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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGREEMENT FOR CONSULTANT SERVICES BETWEEN WESTERN ECONOMIC SERVICES, LLC AND AUGUSTA, GEORGIA_ ASSESSMENT OF FAIR HOUSING AGREEMENT FOR CONSULTANT SERVICES BETWEEN WESTERN ECONOMIC SERVICES, LLC AND AUGUSTA,GEORGIA FOR PREPARATION OF AN ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS TO FAIR HOUSING CHOICE THIS AGREEMENT is made and entered into this day of February,2018,by and between Augusta, Georgia, by and through the Augusta County Commission,as the Implementor of the Community Development Block Grant Program(hereinafter referred to as"Grantee")and Western Economic Services, LLC(hereinafter referred to as"Consultant). WITNESSETH WHEREAS,the Grantee has entered into a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,hereinafter referred to as HUD,providing for financial aid to the Grantee under the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974,as amended;and WHEREAS,the City as a Grantee of federal housing and community Development funds from HUD,is required to complete a Consolidated Plan for receipt of the Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnerships, Emergency Shelter Grant and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS funds;and WHEREAS,the Consolidated Plan is a 5-year strategic plan identifying the city's housing and community development needs for low and moderate income persons and neighborhoods and a long-term strategy for meeting those needs;and WHEREAS,the Grantee desire to engage the services of a consultant to research data,conduct a needs assessment and prepare a report of the City's housing market and its housing and homeless needs;and WHEREAS,it is in the best interest of the Grantee to cooperate in the selection and hiring of a consultant to investigate, research and prepare the analysis of impediments to fair housing choice. NOW,THEREFORE, in consideration of the promises,covenants and agreements herein contained,the parties mutually agree as follows: 1. STATEMENT OF WORK. The Grantee hereby agree to utilize funds made available under this Agreement only for the purpose of implementing the above-mentioned activity as more fully described in Attachment A—Scope of Work which is attached hereto and made a part hereto as if fully rewritten. 2. TERM. The Term shall begin upon execution of this Agreement by both parties hereto,and shall be completed by February 8,2019. 3. FUNDING AMOUNT. The Grantee agrees to fund the work associated with this Agreement up to but not to exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars and no cents($50,000.00),in accordance with budget attached hereto, marked Attachment B—Budget,and by this reference made a part thereof. 4. PROHIBITION AGAINST PAYING FOR ANY SERVICE RENDERED OR EXPENSE INCURRED PRIOR TO Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 1 THE DATE OF THIS AGREEMENT. Grantee agree that funds made available by this Agreement may only be disbursed for services rendered or expenses incurred after the date this Agreement has been signed by both parties hereto(the"Effective Date"of this Agreement). No funds shall be expended for any service rendered or expense incurred prior to such date. 5. INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR. Grantee agrees that any Consultant hired pursuant to this Agreement shall perform all work and services described herein as an independent contractor and not as an officer,agent,or employee of the Grantee. The Consultant shall have exclusive control of and the exclusive right to control the details of the services and work performed and of all persons performing the same and shall be solely responsible for the acts and omissions of its officers,agent,employees,contractors and subcontractors,if any. Nothing shall be construed as creating a partnership or joint venture between Grantee and Consultant. No person performing any of the work or services described in Attachment A,Scope of Work,shall be considered an officer,agent,or employee of the Grantee,nor shall any such person be entitled to any benefits available or granted to employees of the Grantee. 6. SUBCONTRACTS,SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS. Grantee agrees that any Consultant hired pursuant to this Agreement,may not subcontract,assign or transfer any of the work or services described in Attachment A, Scope of Work,without the prior written approval of the Grantee. Any work or serves subcontracted,assigned or transferred shall be specified by written contract or agreement. 7. OWNERSHIP OF PROPERTY. Grantee agrees that at the expiration or in the event of any termination of this Agreement that any Memornda, Maps, Drawings,Working Papers, Reports and other similar documents produced in connection with this Agreement shall become the property of the Grantee. 8. LAW TO GOVERN. This Agreement is entered into and is to be performed in the State of Georgia. The law of the State of Georgia shall govern the rights,obligations,duties and liabilities of the parties to this Agreement and shall govern the interpretation of this Agreement. 9. WAIVER. This Agreement shall be construed in a manner that to waiver of any breach of any provision of this Agreement shall not constitute or operate as a waiver of any other breach of such provision or of any provisions,nor shall any failure to enforce any provision hereof operate as a waiver of such provision or of any other provision. 10. AMENDMENT. This Agreement may be modified or amended only by a written agreement duly executed by the parties hereto or their representatives. 11. ENTIRETY. This Agreement and the attachments attached hereto contain the entire Agreement between the parties as to the matters contained herein. Any oral representations or modification concerning this Agreement shall be of no force and effect. 