TO: CITY COUNCIL
FROM: ADAM PIRRIE, CITY MANAGER
DATE: APRIL 14, 2026
Reviewed by:
City Manager: AP
SUBJECT:
Title
UPDATE ON RENTAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMMING (FUNDING SOURCES: GENERAL FUND AND AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT FUND)
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SUMMARY
During the January 31, 2026 City Council Priorities Workshop, the City Council directed staff to return in April with an update on rental assistance programming that may be available to tenants who are enrolled in the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program, which will sunset on June 30, 2026. During the workshop, the City Council also directed staff to no longer accept new applications to the City’s Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program.
The purpose of this report is to provide an update on third-party rental assistance programs that will be available in the near future through the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA) and the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (SGVCOG).
RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Action
Staff recommends the City Council provide direction to staff regarding the sunset date of the City’s Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program.
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ALTERNATIVE TO RECOMMENDATION
In addition to the recommendation, there is the following alternative:
• Do not take any action, in which case final payments through the Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program will be made for June 2026 rent.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
The number of households receiving assistance and the amount disbursed each month vary based on the number of households receiving one-time emergency rental assistance payments; rent increases; number of eligible housing providers receiving assistance; number of new applicants enrolled in the Program receiving monthly subsidies; and number of households exiting the Program (i.e., moving out of Claremont). The total amount disbursed each month ranges on average between $55,000 and $60,000. This program is temporary in nature and will conclude when the current allocation of $1,680,000 in funding is exhausted, which is anticipated to occur in June 2026 when inadequate funds remain to pay the participant’s July rent payments, unless the City Council directs otherwise.
Due to the program’s success, significant staffing resources have been required to review applications, meet with applicants, and process payments. Additionally, staff have spent a significant amount of time with program applicants and prospective program applicants answering questions about the application process, assisting with filling the applications out, and corresponding with property managers and housing providers. The current estimated cost of staff time, to date, is well over $200,000. In addition to emergency rental assistance payments, approximately 200 subsidy payments are issued each month, which has resulted in an approximate 25-30 percent increase in workload for Accounts Payable staff alone. While staff can maintain the current program without the need for additional staff positions, staff does not have the capacity to take on additional programming without creating new staffing positions and hiring qualified candidates to fill those positions.
The staff cost to prepare this report is estimated at $700 and is included in the operating budget of the Administrative Services Department.
ANALYSIS
On April 25, 2023, the City Council voted to allocate $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to fund the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program. Due to the high demand for rental assistance, on April 23, 2024, the City Council voted to allocate an additional $680,000 towards the program. The additional $680,000 is from the City’s General Fund and is a portion of the $3.4 million in proceeds from the sale of the 451 W. Arrow Highway property, which represents a twenty percent “set-aside” of sale proceeds for affordable housing.
In November 2024, LA County voters approved Measure A, which is a one-half cent sales tax Countywide that is anticipated to generate over $1 billion annually. 35.75 percent of the collected Measure A funds are allocated to the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA) to produce affordable housing and for renter protections and homelessness prevention. In its 2025-26 Expenditure Plan, LACAHSA has allocated this Measure A funding as follows:
• Production, Preservation, & Ownership (PPO) (60 percent of allocated funds): Eligible uses include new construction (including substantial rehabilitation), preservation, acquisition, rehabilitation, ownership, and rent and operating subsidies.
• Renter Protection and Homelessness Prevention (RPHP) Programs (30 percent of allocated funds): Designed to help renters of lower income households (less than 80 percent of area median income). Eligible uses include but are not limited to intake and assessment; legal assistance and tenant outreach; emergency rental assistance; short-term income support; flexible financial assistance; and relocation assistance (beyond that which is required by State or local law).
• Designated LACAHSA “Annual Priorities” (15 percent of allocated funds).
• Technical Assistance, Research, and Policy Development (TA) (5 percent of allocated funds): Eligible uses include local agency technical assistance grants; direct programming; program design, administration, monitoring, and evaluation; and professional services.
• LACAHSA Administration (5 percent of allocated funds).
As part of the RPHP Programs component, LACAHSA was tasked with developing guidelines for a permanent rental assistance program (“Transitional Program Guidelines”) using Measure A funds and issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking agencies to implement said program. In November 2025, City staff submitted a timely proposal to LACAHSA requesting funds to sustain the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program through June 30, 2027. Unfortunately, the City was not recommended as a funding recipient. City staff requested that LACAHSA perform an administrative review to understand why Claremont was not recommended.
Based on the proposal scoring conducted by LACAHSA, its primary goal is to fund agencies that can provide assistance Countywide and/or that offer services to underserved geographies, and Claremont does not fall into these categories; however, LACAHSA is required to allocate 70 percent of its allocated funds within the PPO, RPHP, and TA funding categories to the “Eligible Jurisdictions” that are defined in the LACAHSA-enabling legislation.
The San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (SGVCOG) is one of these Eligible Jurisdictions and will be responsible for administering LACAHSA funds on behalf of 30 of the 31 cities in the San Gabriel Valley, including Claremont. For the regional RPHP Program, the SGVCOG anticipates receiving approximately $8.5 million, pending sales tax receipts.
