Huntington Beach CPAP recommends CDBG and HOME funding allocations, cites estimated $2.4 million in next-year resources

Charles Kovac, the city’s housing manager, presented the citizen participation advisory board’s funding recommendations for Huntington Beach’s federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) programs. “For 2025–26 program year, the city has not yet received its CDBG and HOME allocations from HUD. So the proposed budget is based upon the current year allocations,” Kovac said, and he identified estimated allocations of about $1,120,000 for CDBG and $538,000 for HOME.

The recommendations matter because the CDBG and HOME grants are federal entitlement funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that the city uses for housing, homelessness services, infrastructure and public services serving low- and moderate-income residents. Kovac said program income and carryover from prior years were included in staff’s estimate, producing approximately $2.4 million available for the next program year.

Kovac outlined CPAP’s process: a Notice of Funding Availability, seven actual applications from more than 25 outreach targets, three public CPAP meetings to hear applicants and make funding recommendations, and alignment with the city’s five-year Consolidated Plan (adopted Feb. 2020). He described the CDBG spending caps CPAP used in its recommendations: a maximum of 15% for public services and up to 20% for administration, with the balance typically directed to capital and housing preservation projects.

Vice Chair Padahar, representing the Citizen Participation Advisory Board, thanked council and described unanimity on the board’s recommended allocations for public services. Padahar said the board recommended six local organizations for CDBG public-service awards and that Open Arms Food Pantry was the only applicant the board did not recommend for funding, citing the pantry’s regional footprint and the pantry’s absence at its scheduled presentation to CPAP.

Kovac explained contingency plans: if the HUD allocation is higher than assumed, CPAP recommended splitting any increase evenly among the six recommended organizations; if the allocation is lower, CPAP recommended proportional reductions by a weighted average. For HOME funds, staff proposed continuing tenant-based rental assistance (TBRA) agreements (noting Mercy House and Family Promise as current service providers in the transcript), funding a mobile-home TBRA program for seniors, reserving the 15% CHDO (community housing development organization) set-aside for a future project, and using up to 10% for HOME administration. Kovac also said staff proposes using prior-year HOME administration funds to offset certain work in 2025–26 such as the annual action plan, HUD-mandated fair-housing services and monitoring, and salaries to implement HOME activities.

Kovac closed by summarizing next steps: the draft 2025–2029 Consolidated Plan and the draft 2025–26 Action Plan will be released for 30-day public review beginning April 4 through May 6; the city council will consider the consolidated plan and action plan at a required public hearing on May 6; and, if approved, staff will submit plans to HUD by May 15 for the program year beginning July 1.

The CPAP presentation and board recommendations will be forwarded to the council as part of the consolidated-plan and action-plan process; staff noted that final funding levels are subject to HUD’s actual allocations, which were not available at the time of the presentation.