Spokane County staff recommend two-year CDBG contracts to fund service navigator, 24 homes for fire survivors

Spokane County housing staff told commissioners they plan to recommend two time-limited contracts that would use Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) disaster-recovery funding awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support survivors of recent wildfires.

An agency official (S2) said staff are recommending a two-year operations contract with the Spokane Long Term Recovery Group to fund a service-navigation team. "We want to give them an opportunity to be successful, and give the county the greatest amount of flexibility, but also limit exposure and liability to the county," S2 said. Staff described the recommendation as roughly $1,000,000 per year, covering about 95% of the applicant’s administrative and operations costs for disaster case managers and associated positions, with a year-one performance review before renewal.

Separately, S2 said the Long Term Recovery Group also asked for funds to build homes; staff recommended a two-year home-construction contract to deliver 24 units (12 homes per year). The county’s recommendation calls for about $4,560,000 over two years, with staff estimating an average cost of roughly $180,000 per home in year one and $200,000 per home in year two to allow some flexibility for materials and cost escalation. S2 noted volunteer labor from Mennonite Disaster Recovery Services and Christian Disaster Recovery Services would supplement construction and lower cash costs.

S2 told the board the Long Term Recovery Group was the only applicant for the housing request and the only respondent to the service-navigator solicitation; staff said the two-year approach is intended to give the nonprofit time to meet monitoring and performance requirements and to limit county exposure while staff provide technical assistance. If performance metrics are met in year one, staff said they would proceed into year two and then consider a broader request-for-proposals after the contract term if additional capacity is needed.

Commissioners asked how the proposals fit within the county’s housing allocation. S2 said the home-build recommendation would come from the county’s housing bucket and noted the county had placed approximately $22,000,000 into housing initiatives; the recommended $4.56 million represents one portion of that larger housing allocation.

No formal vote or motion occurred at the meeting; S2 said both recommendations will appear on the county agenda next week for the board’s formal consideration. The presentation included a staffing note that Jennifer Swisher will join the county housing team after Memorial Day to help administer these programs.

Authorities referenced in the presentation included the CDBG disaster-recovery grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The board did not take action during the morning session and scheduled an executive session and a 2:00 p.m. reconvene.