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Home My WebLink AboutA042 - Hearing for Approval of 2025-2026 Annual Action Plan for the City's Community Development (CDBG) & HOME ProgramsITEM #:46 DATE:08-12-25 DEPT:P&H SUBJECT:PUBLIC HEARING ON RESOLUTION APPROVING SUBMITTAL OF 2025- 2026 ANNUAL ACTION PLAN FOR THE CITY'S COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (CDBG) AND HOME PROGRAMS COUNCIL ACTION FORM BACKGROUND: As part of the City’s approved 2024-29 Five-Year Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Consolidated Plan, the City must submit an Annual Action Plan that outlines the proposed activities and budget to be implemented in FY 2025/26. A ction Plan activities should be consistent with the goals and priorities identified in the Consolidated Plan. The Consolidated Plan goals address support for creating and sustaining affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households, as well as for non-low- and moderate-income households, with specified outcomes related to each goal. The specific goals and outcomes are part of Attachment I. Attachments I-IV-B from the May 13, 2025, City Council meeting can be viewed at this link: Prior Attachments I-IV-B PUBLIC FORUMS INPUT: Public Forum input was obtained through an in-person event and a survey. On March 13, 2025, City staff hosted in-person public forums to gather feedback regarding possible projects for consideration for the 2025-26 CDBG/HOME Annual Action Plan. Five individuals attended the in-person forums. Attendees included representatives from Central Iowa Regional Housing Authority (CIRHA), Story County General Assistance, YSS, Story County Community Housing Corporation, and one resident of Ames (see Attachment II for the input). Additionally, staff gathered input through a CDBG/HOME survey of approximately 87 interested CDBG followers. Eleven responses were received (see Attachment III for the results). The public feedback focused on providing more affordable housing, assistance to non-profit organizations for shelter rehabilitation, neighborhoods, and programs for low-income households. On May 13, 2025, staff presented the public forum comments and proposed project for the 2025-26 Annual Action Plan. However, in that HUD had not announced the 2025-26 CDBG/HOME Allocations, the project budget was based on the 2024-25 CDBG/HOME Allocations. Due to time constraints in preparing the plan, providing for a 30-day comment period, and conducting a public hearing to submit the plan by the statutory deadline of August 16th, staff recommended and City Council approved the following allocations scenarios: 1) If the new allocation amounts are lower than the 2024-25 allocations, staff will adjust all 1 programs equally. 2) If the allocation amounts are greater, staff will increase the Public Infrastructure Water System Improvements Program in LMI Census Tract 10 by 70% and the Public Facilities Rehabilitation Program by 30% of the increased amount. Based on the above information, the City Council directed staff to prepare the 2025-26 Annual Action Plan for a 30-day comment period. On May 14, 2025, HUD notified the City that for the fiscal year 2025-26, our CDBG allocation would be $552,927 (a $18,805 increase from 2024), and our HOME allocation would be $278,382.26 (a $21,895.26 increase from 2024). Given that both allocations were increases, staff revised the 2025-26 project budgets as outlined in Attachment IV-A for the CDBG projects and Attachment IV-B for the HOME projects. Below is a summary of the revised project highlights consistent with the attached proposed budgets. In addition to the program funding, administrative set asides are also accounted for in the attached budgets. CDBG Continuing 2024-25 projects into the next fiscal year: Renter Affordability Program—$80,118 Homebuyer Assistance Program—$234,000 Single-Family Housing Rehabilitation Program—$248,000 Public Infrastructure Improvements-Sidewalk Repair Program—$67,748 Disposition of Properties—$15,000 Public Facility Improvement Program (Pocket Park Baker Subdivision) $15,824 Public Infrastructure Water System Improvements Program in LMI Census Tract 10, specifically, North Russell $18,825 CDBG New 2025-26 Projects: Public Facilities Rehabilitation Program for area non-profit organizations funded through ASSET-$154,513 Public Infrastructure Water System