In October 2025, the SGVCOG released an application to identify RPHP implementation partners. The goal of this application process was to identify partners that could help the SGVCOG quickly establish a comprehensive renter protection and homelessness prevention program that complies with all LACAHSA Transitional Program Guidelines, and that advances an integrated, accessible, regional approach. Through this process, the SGVCOG identified multiple partners with whom they are designing a coordinated approach that complies with the LACAHSA guidelines. Part of this approach involves collaborating with member cities, including Claremont, to ensure that program information is shared with tenants who may need assistance.
The SGVCOG held a kick-off meeting on January 29, 2026 to share more information with staff from member cities on how its RPHP will work. During that meeting, the SGVCOG emphasized that its program design will focus on case management; local expertise; and close coordination with its member cities. Each tenant receiving financial assistance (“client”) through this program will also receive case management, promoting problem-solving and longer-term housing stability. Clients will also have access to legal services and renter education. For every full-time case worker funded through the program, there are 20 available client slots, bringing the total number of slots to 180 at any given time for the 30 cities served by the SGVCOG program. To serve as many clients as possible, the SGVCOG is aiming to provide three months of support to each client, instead of the maximum of six months allowed under the LACAHSA Transitional Program Guidelines. As such, the SGVCOG estimates that based on the number of low-income renters in Claremont in comparison to the rest of the region, there will be 13 slots available to Claremont renters annually, or 3-4 available slots at any given time.
The primary service provider that the SGVCOG has assigned to support Claremont clients is Support Solutions. Support Solutions is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that connects people who are facing housing instability in the San Gabriel Valley with resources such as finding employment; case management; and transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness. Additionally, the SGVCOG selected the Inner City Law Center (ICLC) as its legal services partner. All clients will have access to services offered by ICLC, including eviction prevention; homelessness prevention; and public benefits. City staff met with SGVCOG staff and representatives from Support Solutions and ICLC to better understand how the RPHP program will function, and how applicants will be referred and prioritized across the San Gabriel Valley.
The SGVCOG is in the process of developing an online portal through which individuals can self-refer, and agencies (including service providers and cities) can also make referrals. City staff will have the ability to refer those who are currently receiving funds through the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program, as all funding recipients in the City’s program are below 80 percent of Area Median Income (AMI); however, to be eligible for rental assistance through RPHP programs, a household must have experienced an emergency, crisis, or unexpected event within the previous 12 months that puts the household at risk of losing their housing, such as:
• Action of landlord or property management
• Unlawful detainer (eviction lawsuit)
• Threat of displacement or housing instability
• Loss of income
• Loss or delay of public income benefits
• Medical emergency
• Change of household (birth, death, loss of income earner)
• Natural disaster
• Sudden increase in critical expenses
• Other emergency that threatens housing stability
Once a tenant is referred, a service provider will be automatically assigned to work with eligible tenants to identify appropriate financial assistance and case management needs, which may include referrals to ICLC for tenants with immediate legal needs. Renter Education Workshops will also be offered by the SGVCOG and its service providers. It should also be noted that City staff already refers low-income tenants to more localized resources, including the Service Center for Independent Life (SCIL) Food Pantry, and senior case management services and resources through Aging Next.
Whereas the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program offers longer term monthly subsidies, RPHP Programs are not designed to provide long-term or permanent housing assistance, but they will include program components that the City does not offer, including legal services, flexible financial assistance, and short-term income support. It should also be noted that of the 202 households currently receiving temporary rental assistance through the City’s program, 130 (64 percent) funding recipients are fixed-income seniors, and 72 (36 percent) are low-income households.
Due to the temporary nature of funding that is allocated towards the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program, and to support tenant households during their transition out of our program, staff recommends the following:
• Provide information to interested parties on how they can apply for RPHP funding through LACAHSA or the SGVCOG, including referring eligible tenants through the online referral portal.
• Because income-qualified tenants who are currently receiving monthly subsidies through our program may not qualify for rental assistance through RPHP Programs (unless their household experiences a qualifying event as described above), the City Council may consider allocating additional funding so that the City can continue to provide monthly subsidies to those enrolled in the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program through the end of calendar year 2026. This would effectively extend the program’s sunset date from June 2026 to December 2026, and the associated cost is estimated to be $360,000. Sufficient funding is available in the City’s Successor Housing Fund, which has a current balance of approximately $2.3 million. The California Health and Safety Code allows a "housing successor" (the city or county entity that took over the housing functions of a former redevelopment agency) to spend up to $500,000 from its Low- and Moderate-Income Housing Asset Fund (LMIHAF) for specific homeless prevention and rapid rehousing services, including rental assistance.
• Staff can collaborate with LACAHSA and the SGVCOG to connect income-qualified tenants with resources that may be available to them as they transition away from receiving a monthly rental subsidy through our temporary program.
RELATIONSHIP TO CITY PLANNING DOCUMENTS
Staff has evaluated the agenda item in relationship to the City’s strategic and visioning documents and finds that it applies to the following City Planning Documents: Council Priorities, Sustainable City Plan, General Plan, 2024-26 Budget, and the Youth and Family Master Plan.
CEQA REVIEW
This item is not subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
PUBLIC NOTICE PROCESS
The agenda and staff report for this item have been posted on the City website and distributed to interested parties. If you desire a copy, please contact the City Clerk’s Office.
Submitted by: Prepared by:
Adam Pirrie Katie Wand
City Manager Deputy City Manager
Attachment:
Public Comment