The city will likely redirect a $2.6 million unused Community Development Block Grant intended for home repairs to create more housing for the homeless in the next budget year.
Last week the Community Development Commission voted 9-2 to approve the 2020-21 action plan drafted by the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department, which lays out how the city will use federal Housing and Urban Development dollars. Commissioners Bertha Delgado and Michael Tolliver voted against the item, which needed eight votes to be approved.
The money for home repairs is being recommended for reallocation because of long-acknowledged bottlenecks in securing contractors to perform repairs and the difficulty in getting the work done during the pandemic.
The plan for next year, which is part of a larger five-year plan approved last year, will receive a public hearing with City Council on July 30 and is set for possible adoption on Aug. 15.
Rebecca Giello, deputy director of Neighborhood Housing and Community Development, said the reallocation of unused funds toward more hotel and motel conversions wouldn’t affect future funding for the home repairs program, which commission members pointed out has a waiting list of several thousand people.