The City Planning Commission approved amendments to federal documents Thursday that help clear the way for allocating CARES Act funding to residents with overdue utility bills.
Planning commission approval is the first of several steps that must be taken to designate $419,193 in Community Development Block Grant COVID-19 funding to a utilities assistance program already operated by the Lawton Housing Authority. The City of Lawton and other governmental entities across the country qualify for multiple layers of federal funding under the CARES Act, enacted to help offset problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
City officials said in late May that residents experiencing economic problems include those who have not paid city utility bills and bills from other utility companies. The City of Lawton had suspended its policy of shutting off water meters for unpaid utility bills, but that policy ended this month with the ending of the city's Civil Emergency Proclamation. The city's utility services division has begun notifying customers that they must repay or make arrangements to repay their debts or face suspension of service. Residents with past due utility bills are being offered three options for paying their debt, including recommendation to a utility assistance program.
Deputy City Manager Richard Rogalski said after analyzing a variety of COVID-19 options, city staff recommended the $419,193 in CDBG funding be designated for residents needing help covering overdue utility bills. Christine James, supervisor of the city's housing and community development office, said there was no need to "recreate the wheel," explaining Lawton Housing Authority already has a utility assistance program in place to help low-income residents and it was her office's recommendation to designate CDBG funding toward it.
Doing that means amending city plans that specify to the Department of Housing and Urban Development how CDBG funds will be spent. That's the action the planning commission took Thursday in its first meeting in about three months. The recommendation to approve the Consolidated 5-Year Plan amendment and the Annual Action Plan amendment was referred to the City Council, which will take formal action on the proposal Tuesday.
James and Rogalski said city officials and the housing authority are proceeding on the assumption that approval will occur (council members indicated in May they support the idea) and applicants approved for the assistance program will receive "vouchers" that tell utility companies their past due bills will be paid.
They also said that while funding is designated for spending through 2021, city officials will give the utilities assistance program a period of time to help residents, then reassess remaining funding to determine if it will continue to be dedicated to utility bills or directed to another program. Federal guidelines specify the funds must be used for issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic; they can't be used for things such as making up for lost revenue.
James said because the program is funded with federal dollars, there are guidelines that qualified residents must adhere to, to include presenting copies of past due utility bills with a termination of service notice, along with verification of income and residency. Applications will be made through the Lawton Housing Authority, which also will notify those who apply about other programs — such as rental assistance — for which they may qualify.
"It's an important program," Rogalski said, noting the benefits to residents who may be suffering because of the results of actions taken during the pandemic.
City officials said in late May that they already had almost $1 million in delinquent utility bills from residents who had not or could not make payments.
Jervis Jackson, director of the Continuum of Care that operates under the auspices of Lawton Support Services (which operates with the Lawton Housing Authority), said the utility assistance program is among a series of programs intended to help residents. Those programs are coordinated through an intake system that matches residents with the assistance they need, including utility bills.
"It was a natural place to begin when the city looked at how they may be able to actually use the additional (CDBG) funds," Jackson said. "They utilize the system we already have in place."
While the system has linked to multiple help programs, the city-designated CARE funds are restricted to utility assistance, which means gas, electricity and City of Lawton utility water bills.
While there is a steady need for such help, Jackson said there has been an increase in requests for help.
"The first two days, it was just a few people. Today (Thursday), we were inundated, especially with water bills, since the City of Lawton started to do shutdowns," he said, adding these applications are different because while a typical applicant may ask for help with one bill, some of these applicants have three months of past due bills.
As a result, requests for funding are larger: Jackson noted one request with a $2,600 electric bill, the total of three months of unpaid bills.
"Those are the kinds of things we're seeing," he said. "We're seeing extraordinary bills."
The good news for qualified applicants: there isn't a cap on the amount of help to be provided.
"There just has to be a show of need," Jackson said, explaining the steps for applicants including meeting federal low-income eligibility guidelines and proving there is imminent danger of shutting off their service "so we can determine an immediacy."
Jackson said residents can call about the utility assistance program, or any other program, by calling the Lawton Housing Authority office at (580) 595-0063. Applications also are available at the office at 609 SW F, which will reopen to the public Monday.
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City of Lawton to help residents with utility bills - The Lawton Constitution
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