Travis County commissioners approved six projects to be funded with Community Development Block Grant money at a meeting Tuesday morning.
The CDBG program is run by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. CDBG funds provide communities with resources to address a range of community development needs, including infrastructure, activities and programs, and more. HUD determines the grant amount using a formula composed of several measures to include community need, population and more.
Christy Moffett, senior planner for the CDBG program, said there has been a delay in the federal budget process, and HUD has not notified the county of the program year 2017 allocation amounts. As a result, CDBG staff is using an estimated amount based on this year’s allocation. Moffett said the county is anticipating a decrease in funds.
The county has over $1 million available for funding with allocations for administration and planning, public service and community development.
Funding available—$1,087,585
20 percent or $217,517—administration and planning
15 percent or $163,138—public service
65 percent or $706,930—community development
Proposed projects:
Owner-occupied home rehabilitation project—This would provide a grant, up to $24,999, to improve homes for low- to moderate-income homeowners.
Proposed funding: $715,818
Impact: 28 housing units to be assisted with this
“The reason we are wanting to put this much money into home repair for this year is because the 2018 budget is unclear,” Moffett said. “In the current administration’s budget, they want to zero out the CDBG program. This is one our most popular projects. We just want to make sure that in the instance that there is no funding in the future for CDBG that we give them a nice amount of money they can work through and assist as many homes as they can.”
Family Social Services social work services expansion—This would expand existing social services to outlying areas.
Proposed funding: $35,000
Impact: 125 individuals
“We are looking to transition out of this project as all the goals for this project have been met,” Moffett said. “This year will be considered for partial funding, and FSS will find additional funding.”
Money-management and housing stability services—This would provide funds for a case manager to provide money-management services for elderly clients that will include low- to moderate-income seniors, disabled individuals and homeless veterans
Proposed funding: $65,000
Impact: 80 individuals
Science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, education for girls—The project would fund direct costs related to the implementation of a program. Three elementary schools have been identified, and are all in Travis County Precinct 2 with high numbers of economically disadvantaged, non-white or at-risk students. The program would provide weekly free activities for students, professional development for teachers and support for science fairs at partner schools.
Proposed funding: $25,000
Impact: 75 children
Precinct 1 Commissioner Jeff Travillion questioned whether precincts 1 and 4 were considered for the project, highlighting the need for more programs in the low-income area.
“We know we have a strong interest in moving toward precincts 1 and 4,” Moffett said. “This will be the initial allocation, and then hopefully we can partner and find more opportunities in some of the other schools further east.”
Tenant’s rights and fair housing counseling—The program reaches out to unincorporated areas in the county and in the Village of Webberville to provide services for tenant’s rights, fair housing and other related outreach services.
Proposed funding: $29,250
Impact: 50 individuals
CDBG administration and planning—The project funds grant administration, partially funds two CDBG planners and one administrative position, fair housing activities, planning and related operating costs.
Proposed funding: $217,517
Proposed alternate projects:
Pamela Heights/Brenda Street improvements—$325,000
Pamela Heights/Connie Street improvements—$275,500
Pamela Heights/Patricia Street improvements--$275,500
Owner-occupied home rehabilitation—up to $500,000
Land acquisition for affordable housing—up to $500,000
Owner-occupied septic system program—up to $500,000
Disaster response interim assistance—up to $100,000
"[The Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources Department] provided us with three projects in the Pamela Heights neighborhood, which is in Precinct 2,” Moffett said. “We had to get some technical assistance from HUD for this project. I am happy to report that they got back to us, and they feel we can move forward with this project if we wish to.”
Reprogramming funds:
The county also had a substantial amount of money that it needed to reallocate from program years 2015 and 2016 due to canceled projects. A total of $272,356.71 has to be reallocated for program year 2015, and a total of $266,053 must be reallocated for project year 2016. County staff recommended two projects.
Land acquisition for affordable housing development: multifamily housing at McKinney Falls—This funding would be used for land acquisition in support of a proposed project at McKinney Falls. The project will provide an estimated 312 units of new rental housing, and of those, 296 will be set aside for families earning between 50-60 percent of the area median income.
Proposed funding: $512,983
Impact: 312 housing units
“This helps us spend the unallocated money available, gives us focus on the program year 2016 project and meets our goals of getting our first multifamily project under our belt,” Moffett said.
Allocation of funds to the owner-occupied home rehabilitation project for project delivery costs—This project would provide funds for project delivery related to the ongoing home repair project implemented by Meals on Wheels and More. Specifically, the funds would be used for CDBG staff to complete required environmental reviews of properties in the home repair project application pipeline.
Proposed funding: $15,340.71
What’s next
Public comment period—June 26-July 25
Approval of the final draft—Aug. 8
Submission to HUD—Aug. 15