Julia Howard Gibbon, legal director of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California (FANCY), presented the organization’s enforcement and outreach work to the Housing and Community Development Commission and described recent testing and case results in Vallejo.

"The majority of our clients here are low income — 91% are low income or below," Howard Gibbon said during the presentation, summarizing client demographics and the group’s services, which include individual counseling, reasonable-accommodation advocacy and systemic testing. She said FANCY had served more than 800 households and almost 2,000 individuals across the agency’s Vallejo work and that in recent years it assisted roughly 100–111 households per year.

Howard Gibbon summarized two recent case outcomes: a settlement of about $37,000 for a Black tenant holding a Section 8 voucher, plus required policy changes by the landlord that opened more units to voucher holders, and another settlement of $27,000 tied to a landlord’s overhaul of criminal‑background screening across nearly 4,000 units after testing found problematic practices. She described testing as a principal enforcement tool: "We hire and train investigators who pose as home seekers," she said, explaining both individual and systemic testing approaches.

After the presentation, staff told the commission that, for the current fiscal year only, the city intends to select a subrecipient for part of its CDBG allocation without running the usual RFP because of limited staffing capacity to manage the procurement and monitor grantees. Staff named Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California (FANCY) as the selected subrecipient for a $43,000 award that mirrors the organization’s prior fiscal‑year allocation.

Director Dorita Jones told commissioners HUD distinguishes contractors from subrecipients and that CDBG subrecipient awards do not require the same procurement steps as consultant contracts. Staff said the waiver of an RFP would be used only for this year, and that next year the RFP process will resume once staffing is restored.

Commissioners asked staff about the impact on other nonprofit applicants who normally rely on the RFP round. Several commissioners pressed staff to notify prior applicants promptly and to provide training so nonprofits can be better prepared for future competition. Director Jones said staff had not yet issued a formal notification but agreed to notify prior applicants and to prepare capacity‑building support and training so organizations can apply when the RFP reopens.

No recorded vote to adopt a permanent policy change was taken at the meeting; staff described the selection as a one‑year operational decision tied to monitoring capacity. Commissioners requested written notification to previous applicants and for staff to return with more detailed plans, including monitoring steps and training offerings.

Documents appended to the commission packet referenced federal and state fair‑housing compliance obligations and noted that the city’s consolidated plan lists funding for fair‑housing services.