Resident group urges fuller HOME/CDBG support during HUD annual action-plan hearing

At a public hearing Monday on the city of Schenectady's 2025—26 HUD annual action plan, Matthew Nelson of Better Community Neighborhoods urged the council to fund multiple housing programs the organization applied for and said several proposals had been reduced or omitted in the recommendations before the council. Nelson told the council BCNI had submitted five proposals, including a $230,000 request for first-time homebuyer assistance, CHDO development requests, $50,000 for housing counseling and a $230,000 owner-occupied rehab program. He said the first-time homebuyer request was recommended at half the amount BCNI sought and that the owner-occupied rehab request was not proposed for funding this year. The organization's testimony described BCNI as a merged community housing organization with about 15 staff administering a portfolio of more than $22 million in grant programs and awards. Nelson said BCNI currently maintains a wait list of more than 160 homeowners seeking rehab assistance and a counseling pipeline of more than 700 individuals. Nelson said BCNI also proposed a $50,000 request for housing counseling and asked the council to reconsider operational support for its CHDO activities, including a $50,000 operational request he characterized as critical to maintaining its development pipeline. He closed by asking that the council's Department of Development consider the perspective of applicants when the council acts on the plan. The council chair closed the public hearing and the clerk recorded that public comments would be filed with the Department of Development. No vote on the annual action plan appears in the meeting transcript. The hearing covered federally mandated HOME and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) programs and the HOME-ARP activities that typically appear in the HUD action-plan process; BCNI identified HOME, CDBG and HOME-ARP funding as program sources for the requests it described.