IURA adopts recommended 2025 HUD entitlement action plan, with HOME set-aside adjustments and contingency language

The Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency on March 28 unanimously approved a recommended 2025 HUD entitlement grant action plan that implements committee funding priorities and adds contingency language to redistribute HOME dollars if the city’s allocation is smaller than anticipated.

The agency’s vote followed review of recommendations from the Economic Development Committee (EDC) and the Neighborhood Investment Committee (NIC). Agency staff and committee members discussed allocations across CDBG and HOME programs, adjustments to proposed awards, and a mandatory 15% HOME community housing development organization (CHDO) set-aside that must be applied to a qualifying project.

The action plan approved by the agency follows the NIC’s preference to prioritize projects serving the most vulnerable populations and to fully fund several public-service and housing activities. Committee materials cited a one-page EDC memo recommending partial funding for several workforce and job-placement programs totaling $280,000. Agency staff said the ED loan fund had a balance of about $200,000 and could grow to roughly $260,000 by Aug. 1 unless more loans are made; staff also noted an $83,000 loan to the Ithaca Coffee Company had recently been dispersed.

A key technical adjustment discussed and adopted at the meeting involved the HOME program’s required CHDO set-aside. Agency staff reported the anticipated HOME award for the year and calculated 15% of that anticipated HOME award—$34,800—must be reserved for any…