Champaign holds public hearing on 2025–29 consolidated plan; staff proposes $1.2 million CDBG budget for 2025–26

The City of Champaign opened a public hearing Tuesday on a draft 2025–29 consolidated plan and the fiscal year 2025–26 annual action plan that will guide use of federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME consortium resources. Neighborhood Programs Manager Jennifer Carlson told the council an estimated $1,200,000 would be available for the 2025–26 program year and that staff expect roughly $5,000,000 in federal resources over the five-year consolidated-plan period.

Why it matters: The consolidated plan sets housing and community development priorities that determine how the city spends federal CDBG and HOME funds; the plans must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and staff said the final plan would be submitted by Aug. 16, 2025, the HUD deadline.

Carlson summarized community engagement used to draft the plan, saying staff collected 77 survey responses, held stakeholder interviews with service agencies and townships, and analyzed U.S. Census and American Community Survey data at the county level because Champaign is coordinating with the city of Urbana as a HOME consortium. She told council the top priorities that emerged from residents and stakeholders were emergency homeless shelters and homelessness prevention, building more affordable housing, and mental-health services. Carlson quoted Bev Baker of United Way, saying, "It doesn't matter what group of people we're working with...housing is the number one thing that keeps coming up that agencies are in need of."

Staff presented key findings that informed program choices. They told council that county-level data showed rent increased about 55% between 2015 and 2025 — from roughly $830 to $1,288 — and that a majority of renters in Champaign County are cost-burdened. Staff said the 2024 point-in-time count recorded 279 people experiencing homelessness in the county (compared with 37 in 2022), that the average number of days someone is homeless is about 102, that 64 children were counted on the night of the 2024 count, and that 57% of people experiencing homelessness were Black.

For the 2025–26 program year, staff proposed investing roughly $1,200,000 in Champaign neighborhoods through five program areas: affordable-housing projects and housing rehabilitation; public facilities (including a proposed rehabilitation of a CU at Home shelter to add 26 beds); public services (rent assistance delivered in partnership with Champaign Township, capped by federal rules at 15% of the CDBG allocation); elimination of blight (demolition for unsafe accessory structures); and administration (project delivery and staffing costs). Carlson said some program details are constrained by regulatory caps and that subrecipient agreements would return to council for approval.

Carlson also explained a contingency approach. If the actual CDBG award is lower than staff's estimate, they would reduce funding for the CU at Home public-facilities project first; if the city receives more than estimated, staff would allocate additional funds to housing rehabilitation. She said public comments received during the hearing and by email will be incorporated into the final plan, which HUD must receive by Aug. 16, 2025.

On the city's 2025 private-activity volume cap (often called bond cap) Carlson said the city’s allocation is about $11,000,000 in volume cap authority and staff are proposing to seed the city’s allocation across three longstanding partner affordable-housing programs so those partners can offer mortgage products and closing-cost assistance. Staff told council that materials on that proposed allocation must return by the state deadline of April 15 to meet state timing requirements for the bond-cap assignment.

No members of the public addressed council during the hearing portion; staff closed the public hearing after public-notice instructions were given for email comments. After the presentation, council gave staff direction to finalize the consolidated plan and FY2025–26 annual action plan and to prepare the 2025 private-activity volume-cap documents for council consideration by the April 15 regular meeting.

What changed or will change next: Staff will incorporate public comments into the draft documents, await HUD's official funding notice, and return to council with final numbers and any subrecipient agreements. Carlson said staff do not yet have HUD's official 2025 allocation amounts.