Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the City Clerk to modify a contract with Homes on the Hill Community Development Corporation, a non-profit corporation, in support of their Housing Counseling Program. Ordinance 1838-2024 authorized the City Clerk to enter into a grant agreement with Homes on the Hill Community Development Corporation in the amount of $100,000.00 to help families in need of affordable housing. This is accomplished through education and financial coaching. The goals are to help participating families either improve their rental home conditions, purchase their first homes, or save their homes from foreclosure. The grantee needs more time to complete the scope of services outlined in the original grant agreement (attached). Therefore, this legislation authorizes the City Clerk to amend the original grant agreement to expire on Dec. 31, 2025, six months after the original expiration date of June 30, 2025.
Original agreement: $100,000.00
Modification No. 1: $0.00
Total agreement amount: $100,000.00
FISCAL IMPACT: None.
REASON FOR EMERGENCY: Homes on the Hill Community Development Corporation provides critically needed educational and financial assistance services to families in need, including those who live in HUD-certified housing. The grantee needs more time than originally anticipated to complete the scope of services outlined under the original grant agreement, which is set to expire on June 30, 2025. To ensure that this grant agreement is modified and extended before it expires on that date, emergency designation is required.
Title
To authorize the City Clerk to modify a grant agreement with Homes on the Hill Community Development Corporation to extend the grant agreement; and to declare an emergency. ($0.00)
Body
WHEREAS, Ordinance 1838-2025 authorized the City Clerk to enter into a grant agreement with Homes on the Hill Community Development Corporation in support of their Housing Counseling Program; and
WHEREAS, the terms of the original grant agreement require the grantee to return all unused funds to the City by July 31st, 2025; and
WHEREAS, the grantee is seeking a grant agreement extension of six months in order to complete the work for which they originally sought the City's financial assistance; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the City Clerk in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the City Clerk to modify this grant agreement in order to extend the agreement before it expires on June 30, 2025 and continue helping and educating families through financial coaching, emergency rental assistance, and first-time home-buyer down-payment assistance, all for the immediate preservation of the public health, peace, property, safety and welfare; and NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the City Clerk is hereby authorized to modify a grant agreement with Homes on the Hill Community Development Corporation by extending the grant agreement through December 31, 2025.
SECTION 2. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.