REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Waive First Reading and take Action on the Introduction of Ordinance to Amend Chapter 2.120, Entitled Boards and Commissions, to Update Boards and Commission Members Qualifications and Create the City's Housing Commission and Establish the Powers, Functions, and Duties of the Commission; Direction About the Formation of a Homelessness Taskforce (Deferred from November 9, 2021)
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Promote and Enhance Economic, Housing and Transportation Development
BACKGROUND
On February 5, 2019, the City Council approved a broad restructuring of City Committees including the City's Housing Rehabilitation Loan Committee (HRLC). The primary function of the HRLC was to review proposed loans to finance rehabilitation work on housing occupied by low-income residents in Santa Clara as part of the City's Neighborhood Conservation and Improvement Program (NCIP) administered by the Community Development Department, Housing and Neighborhood Services Division.
As part of the restructuring of the HRLC the City removed the councilmember position from the committee. At that time, staff noted that the HRLC's scope did not require a Council Committee to consider loan approvals since these approvals are administrative in nature and funding for the NCIP has already been approved by the City Council in the annual appropriation of the budget. In review of the legislative history for the HRLC, the City never adopted a City Code to establish this committee and thus loan approvals are now strictly administrative and approved by an administrative staff credit committee.
At the February 10, 2020 Governance and Ethics Committee meeting, the Committee inquired about restructuring and renaming the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Committee (HRLC) to a Housing Commission and noted that a name change may be appropriate given the Council Committee restructuring that was approved by the Council in 2019.
At the September 14, 2020 Governance and Ethics Committe...
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