12. SEVERABILITY. This Agreement shall be severable,if any part or parts of this Agreement shall for any reason be held invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction,all remaining parts shall remain binding and in full force and effect. 13. NOTICES. All notices or other communications required by this Agreement shall be personally served or sent by U.S. mail addressed to the party as follows: Hawthorne Welcher,Jr. Director, Housing and Community Development Department 925 Laney-Walker Boulevard, 2nd Floor Augusta,Georgia 30901 IN WITNESS WHEREOF,the parties have executed this Agreement as of the first date written above. Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 2 I. WES Scope of Work The following narratives introduce, explain, and fully detail the proposed Scope of Work that Western Economic Services, LLC (WES), is offering the City of Augusta and the Augusta Housing Authority (AHA) in the preparation of its joint Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH). WES will produce a fair housing document derived from a collaborative effort that draws upon the diverse knowledge and experiences offered by persons within the Augusta/Richmond area. Our process emphasizes facilitating outcomes by bringing both citizens and stakeholders to the same table and engendering a shared community vision. A.The WES Approach to the Augusta Assessment of Fair Housing WES recommends that the development of the Augusta AFH unfold in four phases which are organized, as follows: Phase I — Orientation entails an Orientation Meeting, held via Webinar, an interactive video conferencing software, with WES receiving applicable documents and project data files from the City, as lead agency. The Orientation Meeting also acts to facilitate coordination between WES and the City to better define the project parameters based on affirmed needs and expectations. The Orientation Meeting allows WES and the City to develop a firm understanding of the process and expected deliverables. WES will also present a draft of the Community Engagement Plan (CEP). WES and the City also will discuss an initial listing of the available local data and the format of the AFH document that will be used for the public review process. Completion of Phase I will ensure a solid and direct start to the project. Phase II — Data Collection consists of the collection of economic, demographic, and housing data from the Census Bureau and related local sources, including the use of the AFH Assessment Tool and HUD provided data tables and maps. In addition, data collection activities may involve the assessment of other factors that may contribute to the severity of fair housing issues. These sources may include fair housing complaints and compliance records, loan and mortgage data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, and lending records by Census tract from the Small Business Administration. In addition, there are also a number of local data sources that can be drawn upon for this effort. These include reaching out to local and regional planning departments, academics, and others knowledgeable of the local area housing markets. WES will inspect the data provided by HUD through the Assessment Tool that depicts the distribution of the Augusta/Richmond population. This data includes values that describe the degree of segregation and integration in the Augusta/Richmond area; the data also include the geographic distribution of Racially Concentrated Areas of Poverty (RCAP) and Ethnically Concentrated Areas of Poverty (ECAP). This evaluation also will map the geographic distribution Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 4 ATTEST: AUGUSTA,GEORGIA (Grantee) 77ivi.- / -/ Ems' -.---,--...-----4\ By: 7 Hardie Davis,Jr. Date 1 .. a�►z�\ As its Mayor ic 236 .�, H!tii O .�\ �'.�1e �y/r�/// •,, t?, 'S/ / • Lir} r • 'i t• IClerkp cim �► ; t ( : % i:1%,,e41.- : 0 I k i 1 01/4, huk---, ) 1.1 ce ) i,� •o� t 0 Janice A.J. .on Da e I, w4 "4.4*.el.itus«• + Administra ve*r4vGjORIGItv*. it pes ... ,, Z awthorne , elc 441( " "' . P,irector,AHCDD ATTEST: WESTER ECONOMIC SERVICES,LLC (Cons . t , ) f' 111 SEAL' • %!/'// % Z Robert .Ga din Da t/ie e Director of Research and Planning By: As Its: Date (Plain witness) Date Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 3 of public housing facilities and their location in relation to any RCAPs and ECAPs, as provided by HUD through the Assessment Tool. Public participation is critical to HUD's acceptance of an Assessment of Fair Housing. To achieve this participation, WES proposes several ways to enhance citizen involvement. It is our recommendation that, in addition to the Stakeholder consultations, Public Input Meetings, and Resident Advisory Board (RAB) Meetings, other outreach-should be implemented, as there are other very effective public engagement activities to be considered as part of the larger data collection effort. A key citizen outreach opportunity is The 2018 Fair Housing Survey, a questionnaire of citizens and various stakeholders, including real estate agents, lenders, property managers, fair housing advocates, representatives of minority communities, special needs service providers, community activists, the legal community, and other interested parties as well as the general public. This survey is designed to elicit responses as to the range and severity of fair housing issues, including contributing factors, as seen in the area. WES will present a draft instrument during the Orientation Meeting, edit it, and then resubmit it to the City for approval. Then, WES will present it to the first consultation meeting with stakeholders. At that time, WES will take further comment on the survey, edit it again, and then distribute it to both the