Plumas County staff reported on July 15 that federal Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG‑DR) funds administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) have produced seven active single‑family reconstruction projects, with one of those projects about to break ground.

The update, given to the Plumas County Planning Commission, said demand for the separate single‑family mitigation (home hardening and defensible space) grants outstripped available funding: staff counted about 22 applications for a program that is likely to fund about 17–19 applicants.

Why it matters: county officials said the single‑family reconstruction program originally had funding to support up to 30 rebuilds but has only produced seven projects so far, leaving roughly $14,000,000 unencumbered in the grant award. Staff told commissioners the county and HCD are now looking at a state action‑plan amendment to reallocate those unspent dollars toward a “scattered‑sites” program to produce affordable rental housing countywide.

Staff summarized the reconstruction and mitigation status: “one of the seven will be breaking ground here very soon,” and described the mitigation program as “very popular,” with more applications than can be funded. On the unspent funds, staff said there is “potentially, you know, $14,000,000 available … unencumbered at this point.”

Under the scattered‑sites concept staff described, a nonprofit developer partnership (Plumas Rural Services, or PRS, has signaled support and RRA has been named as a proposed developer) would acquire scattered parcels countywide, build detached single‑family units (each possibly with an attached accessory dwelling unit), and operate them as affordable rentals under long‑term affordability covenants. Staff said units would be restricted to households earning 80 percent of area median income or less and managed by the nonprofit; covenants of about 55 years would be recorded on the properties.

Staff and commissioners discussed logistics and constraints. The state must amend the HCD action plan and submit that to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for approval; staff estimated 4–6 months to get the process underway and gave a best‑case timeline of construction beginning in January 2026 if HUD approval proceeds quickly. HCD is conservatively forecasting a December 2028 closeout deadline for the CDBG‑DR grant, a date county staff said will shape the program schedule.

Commissioners and staff pressed on implementation details: who will identify and transfer parcels to the nonprofit, whether the nonprofit has property‑management capacity, how many units could be developed per month, and how vacancies and lease‑up risk are handled in project pro formas. Staff said PRS had voted at its board level to support the concept and that county staff planned a coordination call with HCD and Public Works to discuss next steps.

Infrastructure and other funding were also discussed. Staff noted FEMA Public Assistance will only pay for visibly fire‑damaged segments of roads (a “patchwork” approach), so the CDBG‑DR funds could be used to fully resurface contiguous stretches and to coordinate resurfacing with PG&E undergrounding work. Staff said coordination with PG&E and public works will be necessary to avoid repeated trenching and patchwork resurfacing.

Risks and constraints identified in the discussion included: the short federal/state grant closeout window; the need for nonprofit capacity or third‑party property managers; pro‑forma risk if units do not lease at planned rates; and the requirement that scattered‑site parcels be acquired and held by the nonprofit before development.

What comes next: staff said PRS’s board voted to support moving the scattered‑sites concept forward with RRA as developer and PRS as nonprofit manager, and that county staff would continue conversations with HCD and Public Works. Any reallocation requires HCD to amend the action plan and HUD approval before funds can be spent under the new program.