Department (EDD) has reviewed the federal CARES Act and is currently awaiting further guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor in order to implement the various provisions of the newly created "Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program". The focus of this new program is to fill the gap between the average paycheck and state unemployment benefits. It will provide eligible employees an extra $600 per week in unemployment benefits in addition to what they are eligible Page 13 of 21 City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org 16