City, the AHA, and the stakeholders for final approval. In the Key Informant Interviews, WES will conduct up to sixteen (16) telephone interviews with key stakeholders in the community. These may be community leaders, advocates and interest groups, organizations serving low income residents, affordable housing developers, and others in the community. The interviews will be structured to address the factors that contribute to fair housing issues in the City and County and what can be done to overcome these fair housing issues. WES will work with the City and the AHA to identify the potential interviewees, with WES responsible for scheduling and coordinating the interviews. Each interview is expected to take up to 30 minutes. All interviews will be performed over the telephone. Each set of comments will remain confidential, but all will be summarized and provided to the City and the AHA. These findings will then be incorporated with the AFH as part of the local data collection effort. The City will expand citizen outreach with the Access to Opportunity Work Group. This task, to be implemented by the City, with guidance from WES, is designed to allow more explicit and transparent treatment of the concept of opportunity areas. Opportunity areas are physical places with desirable attributes, such as: high performing schools, available well-paying jobs, a safe neighborhood, and a healthy environment. The Work Group is tasked with reviewing these areas in Augusta, as presented in the Assessment Tool and available in the HUD databases. This is designed to better understand what an "area of opportunity" represents and what contributes to "disparities in opportunity". We will quantitatively review HUD provided data for educational Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 5 opportunities, employment opportunities, transportation opportunities, low poverty exposure, environmentally healthy neighborhood opportunities, and patterns that are evident in the distribution of these community assets. In addition, we may wish to consider other local data that may better explain the community assets of the Augusta/Richmond area. The first meeting will introduce the AFH but it will quickly turn to focus more specifically on opportunity and devote some time to identifying local data. The second meeting will be discussing pertinent fair housing issues and contributing factors, prospective fair housing goals and potential actions that could be taken. This information will be drawn out of the meetings by use of flip charts, maps, and other visual materials and discussion tools. The concluding meeting will address how to articulate prospective actions that the City and the AHA can consider taking to overcoming the fair housing issues identified. WES will then create a separate document that reports on the fair housing issues, contributing factors, prospective actions that could be taken to address enhancing access to opportunity, and responsible agencies that were identified during this task. It cannot be stated strongly enough how both the Key Informant Interviews and Access to Opportunity Work Group will inform the City and the AHA of prospective actions that could be taken. This is a critical step in gathering public input and local data and will greatly contribute to the collection of local data for the AFH. A key to City's efforts is to conduct outreach to communities of color and low-income communities. In this regard, the City and the AHA will conduct the Fair Housing Focus Groups, three focus groups comprising black householders, lower income residents, and residents of public housing, including voucher holders (or, if so desired by the City, disable residents).. While there will be some context about why the AFH is being done, the City will be asking them to talk about their concerns regarding access to opportunity, disproportionate housing needs, fair housing issues and what might be done to overcome their concerns. WES will prepare the focus group materials and submit these materials to the City at least two weeks prior to each focus group. WES and the City will discuss these materials via Webinar at least one week prior to the focus groups. The City will audio record each session, create a set of transcripts, and submit these transcripts tow WES so that WES will have this information and make it become part of the local data collection effort and part of the AFH. WES will also conduct several other key pieces of data that may be construed to be "contributing factors". One is Access to Financial Services, which represents the ability of the citizens of the County to utilize mortgage lending for the purchase of their homes, and measures the success of the applicant to secure a home loan. We will inspect mortgage denial rates by race, ethnicity and gender and infer the degree to which minority communities can participate in having access to these financial tools throughout the County. We will also inspect Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 6 predatory lending and who receives such loans. Geographic maps will be produced demonstrating the geographic distribution of these issues throughout the Augusta/Richmond area. This analysis was performed in both the two previous AIs and it should be incorporated once again. This also reviews Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) lending to small business throughout the Augusta/Richmond area by Census tract, reports the loan amount value and number of loans by Census tract, and assesses whether such investments are in fact enhancing lower income neighborhoods. This allows us to measure the disproportionate impact that such investments may have within the Augusta/Richmond area, particularly if such investments are lacking in areas having high concentrations of minorities