Council hears public input on HUD Consolidated Plan; staff outlines $2.5M in annual entitlement funds

Roanoke City held a public hearing March 17 on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Consolidated Plan for 2025–2029 and the city’s 2025 Annual Action Plan. Katie Kennedy, acting administrator for the community resources team, described the entitlement funding streams and outreach plans.

Kennedy told council that Roanoke receives entitlement funds through HUD—Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG)—totaling about $2,500,000 annually. She said the consolidated plan compiles local data and community input to guide how those funds are prioritized each year. Staff are conducting outreach to “30 to 40 different community organizations,” offering paper surveys at libraries and nonprofits, and distributing QR codes for an online survey.

No members of the public registered to speak at the hearing. After the hearing closed, the clerk recorded roll-call votes of “Aye” from all council members present.

Why it matters: The consolidated plan and annual action plan guide use of HUD entitlement funds for housing, homelessness prevention, affordable housing development and related services. The outreach and data capture Kennedy described are part of the federal entitlement requirement and feed the city’s annual funding priorities.

Council did not take additional programmatic action at the meeting beyond the public-hearing record; staff indicated ongoing outreach and urged residents to use the online and paper surveys.