City staff report SHIP spending pace on foreclosure intervention and heirs-property programs

Travis Jeffrey, chief of the Housing and Community Development Division, updated the Finance Committee on last year’s State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) allocations for foreclosure intervention and heirs-property assistance. He said the city allocated $750,000 to foreclosure intervention and $400,000 to heirs property and noted statutory set-asides restrict how the money can be used.

Jeffrey said 75% of SHIP dollars must be spent on construction-related activities and that a 10% administrative set-aside leaves roughly 15% of the funds eligible for non-construction uses such as housing counseling, heirs-property work or foreclosure-intervention services. “So once we take our 10% off the top for admin dollars, that only leaves about 15% of the total funds that has to go, that can go for non...construction related activities,” he said.

On the foreclosure intervention program, Jeffrey said about $317,000 of the $750,000 allocation has been expended, leaving roughly 58% of the allocation available and that the funding must be spent within three years. “This is a...we have 3 years to spend these funds, so we’re far ahead of schedule on this one,” he said.

For the heirs-property program, staff issued an RFP that resulted in two vendors being selected. Jeffrey identified Jacksonville Legal Aid and LISC as recipients: Jacksonville Legal Aid had expended its initial contract dollars and had about $101,000 remaining from an amendment, while LISC had received initial and amended funding and had roughly $240,000 still eligible to be expended on heirs-property services. Jeffrey said the contract was originally two years with two one-year extensions and that staff had already approved one extension and may seek further allocations or amendments when presenting the full budget this year.

Councilmembers pressed staff on whether underspending by a vendor should prompt reallocation. Councilmember Hallen said any decision should hinge on program impact rather than current spending rates. “I would not...reallocate the heirs property to some other grama simply because it’s not being spent entirely by LISC,” Hallen said, arguing heirs-property work creates lasting value for families. Jeffrey and staff responded that older allocations face three-year windows and the administration may need to shift funds to ensure they are expended rather than lost.

Next steps: staff said they will revisit these allocations in the full budget process later in the year and present options for reallocation or contract amendments if necessary.