or higher rates of poverty. For the housing markets, WES will inspect Housing Complaint Data. WES will retrieve housing complaint data from HUD, the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity, and any other fair housing entities operating in the County and assess whether the complaint activity seen in the past is persistent; or, conversely, if the complaint activity is declining, and why. This too was performed in the previous two AIs and it should be incorporated again. Phase III — Development of Preliminary AFH Findings involves assimilation and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. This phase includes an assessment of the data, a depiction of the disabled population, the socio-economic context in which the citizens of the County live, and disproportionate concentrations of racial and ethnic minorities and low-income populations by Census tract, such as the RCAP and ECAP areas and their access to opportunity. This will address the fair housing infrastructure, which represents descriptions of HUD and any other fair housing entities operating in the County. Identification of preliminary findings represents description of prospective fair housing issues found in the Augusta/Richmond area, as well as key contributing factors that significantly create, contribute to, perpetuate or increase the severity of the fair housing issues. Phase III concludes with three Public Input Meetings designed for community representatives and citizens to learn about the AFH as well as affording citizens an opportunity to contribute their perspective and commentary about the Assessment of Fair Housing and its preliminary findings. These meetings, to be held by the City, are intended to include fair housing organizations, tenant organizations, public and private housing providers, State housing coalitions, affordable housing advocates, affordable housing developers community based organizations, social service agencies, and philanthropic organizations. WES will prepare the materials for these meetings and submit them to the City at least two weeks prior to the meetings. WES and the City will discuss these materials at least one week prior to the meetings, to be sure that the City understands what we are implementing. Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 7 Phase N — Draft, Public Review, and Final Reports includes submission of a Draft Report for Internal Review. This document will explain segregation and integration in the community, disparities in access to opportunity, disproportionate housing needs, publicly supported housing demographics, disability and access, and ECAPs and RCAPs. The AFH will report on fair housing goals and issues and contributing factors that have come out of all previous analysis. Specific metrics will be attached, milestones and a timeframe for achievements along with the responsible program participant. Each fair housing goal will have fair housing issues, contributing factors, one-year and five-year metrics, and the designated responsible agency. After receipt of the comments from the City, WES will incorporate the feedback into the AFH report and submit a Draft Report for Public Review. During the public review period, WES will provide materials to the City so that it may hold a formal presentation in the City. The City will record this meeting and produce a transcript to be provided to WES. Following receipt of comments on the Draft for Public Review, and after the Formal Presentation, WES will submit the final report to the City, which is to be signed by the responsible agencies on the cover page, as required by HUD when using the Assessment Tool. WES can submit the final version of the AFH to HUD via the on-line portal, if so desired by the City. B. Key Work Tasks of the Augusta Assessment of Fair Housing Several methodological tasks were cited in Augusta's Scope of Work, starting on page 11 of the request for proposal package. To emphasize our commitment to the City and the AHA, WES is restating them here, with some aggregation. Task 1 Using the Assessment Tool and AFH User Interface. This tool is accessed through the WASS (Web Access Security Subsystem) user interface. One must be assigned the proper rights to create an AFH for the area under consideration. • While only program participants initially have access to the Assessment, the City will provide WES will access to the User Interface so that WES may prepare the on-line AFH using the Assessment Tool. • As part of the registration process for using the Assessment Tool, the City of Augusta and the AHA will need to provide WES with its Federal Tax ID or Participant ID. Task 2 Community Engagement Process. WES proposes several tasks and sub-tasks that will aid in promoting citizen participation and involvement in the AFH development process, as follows. • At the Orientation Meeting, WES will submit a draft Community Engagement Plan (CEP) that will identify the citizen engagement process. It will identify the specific outreach goals, methods, audiences, and activities to be undertaken to enhance community participation. Each piece of the CEP are described below. • WES is suggesting that the City and AHA incorporate four Consultation Meetings with key stakeholders, to be held approximately every other month throughout development of the AFH. For the first meeting, the City will address why the AFH must be completed Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 8 and what it means for the Consolidated Plan and PHA Plan. At each of the remaining meetings, we will be reviewing the status of the AFH development process and culminating in a review of prospective fair housing issues, contributing factors, and prospective fair housing goals and actions. WES will provide these materials for each of the Consultation Meetings. • For