Olympia seeks public comment on unspent development funds reallocation and project evaluation
By Lorilyn C. Lirio
The Olympia City Council wish to hear public enter on the proposed reallocation of $93,000 in unspent Community Development Block Fund (CDBG) for Project Year 2021 (PY 21).
At the council assembly Tuesday, Nov. 2, Olympia CDBG program specialist Anastasia Everett stated CDBG is a versatile grant that may assist group development by a wide range of actions, starting from housing rehabilitation, public providers, outreach of microenterprises and financial development.
A project yr begins in September of the yr and till the top of August of the next yr.
Olympia is a US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) CDBG grant recipient. The metropolis receives annual allocations by this grant program.
Everett stated metropolis workers proposed to award the unallocated funds to 2 eligible actions for the Project Year (PY) 2022 CDBG annual motion plan:
- For the pilot Heat pump group buy marketing campaign, $75,000 in unspent PY 20221 funds are proposed to South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity. This funding is predicted to supply weatherproofing and warmth pump set up for 10 to fifteen houses in Olympia.
- The funds had been granted Ambassadors within the metropolis middle in PY 2022 for $35,000. The City proposes to award further unallocated PY 2021 funds of $18,000. The whole Downtown Ambassadors award for PY 2022 could be $53,000.
According to Everett, proposed modifications to the annual motion plan should undergo CDBG’s Citizen Participation Plan, which features a 30-day public comment interval and a public listening to earlier than being thought of for approval.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark Gilman opened the public listening to on the proposed CDBG amendments. No one registered.
Everett introduced that the 30-day public comment interval runs from October 14, 2022 to November 14, 2022. Written feedback might be despatched to the Olympia City Council, 601 4th Ave E, Olympia, WA 98501, or [email protected] . we.
Evaluation of the CDBG program
The City Council additionally opened the public listening to on the CDBG PY 2021 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER).
“CDBG regulations require grantees to submit an annual performance report to HUD within 90 days of the close of the program year,” Everett defined.
Olympia recognized 5 objectives to pursue with CDBG funding over the five-year consolidated plan interval from PY 2018 to PY 2022:
- Housing rehabilitation
- public providers
- Economic development
- Acquisition of land
- Improvements to public services
For PY 2021, Everett listed the town’s initiatives below the consolidated CDBG plan:
- 62 rehabilitated models, similar to Drexel Permanent Supportive Home and Quixote Village
- Three single-family houses rehabilitated by Rebuild Together Thurston County
- 1,853 people within the downtown core acquired help from Downtown Ambassadors
- Four small companies acquired technical help and are anticipated to transition to a cooperative enterprise mannequin by 2023
Everett stated the 30-day public comment interval for CAPER is operating concurrently with the proposed modification to the CDBG PY 2022 annual motion plan.
The comment interval runs from October 12 to November 14.
CAPER submission to HUD is on or earlier than November 30, 2022.
