To: Board of Supervisors
From: John Kopchik, Director, Conservation and Development
Report Title: Substantial Amendment to the County’s FY 2025/26 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Annual Action Plan - Rebuilding Together East Bay Network (RTEBN) Revised Allocation.
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE a Substantial Amendment to the County's FY 2025/26 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Annual Action Plan to increase a previous CDBG funding allocation to Rebuilding Together East Bay Network (RTEBN) from $390,000 to $640,000, for an expansion of its ongoing Healthy Homes Contra Costa program, to serve additional low-income Contra Costa County homeowners with improvements to their residence.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No General Fund impact. CDBG funds are federal funds provided to the County on a formula allocation basis through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
CFDA Number: 14.218
BACKGROUND:
On June 24, 2025, the Board of Supervisors approved the Contra Costa County CDBG Annual Action Plan for the use of FY 2025/26 CDBG funds. Under the Housing (HSG) category, RTEBN was awarded $390,000 in CDBG funds to operate its Healthy Homes Contra Costa program, improving the conditions of homes owned by low-income households in Contra Costa County. The program focuses on home repairs that address health and/or safety hazards, accessibility impediments, and energy efficiency.
RTEBN is a Berkeley-based nonprofit, founded in 1992, serving Contra Costa County via several housing-based programs. The organization’s mission is to coordinate donors and volunteers to meet a critical need for repairs, renovations, and safety modifications for low-income homeowners in various communities. Each year, RTEBN conducts comprehensive home assessments and improvements that benefit healthy, safety, and well-being of vulnerable populations groups, including seniors, veterans, and persons with disabilities.
Over the past three decades, RTEBN has improved living conditions in over 1,000 homes. Most recently, RTEBN has led a coalition of like-minded home repair organizations and funding partners to better leverage opportunities for homeowners and provide a more complete set of comprehensive, home-focused services. The Healthy Homes Contra Costa program is one aspect of this initiative.
During FY 2025/26, RTEBN identified capacity and desire to grow its Healthy Homes Contra Costa program within Contra Costa County. This expansion of services would allow for (1) supplementary home repair work to take place at previously identified homes with additional deficiencies; and (2) the physical expansion of program attention from a primary focus in West County, to additional coverage in East County.
Each year, the County’s CDBG Program anticipates receiving an amount of funds from what is called Program Income. The County’s CDBG Program Income typically comes from loan repayments from previously completed housing developments that received a CDBG award in the form of a loan. The County’s CDBG Annual Action Plan is required to include the estimated amount of Program Income that it anticipates receiving during the program year. The County typically allocates 20 percent of the estimated amount of Program Income to the general administration activity of the County’s CDBG Program, where the remainder (80 percent) is available to allocate to eligible CDBG activities. To allocate any of the 80 percent remainder of Program Income received during the current program to a new eligible activity or to a previously awarded activity, a Substantial Amendment to the County’s CDBG Annual Action Plan is required.
To Support RTEBN’s expansion and further serve low-income Contra Costa County homeowners, staff recommends allocating an additional $250,000 in FY 2025/26 CDBG funds to the Healthy Homes Contra Costa program via a Substantial Amendment to the County’s FY 2025/26 CDBG Annual Action Plan.
Substantial Amendment to FY 2025/26 CDBG Annual Action Plan
As required by the County’s CDBG Citizen Participation Plan and as required by HUD, an increase to a previous allocation of CDBG funds to a previously awarded project (RTEBN) requires a Substantial Amendment to the CDBG Annual Action Plan for that program year (FY 2025/26). Therefore, the approval of a Substantial Amendment to the County FY 2025/26 CDBG Annual Action Plan is part of the Board’s action to approve the increased allocation of CDBG funds to RTEBN.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Not approving the Substantial Amendment will delay or prevent critical improvements to the residences of low-income Contra Costa County homeowners, especially in East County.