Healthy Home Repair Program: Harambee Youth

The St Louis Healthy Home Repair Program has traditionally been funded by HOME and CDBG funds, and operates as a three pronged stool CDA administers the program, conducts applicant intake, and acts as the fiscal agent, contracting with subrecipients and with the homeowner to issue the forgivable loan The City Building Division goes out to review the building, assess whether it is a good candidate for a repair, and produce building specifications if so The third stool is a non-profit entity which serves as the construction manager, and subcontracts with a variety of other contractors The Home Repair program currently conducts approximately 200 home repairs a year, and when these funds were appropriated, the program suffered from a backlog of roughly 1060 homes Since then, pursuant to a competitive process, CDA has contracted with Mission St Louis to serve as the primary construction manager for these ARPA funds, and contracted with Habitat for Humanity to build out a minor home repair program CDA has also begun the intake process on 400 applications, bringing the waitlist down to roughly 800 adjusting for new applicants CDA is also working to expedite review and eliminate eligibility in a variety of ways, including waiving Section 106 Environmental Historic Review Requirements and working with the Collector of Revenue to clear delinquent property taxes CDA is also exploring whether the HUD funded forgivable loan program can be translated into an ARPA conditional grant program, which will substantially reduce administrative burden and barriers to entry The program's fundamental constraint, however, is not eligible applicants, but a shortage of qualified contractors To address this, CDA is working with Mission St Louis to switch away from a process of individually bidding each home, to establishing master contracts with plumbers, carpenters, electricians, painters and roofers CDA and Mission St Louis issued a joint RFQ for master contractors on July 25th which will remain open in perpetuity, and is conducting a series of contractor recruitment sessions The City is also exploring standing up new home repair programs targeted at energy-efficient home improvements, trimming or removing dangerous trees, repairing gun violence damage, and funding owner-occupant landlords to improve their properties '