2018 Annual Community Assessment Report

Home

December 3, 2019 Page 2 required, the BTG provided a timely written response to CPD to document the updates made to its policies and procedures manual for its Coordinated Entry System (CES) to increase the capacity of its access points, to address the timely referral of persons experiencing homelessness to available housing units and training of staff who are required to comply with the CES. On November 22, 2019, the BTG was informed that the CPD Finding M19-015 was closed and no further action needed to be taken. The County is committed to ensure that appropriate and on-going training is conducted with all program providers to ensure compliance with the written CES policies and procedures. Lastly, the County being identified as a High-Risk grantee is of great concern. CDBG-DR funds are a critical resource to the recovery of Hawai'i Island after the devastation caused by the 2018 volcanic eruption. The County acknowledges that any appearance of misrepresentation was completely unintentional. As a potential grantee for the CDBG-DR funds, the entire planning process, compounded by the uniqueness of the volcanic disaster posed even greater challenges for the County to implement a grant of such a substantial amount without prior experience. Since then, we have officially organized a Disaster Recovery Team under the Planning Department. Key departments include Research and Development, Planning, Office of Housing and Community Development, Finance, Civil Defense, Consultant Tetra Tech, as well as my office who are working together to develop plans and strategies for the use of the CDBG-DR funds. The grant will be administered by Douglas Nam Le, who has prior experience managing CDBG-DR funds on the East Coast with Hurricane Sandy. Thank you for the opportunity to comment. Sincerely, Harry Kim Mayor c: Duane Hosaka, Administrator Office of Housing & Community Development County of Hawaii is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer