HOME, CDBG funds will be used to address local housing concerns
By MADELEINE YOUNG — city@theaggie.org
According to a city press release from Dec. 16, 2022, up to $1.2 million in Federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and Housing Investment Partnership (HOME) programs will be awarded to support affordable housing and social services to low- and moderate-income Davis residents in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
The city estimates $780,000 in CDBG and $460,000 in HOME funds which will be used to provide meals, shelter, transportation, healthcare, elder care, mental health and homelessness services and housing, according to the press release.
Davis Assistant City Manager Kelly Stachowicz discussed how allocating HOME and CDBG funds will impact low-income residents and people experiencing homelessness.
“The grants are based on critical needs that the city has determined such as providing assistance to prevent or help people who are unsheltered,” Stachowicz said. “They assist vulnerable populations like the homeless and such as the elderly or individuals with disabilities.”
CDBG funds historically have gone to multiple Davis nonprofit organizations such as Yolo County Meals on Wheels — a nonprofit that is currently providing meals for about 580 elderly citizens throughout Yolo County — according to Joy Cohan, Meals on Wheels in Yolo County’s executive director.
“[Meals on Wheels] has over the past several years applied for and been awarded community development block grant funding through the city of Davis specific to our service for Davis seniors,” Cohan said. “Right now we are serving about 130 seniors in Davis and these grants are helping to offset our raw food costs related to the preparation of those meals.”
While CDBG funds are often used for organizations like Meals on Wheels, Yolo Hospice and Empower Yolo, 15% of these funds are allocated to making the county more compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), through projects like building ADA-approved sidewalks and ramps, according to Stachowicz.
“It creates something of a support mechanism for the whole totality of what our service entails,” Cohan said. “It’s the meals, the packaging, the logistics around recruiting volunteers and getting the meals into the hands of the seniors.”
The HOME grants awarded have been used in multiple projects in order to help assist in providing affordable housing throughout the county such as in Willowbank Park, Verona, Mahogany Lane and other areas.
“HOME funds are for affordable housing in the county,” Stachowicz said. “We generally try to use those for a project or purpose that is usually constructing new, affordable units and it’s usually used as gap funding for a project that is piecing together all the different funding sources from usually a lot of different places for affordable housing.”
After awarding funds to Mutual Housing California with the help of HOME grants, the Adelante Development project, a 38-unit mutual housing community on Fifth Street in Davis, was completed during Jan. 2022.
In the coming years, more developments are expected in order to help address affordable housing and homelessness according to the city of Davis website. According to Stachowicz, the CDBG and HOME funds will be allocated accordingly in order to benefit the populations that need it most.
Written by: Madeleine Young — city@theaggie.org
