The City of Irvine has announced plans earlier this month to allocate $2,581,977 in funding toward nonprofit organizations in the area that provide homelessness relief, as the second round of CARES Act grants are distributed to municipalities across the nation.
The funding will be going towards organizations including: Affordable Housing Clearinghouse, Families Forward, Interval House, Mercy House, Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA), Projects Self-Sufficiency, South County Outreach and StandUp for Kids.
This funding is part of the second round of the Emergency Solutions Grant-Coronavirus program (ESG-CV). This program, enacted under the Coronavirus Aid and Relief Economic Stimulus (CARES) Act, specifically provides economic stimulus to state and local governments to address the issue of homelessness in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Homelessness was a major issue in some cities across our Nation long before this pandemic occurred, and unfortunately the dire living conditions of our most vulnerable Americans left many without a home to isolate in or proper medical and healthcare resources to defend themselves against this invisible enemy,” Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson said in a June press release. “This increased funding to help provide for our homeless will make a difference now as we combat the coronavirus and inform long-term, innovative solutions for addressing homelessness in the future.”
The City of Irvine dedicated these funds to expanding homelessness alleviation efforts, directly distributing it to “homeless service providers.” Organizations that provide such services had through Aug. 12 to apply for the grants through the program.
“The purpose of the ESG/ESG-CV2 program is to comprehensively address homelessness through funding for street outreach, emergency shelter, emergency shelter operations, essential services, rapid re-housing and homelessness prevention while preventing, preparing for and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Irvine Housing Administrator, Charles Kovac, said in a letter to Irvine City Council requesting approval of the funding plan.
The city received $2,927,391 in funding from ESG-CV2 in June, most of which was distributed to nonprofit organizations specializing in homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing. According to a policy brief from the City of Irvine, $292,739 of ESG-CV2 funds were allocated for program administration, $52,675 was allocated to the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and the entire remainder of $2,581,977 was allocated to funding the nonprofit organizations.
Nonprofit organizations were encouraged to apply for funding on the City of Irvine website. The submitted proposals from each organization and program amount to a total of $2,086,977 in requested funding, leaving $495,000 of the city’s $2,581,977 unallocated. The city’s plan distributes the remaining funds evenly among all the organizations.
News of COVID-19 hit the U.S. in early March, forcing many businesses to shut down or lay off their workers. The CARES Act, enacted by Congress on March 27, allocated $2.2 trillion in response to the virus’s economic impact, providing supplemental funds to individuals as well as state and local governments.
The CARES Act initially allotted $2 billion for ESG-CV, from which the City of Irvine received $558,059 during the first round of distribution. This funding was given to two nonprofit organizations, Families Forward and South County Outreach, that offer short term rental assistance and homelessness prevention measures.
Amy Duong is a City News Intern for the 2020 fall quarter. She can be reached at amynd@uci.edu.