the Fair Housing Survey, the City may elect to have this instrument distributed to the stakeholder group and collect their thoughts on its content. If so, WES will modify this instrument and deliver it back to the City for distribution. • The three Public Input Meetings will afford the public additional opportunities to review the AFH process and inspect preliminary findings, fair housing issues, and contributing factors, as well as offer their perspectives, commentary, and experiences with fair housing in the City. WES will prepare a PowerPoint presentation of preliminary findings for the City to introduce to the public, which will be followed by an open session for public comments or questions. One of these three meetings may be held with the AHA Resident Advisory Board (RAB). This will allow public housing residents and voucher holders to learn about and contribute to the AFH development process and discuss fair housing issues and contributing factors. If the Fair Housing Survey is being conducted, additional copies will be distributed at the Public Input and RAB meetings. WES will deliver the draft PowerPoint presentation at least two weeks prior to the first public input meeting, with WES and the City holding a Webinar, or interactive video conference, about one week prior to the meetings so that the City is comfortable with the materials to be presented. • The 2018 Fair Housing Survey will be initiated; it is a survey of citizens, stakeholders, agencies, and individuals in the Augusta's overall housing arena. The City will begin by targeting experts in the housing field, as well as underrepresented minority communities and advocates, which will allow substantive information to be collected on perceptions of laws; regulations; and practices, and procedures affecting housing choice, as well as perception of segregation, concentrations of poverty, and disparities in access to opportunity. This survey can have any number of respondents, and respondents can forward the survey to anyone they so desire. This will also be used to address the availability of stock that is accessible for residents with disabilities. Furthermore, it will be made available in printed format at various presentations, public input meetings, and at other times during the development of the AFH. • There is also a work group, the Access to Opportunity Work Group. This group will comprise experts in the employment, transit, and public health and welfare sectors and this group will meeting three times to discuss access to opportunity and how this affects selected community members. These meetings will occur at the convenience of the City, but WES will prepare the facilitation materials for each meeting and submit them to the City at least two weeks prior to each meeting. The City and WES will discuss these materials at least one week prior to each work group meeting, so that the City is comfortable presenting and facilitating the discussion group. The City will record the proceeding and prepare a transcript which will be submitted to WES soon after each meeting. Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 9 • Another task pertains to holding three more focus groups with members of the minority community, such as lower income households, and representatives of public housing and voucher holders, or the persons with disabilities. This purpose of these focus groups is to give these groups an opportunity to be heard and contribute to the AFH. With tutelage from WES, the City will explain why we are conducting the AFH, their role in helping us to complete this task; and, how the City might overcome barriers that deny them access to better jobs, a better education, a healthier environment, and easy access to other areas of the community and region. • The Key Informant Interviews, to be handled by WES, will be comprised of community leaders, advocates, and representatives that are keenly aware of the challenges faced by citizens in the community. These interviews, being confidential, will allow the participants the freedom to express the full thoughts on issues pertaining to fair housing, access to opportunity, and the challenges and barriers found throughout the City and County. Task 3 Supplementing HUD-Provided Data with Local Data and Local Knowledge. WES will work with the City and AHA to identify and supplement HUD-provided data with local data and local knowledge. • As noted in the Phase I — Orientation Discussion, WES will present an initial list of local data and prospective sources during the Orientation Meeting. • For the Key Informant Interviews, they should start during Phase II and certainly end prior to the Public Input Meetings in Phase III. • For the Access to Opportunity Work Group, it will occur during Phase II and III, such as during the Key Informant Interviews. This will add greatly to the collection of local data and knowledge. • WES will review any other factor that may be contributing to fair housing issues in the County, such as lack of investment, lack of access to financial services, lending discrimination, rental discrimination, deteriorated or blighted properties in selected areas, impediments to voucher mobility, or occupancy codes or restrictions, if such issues have come out of the research. • The access to financial services will be inspected by reviewing HMDA data from 2008 through 2015, which will be assessed by gender, race, and ethnicity by Census tract for both loan denials and loan originations. Geographic maps will be prepared to present the concentration of denial rates by race and ethnicity throughout the City as well as the distribution of loans that appear to be predatory in nature. This will be used to assess access to financial services. • Access to insurance sales and underwriting, property appraisal, and property management for both the rental and for-sale markets will be examined primarily through the 2018 Fair Housing Survey, but also as evidenced in housing complaint records and suits, or espoused during the Public Input Meeting. • Review housing complaint data from HUD, the Georgia Commission On Equal Opportunity, and any other fair housing entities operating in the County. The complaints found to be with cause will be further researched to identify recurrent and problematic violations of fair housing law, including insurance sales and underwriting. This will be used to assess contributing factors. Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 10 • WES will prepare an assessment of local public policies and practices that affect the provision of fair housing. In addition to reviewing current zoning and planning in the City, WES will incorporate public sector—related questions into the 2018 Fair Housing Survey as well. Respondents will be asked to identify fair housing issues within zoning laws, land use policies, occupancy standards or health and safety codes, property tax policies, housing construction standards, neighborhood or community development policies, and any other public administrative actions, regulations, or practices. These also may result in disparities in access to opportunity for selected protected classes. • Improper or questionable practices experienced in the real estate industry can be a real cause for disparities in opportunity. The 2018 Fair Housing Survey will also uncover perspectives, experiences, and concerns in relation to property appraisals, property management, and insurance sales and underwriting. Participants will include real estate agents and other parties involved in housing transactions, with actions pertaining to prospective redlining, reverse redlining, steering, and blockbusting reviewed. Task 4 Analyzing Fair Housing Data. WES will examine demographic, income, employment, and housing data depicting the context in which housing choices are made. • The demographic data will be drawn from Census Bureau data and will compare socio- economic characteristics by Census tract, revealing any prospective racial or ethnic segregation or over concentrations, as contained in the HUD Assessment Tool. • The dissimilarity index will be computed and tabulated for 1990, 2000, and 2010 and judged as to the direction and severity of change undergoing in the County as it relates to segregation and integration. • RCAPs and ECAPs will be identified from the Assessment Tool and trends will be assessed. • The income and employment assessment will analyze household incomes, poverty levels, and low-income populations from Census Bureau data contained in the Assessment Tool. • The housing evaluation will include an assessment of household size and overcrowding; housing type, tenure, and vacancy; age of housing; ownership and rental housing costs; and housing affordability, including median rents and values. The housing evaluation will also inspect whether housing problems fall disproportionally on any protected classes; as well, the housing evaluation will also address the disproportionate need of housing, as seen in various minority and low income communities inside the County, as drawn from the Assessment Tool. • WES will also capture the HUD released opportunity data. These are the following indexes: environmental health, job proximity, labor market, low poverty, school proficiency, transit trips, and transportation costs, as drawn from the Assessment Tool. • Data will inform the fair housing goals with metrics and measurement criteria, so that accomplishments can be measured and used in the Consolidated Plan, CAPER, and PHA Plan. Task 5 Analyzing HUD-Provided Maps and Tables. WES will be inspecting the maps and data from the AFFH data system, drawing upon the data and creating geographic maps. Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 11 • By using the Assessment Tool, WES will create geographic maps of assisted housing and public housing voucher locations and compare these to disproportionate concentrations of racial and ethnic minorities and poverty, including RCAP and ECAP areas and areas of opportunity, for current residents. • WES will draw from the Assessment Tool tables of public supported housing including public housing, project-based Section 8, other multifamily, and housing choice vouchers, by race and ethnicity. • WES will determine if these types of housing uses are concentrated in particular areas of the County, assessing whether there are adverse factors associated with employment, transportation, or low poverty opportunities, as drawn from the Assessment Tool. • WES will also examine publicly supported housing to identify any segregation or overconcentration of these housing services in any particular area of the County, using the Assessment Tool. • WES will engage in state-of-the-art ArcGIS mapping to evaluate geographic relationships among the demographic, income, employment, transportation, and housing data, including Section 8 and other assisted housing, using the Assessment Tool. Numerous maps will be prepared to represent concepts such as racial and poverty concentration, and assisted housing locations by Census tract within the City of Augusta and Richmond County. Task 6 Developing Maps and Gathering Local Data. WES will prepare maps and collect local data. Some of this will examine prior and current activities that promote fair housing. This review will cover any Fair Housing Initiative Program (FHIP) grants, fair housing testing, and housing complaints conducted by other agencies, if such data is shared by the agencies, to determine the nature and extent of housing discrimination. Additional maps and local data are described below. • WES will assess housing complaints filed with