Title
Joint resolution amending County Board resolution 20-0503 (adopted on April 7, 2020) to allow the County’s $100,000 agency unreimbursed novel coronavirus (COVID-19) emergency shelter funds (derived from 2020 Video Gaming Revenue) to be utilized for Alternate Housing Sites.
Staff Summary
• On April 7, 2020, the County Board adopted a resolution authorizing $100,000 in 2020 Video Gaming Revenue to be reserved for agencies providing emergency shelter for people who are homeless during the COVID-19 crisis.
• The original resolution was predicated upon the community need for emergency non-congregate homeless shelter as a safer alternative to congregate sheltering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local health and human services, additional non-congregate emergency shelter needs are anticipated.
• The use of funds, reserved from 2020 Video Gaming Revenue, under the original resolution was to “fund or reimburse emergency, non-congregate shelter needs including, but not limited to, reimbursing Lake County shelters for costs of emergency, non-congregate shelter” in the event that adequate funding or reimbursements from other sources are not available.
• Since the adoption of the original resolution, additional federal funding sources have been identified to reimburse non-congregate shelter costs of Lake County’s homeless shelter organizations, including pandemic-related Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funding under the 2020 Cares Act.
• Simultaneously, the need for emergency non-congregate sheltering at Health Department-managed Alternate Housing Sites will continue to increase for (a) persons who test positive for COVID-19 who do not require hospitalization but need isolation; (b) persons who have been exposed to COVID-19 and do not require hospitalization; and (c) asymptomatic high-risk persons needing social distancing as a precautionary measure, such as people over 65 or with certain underlying health conditions. County up-front expenses for Alternate Housing Sites may be partially reimbursable under FEMA’s Public Assistance Program.
• Lake County’s homeless shelter agencies that currently house clients in non-congregate shelter may have a need to divert those clients that meet criteria (a) or (b) above to a Health Department-managed Alternate Housing Site; funding will be needed to allow the diversion of such clients to Alternate Housing Sites.
• Given the availability of other sources for reimbursing Lake County’s homeless shelter organizations, and the growing need for County expense of funds to shelter persons (including homeless individuals who are COVID-19 positive or exposed) at Alternate Housing Sites, this resolution amends the original resolution to allow the use of the County’s $100,000 agency unreimbursed novel corona virus (COVID-19) emergency shelter funds (derived from 2020 Video Gaming Revenue) to be utilized for Alternate Housing Sites.
Body
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, on April 7, the County Board adopted Resolution 20-503 authorizing the reservation of $100,000 in Video Gaming Revenue for agencies providing emergency shelter for people who are homeless during the COVID-19 crisis; and
WHEREAS, in the event that emergency shelter expenses are fully reimbursed by other funding sources, the resolution provided that the funds will be awarded in the future consistent with the Video Gaming Revenue policy; and
WHEREAS, other funding sources have become available to reimburse homeless shelter agencies’ emergency non-congregate shelter expenses; and
WHEREAS, the need for emergency non-congregate sheltering at Alternate Housing Sites to be managed by the Health Department will continue to increase for (a) persons who test positive for COVID-19 who do not require hospitalization but need isolation; (b) persons who have been exposed to COVID-19 and do not require hospitalization; and (c) asymptomatic high-risk persons needing social distancing as a precautionary measure, such as people over 65 or with certain underlying health conditions; and
WHEREAS, homeless shelter agencies may have a need to divert individuals that meet criteria (a) or (b) above from their non-congregate sheltering operations to an Alternate Housing Site, and funding will be needed to allow those individuals to be housed within the Alternate Housing Sites; and
WHEREAS, the County’s up-front expenses for Alternate Housing Sites may be partially reimbursable under FEMA’s Public Assistance Program.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by this County Board of Lake County, Illinois, that County Board Resolution 20-503 be amended to allow the use of the County’s $100,000 agency unreimbursed novel corona virus (COVID-19) emergency shelter funds (derived from 2020 Video Gaming Revenue) to be utilized for Alternate Housing Sites.