County development staff present 2025–2029 HUD consolidated plan, estimates nearly $11 million over five years

Butler County development director David Fair told commissioners on April 8 that staff completed a draft 2025–2029 HUD Consolidated Plan and a 2025 action plan and will bring both documents to the board for a vote next week.

Fair said the consolidated plan guides how the county allocates Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME funds for low- and moderate-income residents. The office estimates roughly $11,000,000 in combined CDBG and HOME allocations for the 2025–2029 period, with a projected total of about $10.9 million in the proposed plan compared with roughly $11.3 million in the prior five-year plan.

Staff said they used census and American Community Survey data, a consultant (And Associates), and extensive outreach to inform priorities. Outreach included 44 online stakeholder interviews, 12 in-depth stakeholder interviews, 250 public survey responses and two public meetings (in-person and Zoom) with 21 attendees. The proposed plan reduces the previous six priority categories to five; economic development was removed as a stand-alone priority because the county now relies on other tools such as the Butler County Finance Authority.

The plan’s top priorities are quality and affordability of housing; neighborhood revitalization (including streets, sidewalks, water and sewer, stormwater and broadband); development of transitional and permanent supportive housing; public services (transportation, job training, childcare, mental-health and substance-use services, senior programs and services for people with disabilities); and public facilities/infrastructure.

Fair reviewed results from the prior 2020–2024 period: down payment assistance helped 230 households (the program is capped at $8,000 per household and delivered as a five-year forgivable lien with annual 20% forgiveness); targeted rental and housing rehab delivered 3 units; acquisition, rehab and resale 10 units; new home construction 8 units; transitional and special-needs housing 51 units; home repair 268 units; fair-housing assistance to 74 households; demolition 5 units. Staff estimated infrastructure projects served about 81,000 residents and public facilities about 22,000.

Commissioners asked for clarifications about HUD-allowable program administration costs (staff said community-development staff are funded by HUD program admin dollars and the county has not supported them with general fund money for roughly 15 years). Commissioners also discussed project-specific choices: a commissioner asked whether the funds earmarked for a New Miami repaving project could be shifted to the New Miami Community Center to support a resource fair and services for people living in a local encampment.

The meeting included extended discussion connecting the consolidated plan and community homelessness practice. Commissioners and participants raised that service providers — including Serve City Shelter — had recently moved or evicted long-term occupants to make space for higher-priority vouchers for youth homelessness; several commissioners said they received calls about displaced residents and asked staff to follow up. One commissioner asked staff to convene a work session and to invite the balance-of-state administrator to report on the claim.

Fair said the board would be asked to adopt the consolidated plan and action plan during next week’s meeting and, if adopted, staff will submit the plan and supporting data to HUD. He noted HUD rules permit later modifications but said the office is aiming for a defensible five-year plan.