HUD, Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity, and any other local entity engaged in Fair Housing activities in the County. This includes the existence of any fair housing suits filed against any entity in the County and any fair housing testing conducted by representatives of the fair housing community, if they are willing to share these data. • WES will identify and describe fair housing practices and procedures of real estate associations and apartment owners' associations, including through any complaints filed within the County, as drawn from the 2018 Fair Housing Survey. • For the access to key financial services, these will be inspected through Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data assessed by gender, race, and ethnicity by Census tract for both loan denials and loan originations. WES will interpret the access to these mortgage services in the County. Geographic maps will be prepared to show this access throughout the County. • Additionally for the access to financial services, WES will review the geographic distribution of SBA loans made to assess investment in any RCAP and ECAP areas throughout the County. • Insurance sales and underwriting, property appraisal, and property management for both the rental and for-sale markets on behalf of the protected classes will be examined Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 12 through evaluation, housing complaint data, and perspectives gathered from stakeholders in the 2018 Fair Housing Survey. • Public sector—related questions in the 2018 Fair Housing Survey will help to identify fair housing issues within zoning laws; land use policies; and any other public administrative actions, regulations, or practices. • WES will assess any prospective inefficiency in the fair housing system through evaluation of fair housing discrimination suits, discriminatory housing practices experienced in the County, and other indicators of fair housing issues. • WES will examine the existing fair housing enforcement, outreach, and resource infrastructure, including the roles and activities of various agencies, entities, and organizations active in the local fair housing arena in the County, and will analyze their effectiveness in providing fair housing services. Task 7 Identifying Fair Housing Contributing Factors. WES will begin assembling an enumeration and prioritization of fair housing contributing factors, for the City and the AHA. These will be connected to the goal setting process. • The City, the AHA, and WES will discuss the area's fair housing desires in terms of affirmatively furthering fair housing. • WES will then begin assembling the initial list of fair housing issues and their respective contributing factors, including a draft set of fair housing goals. • WES will be prioritizing those factors that limit or deny fair housing choice, limits access to opportunity, negatively impacts fair housing choice, or violates civil rights compliance. Task 8 Setting Fair Housing Goals and Priorities. Fair housing issues will be identified, along with one or more respective fair housing goals, including actions, will be identified. • WES will articulate selected fair housing goals, with related contributing factors and related fair housing issues. WES will recommend prospective place-based and mobility based investments in which City and AHA can be comfortable considering to affirmatively further fair housing. • WES will suggest measurement criteria, intended to guide the actions and offer a time frame for achievements with selected milestones used to document the process of success. WES, the City, and the AHA will confirm the measurement criteria and actions to be taken, as well as the time schedule to be adopted and the respective responsible agency for each fair housing goal. This conversation may be held via interactive video conferencing. • All of these will be drawn from the research, analysis, and citizen engagement activities that have been performed during development of the AFH. These will be presented as fair housing goals, with each goal having one or more fair housing issues and contributing factors. Task 9 Draft AFH, Public Review, and Final Deliverables. WES will ensure that the AFH complies with the guide and that the checklist is complete. • WES will submit the Draft for Internal Review and receive comments from the City and the AHA. This review is a critical step in the process. It will require some time for the City and the AHA to consider the language used in the AFH and the commitment that Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 13 the City and the AHA will be making. WES anticipates that the review will take four weeks. • Upon receipt of comments, WES will then revise the Draft AFH and submit an updated version, as a second draft for internal review. • Upon receipt of those comments, WES will then modify the second Draft for Internal Review, based upon comments received and produce and deliver the Draft for Public Review. • After a period of time taken for the public review, and the final presentation given by the City, WES will receive any final comments or changes from the City and the AHA and submit the final report. This final report will be in two versions. One will be that which has been shared with the public; and, the other format will be a printed copy of the Assessment Tool contents. This latter version is what will be submitted to HUD electronically, with the public review version as an attachment. • The City and the AHA will need to sign the cover page prior to electronic submittal to HUD. Both entities may wish to certify prior to submittal to HUD. Task 10 Submittal of the Final AFH • WES is willing and able to submit the document using the Assessment Tool, if so desired by the City and the AHA. • WES will remain available during HUD review of the Assessment of Fair Housing. C. The City is to Provide the Following The primary services and information required from the City are described below. A. WES and the City will also discuss what the City will be called upon to provide, as follows: 1. For any and all work group sessions, consultation meetings, public meetings, and public presentations, the City will provide adequate space for such meetings. 