Consolidated Plan and Analysis of Impediments
City of Dubuque - Housing & Community Development Department
Dubuque, IA
INTRODUCTION
The intent and purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to solicit proposals from qualified consultants to prepare a HUD approved 2021-2025 Consolidated Plan and to conduct an Analysis of Impediments for Fair Housing (AI). The maximum budget for the project is $25,000. Proposal are due by Noon CDT on August 26, 2019.
COMMUNITY BACKGROUND
The City of Dubuque is located on the Mississippi River in northeastern Iowa, adjacent to Illinois and Wisconsin. As Iowa’s oldest city, Dubuque is a community well known for its historic and architectural beauty. The City is approximately 30 square miles in area, with a population approaching 60,000 persons. The City’s annual operating and capital budget is over $185 million and funds a full range of municipal services.
The City of Dubuque is governed by an elected Mayor and City Council and managed by a City Manager. City government works in collaboration with private and non-profit sectors to promote the principles of sustainability. Dubuque’s framework for sustainability is centered on economic prosperity, environmental integrity, and social/cultural vibrancy. The City’s web site is www.cityofdubuque.org.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The project will result in the creation of a 2021-2025 Consolidated Plan and conducting an Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing.
SCOPE OF WORK
The consultant will collaborate with the Housing & Community Development Department in the identification, development, scheduling and implementation of activities designed to complete the Consolidated Plan and related documents. Scope of work will include but is not limited to the following:
The Consultant will use the Consolidated Plan IDIS Desk Guide found at www.hudexchange.info/programs/consolidated-plan in preparation of the Consolidated Plan. The required work must follow any and all amendments and updates, such as utilizing HUD's Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) eCon Planning Suite, including the Consolidated Plan template in IDIS Online and the CPD Maps website. The eCon Planning Suite is designed to support grantees and the public to assess their needs and make strategic investment decisions by providing better data and tools and by creating a seamless planning and grants management framework.
The Consultant will review, and tabulate data and information supplied by the City, HUD, the U.S. Census Bureau, Iowa Finance Authority, and input from citizens to complete the required Con Plan components per the HUD regulations including all required charts, tables, maps and final input into IDIS. The product must be provided in a digitized format that, after consultation with the City's IT Department, is ready for posting on the City's website and for submission to HUD.
The following link will take you to the city’s 2016-2020 Consolidated Plan. https://www.cityofdubuque.org/DocumentCenter/View/23354/2016-2020-Consolidated-Plan?bidId=
Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing
As an Entitlement Jurisdiction, the City of Dubuque is required by HUD to submit a Consolidated Plan every five years, which certifies that the City is affirmatively further fair housing. To accomplish this, the City conducts an analysis of impediments (AI) to fair housing choice and identifies actions to overcome barriers to fair housing identified by that analysis.
Impediments to fair housing choice are defined by HUD as:
§ Any actions, omissions, or decisions taken because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin which restrict housing choices or the availability of housing choices.
§ Any actions omissions, or decisions which have the effect of restricting housing choices or the availability of housing choices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin.
The City updated the Analysis of Impediments in 2015 in conjunction with the 2016-2020 Consolidated Planning Process. The following link will take you to this document. https://www.cityofdubuque.org/2277/Analysis-of-Impediments
The AI must be conducted in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) requirements and guidelines. HUD provides guidance on how to prepare the Analysis of Impediments as part of the Fair Housing Planning Guide www.hud.gov/sites/documents/FHPG.PDF.
The Consultant shall use “The Suggested Format for the Analysis of Impediments” in HUD’s Fair Housing Planning Guide (Chapter 2 – Appendix, pp 2-30 and 2-31) as guide in preparing the AI.
Housing Needs Assessment
The Iowa Finance Authority has already conducted a housing need assessment at the state, county and city level. The following link will take you to this information which will be incorporated into the consolidated plan. http://www.westernes.com/Iowa/
PROJECT APPROACH
The City of Dubuque will expect the consultant to have the capacity to exercise independent judgement and to perform those actions necessary to achieve the project objectives in a manner consistent with those expected of senior technical and management staff. While the consultant will be working under the general direction of the Housing & Community Development Director, it should be understood the City will rely on the personnel, experience and expertise of the consultant to ensure all necessary components of the process are completed in a timely manner.
Community Engagement
In addition to the preparation of the Consolidated Plan and Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing, the City of Dubuque is also in the process of hiring a consultant to prepare an Equitable Poverty Prevention Plan (EPPP). The following link will lead to more information about the EPPP.
The EPPP selected consultant will be responsible for developing and implementing a robust, creative, and inclusive plan for community engagement. The community engagement plan will consider informing residents and stakeholders of the purpose of the plan. The EPPP consultant will develop a schedule of events and input opportunities which at a minimum address the channels for public engagement and communication. The EPPP consultant will be responsible for designing and facilitating the events and public input instruments, facilitating the events and collecting and distilling all information for use in the EPPP document.
The City of Dubuque is striving to avoid engagement fatigue by designing community engagement in the Equitable Poverty Prevention Plan in a manner that also meets the engagement needs of the City of Dubuque’s 2021-2025 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Consolidated Plan and Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing.
To this end, the selected EPPP consultant will be expected to collaborate with the City of Dubuque Department of Housing and Community Development. This will help fulfill the community engagement portion of the Consolidated Plan and Analysis to Impediments.
Coordination with and feedback from City Staff
The approach suggested by the consultant should include steps that ensure that the final product will be developed in close coordination with City staff and will include opportunities for interactive feedback from staff as the work proceeds. The consultant should be available to meet with City staff to ensure successful coordination and completion of the project. The consultant and City staff will meet at the outset of the project to finalize and coordinate the project schedule and approach. The City will be responsible for arranging, scheduling, and providing facility space for meetings, including meetings with public officials.
To view the entire Request for Proposal and the required submittal documents click here.