Improvements Program in LMI Census Tract 10, specifically, S. Riverside and S. Russell streets- $1,408,826; (Continuation of previous program with new projects). The projected revenue for 2025-26 CDBG includes the following three sources: 1. Revenue of $552,927 based on the current year allocation 2. Program income from the sale of three Habitat home lots in Baker Subdivision ($150,000), along with the projected sale of five of the eleven market-rate lots in Baker Subdivision (avg. of $74,955 per lot, totaling $374,775) 3. Projected 2024-25 rollover balance of approximately $1,290,907 HOME Continuing 2024-25 projects into the next fiscal year: New Single-Family Home Construction- $492,798 Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Program (TBRA)- $200,000 Close Out of the LIHTC Project (Creekside)- $210,000 2 No new programs are proposed for the HOME program. The proposed revenue for HOME for 2025-26 is the $278,382 annual allocation and the projected 2024-25 rollover balance of $991,110. PUBLIC COMMENT: The proposed plan and budget was made available for public comment from July 9th through August 7, 2025. One comment was received during the comment period (see attached). The commenter requests the City consider a subsidy or cost reduction program related to garbage collection. Considering all the feedback received, the staff recommends that we proceed with the proposed revised projects and budget for the 2025-26 Annual Action Plan, as presented (see Revised Attachments CDBG-IV-A and HOME-IV-B). The proposed projects align with the goals and priorities outlined in our 2024-2029 5-Year Consolidated Plan. ALTERNATIVES: 1. City Council can adopt a Resolution to approve the proposed 2025-26 Annual Action Plan Program Projects and budget (Revised Attachments IV-A, IV-B) and authorize the submittal of the plan to HUD on or by August 16, 2025. 2. City Council can adopt a Resolution to approve the proposed 2025-26 Annual Action Plan Program Projects and budget (Revised Attachments IV-A, IV-B) and authorize the submittal of the plan to HUD on or by August 16, 2025, with modifications. CITY MANAGER'S RECOMMENDED ACTION: All of the projects will continue to help address the needs identified in the 2024-29 Five- Year Consolidated Plan. Part of the program planning includes consideration of spending requirements for timeliness. The substantial water infrastructure program assists a low income neighborhood and will substantially assist the City in meeting its timeliness test for expenditures. Implementation of all the programs will be dependent on HUD staffing and program support along with local staffing. Therefore, it is the recommendation of the City Manager that the City Council adopt Alternative #1. ATTACHMENT(S): CDBG-HOME 2025-26 Budget Attachment IV-A Revised HOME 2025-26 Budget Attachment IV-B Revised Attachment B-30-Day Comment.pdf 3 2025-26 CDBG Budget Allocation 2025-26 Proposed 552,927$ 524,775$ 1,290,907$ 2,368,609$ (110,585)$ (15,170)$ -$ (125,755)$ 442,342$ 509,605$ 1,290,907$ 2,242,854$ 100,000$ 24,000$ 124,000$ 248,000$ 47,180$ 20,568$ -$ 67,748$ City Wide NRSA LMI 104,513$ 50,000$ -$ 154,513$ 720,980$ 956,372$ 1,468,300$ -$ -$ 15,824$ 15,824$ 22.92%30.40%46.68% -$ -$ 18,825$ 18,825$ 10,531$ 405,037$ 993,258$ 1,408,826$ -$ -$ 15,000$ 15,000$ 442,342$ 509,605$ 1,290,907$ 2,242,854$ 552,927$ (110,585)$ 442,342$ 150,000$ (15,170)$ 134,830$ 374,775$ -$ 374,775$ 1,077,702$ (125,755)$ 951,947$ 1,290,907$ -$ 1,290,907$ 1,290,907$ -$ 1,290,907$ *Anticipate Selling 5 of 11 Market Rate Lots During July - October 2025 Homebuyer Assistance Program Disposition of Properties (1107 Grand, 621 Grand, 1514 Duff, Baker Subdivision) Public Infrastructure Improvements - Sidewalk Programs Public Facilities Rehabilitation Program (Non-Profits) Single-Family Housing Rehabilitation Program Public Infrastructure Improvements (Water System Improvements - S. Riverside & S. Russell) Public Infrastructure Improvements (Water System Improvements - N. Russell) Public Facilities Improvements Program (Baker Pocket Park) 2025-26 CDBG Allocation (Actual Allocation) 2025-26 Anticipated Program Income (Sale of Five Market Rate Lots, Avg Sale Price $74,955)* 2024-25 Estimated Remaining Expenses 2024-25 Remaining Total Balance -$ -$ -$ (N/A) PROPOSED 2025-26 Action Plan Expenditure Budget: 2025-26 Anticipated Program Income (Sale of Three Habitat Houses) PROPOSED 2025-26 Action Plan Revenue Budget: Less: CDBG Administration (20% Cap) Renter Affordability Program (15% Cap) 4 2025-26 HOME Budget Allocation 2025-26 HOME Anticipated Proposed HOME Program 278,382$ 991,110$ 1,269,492$ (27,838)$ (149,536)$ (177,374)$ (41,757)$ (147,563)$ (189,320)$ 208,787$ 694,011$ 902,798$ 208,787$ 284,011$ 492,798$ -$ 200,000$ 200,000$ -$ 210,000$ 210,000$ 208,787$ 694,011$ 902,798$ 278,382$ (69,595)$ 208,787$ 278,382$ (69,595)$ 208,787$ 991,110$ (297,099)$ 694,011$ -$ -$ -$ 991,110$ (297,099)$ 694,011$ 1,269,492$ (366,694)$ 902,798$ Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) Less: CHDO (15%) PROPOSED 2025-26 Action Plan Expenditure Budget: 2025-2026 Proposed HOME Projects Total Allocations Less: HOME Administration (10% Cap) Total Anticipated 2025-26 HOME Balance PROPOSED 2025-26 Action Plan Revenue Budget: 2024-25 Estimated Remaining Expenses LIHTC Project Total Anticipated 2025-26 Allocation Balance 2025-26 HOME Allocation (Actual Allocation) 2024-25 Remaining Total Balance Program Totals 5 ATTACHMENT B 30-day Public Comment Period From: Roxanne Thompson <rjthomps60@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, August 4, 2025 3:13 PM To: Baker-Latimer, Vanessa <vanessa.bakerlatimer@cityofames.org> Subject: CDBG/HOME Annual Plan Hello, Vanessa, Thank you for requesting public input regarding the CDBG/HOME Annual Plan. I will share my thoughts below on an activity that I believe could meet the 3 national objectives: • Beneﬁt persons of low and moderate income • Aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight • Meet other community development needs of particular urgency Over the years, my husband and I have noticed several company’s garbage pickup vehicles driving throughout the city of Ames. This appears to be a waste of time, resources, and increases environmental pollution. It seems like the City of Ames offering garbage collection would address this issue and meet the above objectives. We do appreciate the opportunity to recycle items, so we make regular trips to the Resource Recovery Plant location to drop off several boxes of various items, during which, whatever time of day we go, we do not see many people dropping off their recycling items. We are both retired so we do have the time to organize the various items in different boxes and deliver them, but we doubt that we would have been able to ﬁt it into our busy schedules when we were both working full-time and raising our family. We currently have weekly garbage pick-up, at the cost of $21.00/month, but we generally do not have the garbage container full each week since we are taking a signiﬁcant amount of “garbage” to be recycled. We could easily get by with every other week pick-up but that is not an option with our current provider. And as I mentioned that we have the time to work through the current recycling process, we also can afford the $21/month garbage pick-up fee, but I am sure there are many families that would beneﬁt from paying less for every other week pick-ups. My sister and her family reside in Hopkins, MN (with a population around 19,000) and the city offers every other week garbage collection for $15.21/month, plus recycling collection to its residents at the cost of $ 5.64/month and organic recycling collection for $6.00/month. In addition to the above information, I “Googled” how the city of Ames providing garbage/recycling pick- up at an affordable cost will beneﬁt persons of low and moderate income, prevent or eliminate slums or blight and meet community development needs and the following information was offered: 6 • by reducing the cost • it will improve public health by disease prevention, reduced water contamination, and improved air quality • provide an enhanced quality of life and environment with improved neighborhood aesthetics • offer increased jobs in waste collection, sorting, processing, and manufacturing • address housing issues by utilizing construction and demolition waste to create more affordable housing options I also wish to add that if it is determined that other uses of the CDBG and HOME funds are identiﬁed that will better meet the three national objectives for our community, I understand and I appreciate your efforts in making these decisions. Thank you for your time and service to our community! Roxanne Thompson 7