Burbank to receive Measure H funding to address homelessness
Although it won’t be the full amount of money Burbank will generate through Measure H this fiscal year, the city will get a small amount back to help with its homeless programs.
The City Council voted 4-0 on April 17 to accept $77,000 from Los Angeles County’s housing authority. The funds will be used for Burbank’s Homelessness Incentive program, specifically to encourage landlords to participate in the Section 8 program, said Marcos Gonzalez, grants coordinator for the city.
Mayor Will Rogers, who died on April 19 after battling liver cancer, was absent from this meeting.
Gonzalez said $70,000 of the amount the city receives will go toward incentives, which will include financial assistance for move-in costs and transportation to visit units, as well as tenant assistance with credit checks and rental application fees.
The funds will also be used for assistance with purchasing furniture and major appliances, one month’s rent payment to hold a vacant unit and damage mitigation payments to landlords to help fix damages caused by tenants, Gonzalez said.
The other $7,000 that the city will receive will go toward administrative fees.
“As you can see, a few of these uses of these funds are not just landlord incentives, but also can benefit someone who has a housing voucher,” he said. “These are valuable tools to house our homeless in Burbank.”
Gonzalez added that every landlord in the city, which includes those who do and do not participate in Section 8, as well as homeless-service providers in Burbank, will be notified about the program and funding available.
The city was able to receive some Measure H funds by applying for a request for proposal from the county’s housing authority in August 2017.
Although Burbank is getting some funding from the county, it is far from the estimated $6 million the city is expected to generate this fiscal year through a quarter-cent sales tax established by Measure H, which was approved by Los Angeles County voters in March 2017 to address homelessness.
Gonzalez said Measure H is expected to generate $355 million annually. However, he mentioned back in December that it is now expected to bring in about $258.9 million during the 2017-18 fiscal year because the sales tax was implemented on Oct. 1, 2017, rather than July 1, 2017.
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
