On June 19^th at 3 pm the City of New Rochelle held its annual Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) information session at City Hall.  

CDBG is a program of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) intended to provide decent housing, a suitable living environment, and expanded economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income (LMI) in urban communities.  

Each year, New Rochelle receives about $1.5 million through the CDBG program, as well as about $500,000 a year from HUD’s HOME Investment Partnership Program, which is designed specifically to support affordable housing for low-income families.

The city distributes a portion of these funds to non-profit corporations that submit grant applications to the city’s Department of Development. The Development Department ranks these applications and submits a recommended funding plan to the City Council for final approval.  It generally takes more than a year for funds to be approved and disbursed after applications are received.

The information session on June 19 was for agencies intending to apply for 2024 CDBG funds.  The application deadline is noon on July 21^st. Further information on the CBDG program and application materials can be found here.

At the meeting it was explained that the 2023 funding requests that were submitted in July 2022 have been submitted to HUD, and the City is expecting approval to disburse funds sometime in September. The City will then enter into contracts with these agencies, and they will begin to spend the 2023 CDBG funds.  The agencies will be reimbursed via voucher system in January 2024.

Decisions about which programs will be funded are based on a 5-year “Consolidated Plan” and an “Annual Action Plan” developed by the city that identify local needs in housing and community development and establish local goals for CDBG funds.  The city’s Consolidated Plan for 2023-27 and the 2023 Annual Action Plan can be found here.   

 The Consolidated Plan’s “Strategic Plan Summary” reads as follows:

“The purpose of the Strategic Plan is to guide the use of CDBG and HOME funds over the next 5 years to best remediate priority needs. In New Rochelle, these significant needs include a lack of affordable homes, either rental or for-sale; declining conditions in affordable housing; and a demand for youth, elderly and homeless resources and services. Additional opportunities for skills development and job placement are needed to support the growth and development of employment and small businesses. Investing in deteriorating public infrastructure will improve community service; for example, redesigning the transit center will provide equitable access to transit and jobs. Childcare is another growing need and potential focus area. Many licensed childcare providers are woman or minority owned and provide a vital service needed by parents/caregivers of LMI families as they work or seek employment. The effects of climate change are disproportionately felt in LMI communities, and investments in infrastructure are needed to protect the most vulnerable populations from climate hazards.”

At the June 19 meeting, the Parks Department spoke briefly about how they plan on using CDBG to improve various City parks including Lincoln pool, services to seniors, youth and the disabled.  It was noted that childcare and climate hazards have been added as consolidated plan priority needs in the 2023-2027 Draft Consolidated Plan. 

The major issues of housing and poverty are clearly defined, yet the bulk of the funds in the draft plan will go towards projects that have not and will not improve the conditions in affordable housing, nor increase the number of affordable units for rental or for sale.  

The public infrastructure improvement continues to be limited to playgrounds and the transit center, while the need for green space, flood mitigation and improvement to our aged NRMHA and Mascaro Boys & Girls Club buildings are not addressed.  

Across Westchester County, CDBG funds are used to provide vans to seniors and youth, weatherization assistance to seniors who own their own homes, and improvements to local youth centers, senior centers and low income housing. New Rochelle’s City Council should look to see how other locations use the CDBG funds to have a direct impact on those with the greatest need before they approve yet another consolidated plan.