2. For any and all work group sessions, consultation meetings, public meetings, and public presentations, an LCD projector and notebook computer from which the WES prepared PowerPoint presentation will be made by the City. 3. All advertisements and public notifications of the AFH process, its meetings and publications. 4. The City will solicit participation in the Access to Opportunity Work Group, the Key Informant Interviews, and each of the four Stakeholder consultation meetings. 5. The City will also present to WES a short list of city and county representatives to which WES will direct a planning and zoning interview concerning the use of public policy in the fair housing arena. 6. Special needs services, including translation of the survey into other languages besides English, if requested. 7. Sections of past CAPERs that address actions taken to overcome past impediments to fair housing choice, as well as Action Plans, Consolidated Plans, and PHA Plans that address affirmatively furthering fair housing certification, if available; and any commentary from HUD regarding the AFFH certification and any deficiencies in the City's or AHA fair housing activities. Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 14 8. For the Key Informant Interviews, the Access to Opportunity Work Group, and any other meeting, WES and the City will determine the schedule for such meetings during the Orientation Meeting. 9. The City will staff and facilitate the Citizen Engagement Plan, including the leading and facilitating discussion at the Consultation Meetings, Public Input Meeting, Access to Opportunity Work Group meetings, the focus group meetings, and the final presentation. WES will create and provide the facilitation materials for all these public engagement activities. D.WES Revised Budget The following value represents the sum of all our labor categories, estimated hours, hourly rates, purchased materials, travel expenses, and other related direct costs for completion of the Assessment of Fair Housing. It includes all preparatory and progress review meetings, data processing, analysis of findings, development of draft and final reports, research presentations, and interagency and related coordination activities. Western Economic Services is proposing to provide the products and services described above on a "fixed cost" and not-to-exceed basis. While this estimate may be modified if significant changes to the scope of work or contract conditions occur, WES agrees to conduct the scope of work defined herein for $50,000. The budget will be billed in ten (10) equal monthly payments over the April 1, 2018 through January 1, 2019, in the amount of $5,000. E. WES AFH Schedule WES anticipates that final contract negotiation and fully executed contract documents can be completed by February of 2018. If so, WES is willing and able to initiate contract activities soon thereafter, scheduling the Orientation Meeting to occur in March. WES will submit the Orientation Meeting agenda and draft survey for the City to review prior to the Orientation Meeting. The revised schedule is presented on the following page. Augusta,Georgia—Assessment of Fair Housing 15 Agreement Between Augusta,Georgia&Western Economic Services,LLC-2018 Exhibit 1 Revised AFH Schedule by Month A week is equal to"•" Tasks Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Meetings,conversations with the City • • • • • • • • • • • Phase I-Orientation WES submits agenda and draft survey prior to Orientation • Orientation Meeting occurs via Go-To-Meeting • WES revises survey and submits for approval • WES receives approval of data list and survey •• WES requests housing complaint data • WES begins collecting information •••• WES submits Draft Fair Housing Survey to City • Phase II—Data Collection and Analysis WES continues collection of fair housing data •••• City meets with Stakeholders for 1a consultation meeting • City makes available the Fair Housing Survey • City meets with stakeholders for 2nd consultation meeting • WES prepares tabulation of preliminary sample data • WES conducts Progress Review telephone conference • WES completes initial analysis of preliminary survey data ••• WES assimilates Census and other data •• City meets with stakeholders for 3'd consultation meeting • WES conducts analysis and begins drawing inferences ••• WES prepares preliminary findings draft Fair Housing Goals ••• WES and the City discuss preliminary goals/revise remotely • WES submits materials for the Public Input Meeting • City presents at public input meeting • WES submits preliminary findings as progress review memo • WES prepares and submits 1s`Draft Report for Internal Review ••• WES receives comments on 1s`Draft Report for Internal Review • WES submits second Draft Report for Internal Review • City meets for 4th consultation meeting • WES receives comments and submits Draft for Public Review • City holds public review period/with Presentations •••••• WES receives final comments from City and AHA • WES prepares and submits to the City and AHA the final AFH •••• City may submit to HUD by February 1,2019 I. ATTACHMENT B—Budget Consultant shall be paid in ten(10)increments and billed at$5,000.00 per increment. First increment shall be payable on or after April 1,2019 and the last on or after February 15,2019. • Assessment of Fair Housing $50,000.00 Page 16 of 16