City grants staff briefed the New Braunfels City Council and members of the public on July 14 about the draft 2025–2029 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) consolidated plan, the accompanying fair housing plan and the annual action plan for program year 2025, which begins Oct. 1.

“CDBG is community development block grant funding that we received from the Department of Housing and Urban Development,” Jen Gates, the city’s grants coordinator, told the council as she opened the staff presentation. Gates said New Braunfels is an entitlement jurisdiction that receives an annual allocation on a formula basis. The draft action plan shows an expected allocation of just over $454,000 for program year 2025.

Gates summarized HUD’s national objectives and explained program limits: up to 20% of the allocation may be used for program administration (about $90,000 on the draft allocation), up to 15% for public services (about $68,000), and a minimum of about 65% must be used for housing and public facilities (approximately $295,000). City staff said the draft consolidated plan and draft annual action plan were released for public comment beginning June 16 and remain open through the week following the hearing.

The city used a competitive request-for-applications process for public‑service and public‑facility requests. Gates said the Community Development Advisory Committee (CDAC), a nine-member citizen advisory group appointed by council, reviewed and ranked applications and made funding recommendations. The city received 15 eligible public‑service applications representing about $328,000 in requests and five eligible public‑facility and housing applications requesting roughly $818,000.

CDAC’s recommendations allocated the public‑service cap (the full 15% maximum) across selected applicants and proposed splitting the available housing/public facilities allocation among eligible projects after a late adjustment reduced the city’s anticipated allocation. Gates said the city initially anticipated approximately $495,000 but later learned the actual entitlement would be about $454,000 — a roughly 8.4% reduction that required adjustments to recommendations.

Representatives of nonprofit applicants addressed the council during the public hearing. Nicole Douglas, director of development for CASA of Central Texas, said CASA served 175 children in the county last year, 84 of whom were from New Braunfels, and requested support to recruit and train volunteers to reduce an unmet need. Kelly, representing MB Housing Partners, reported that demand for homeless services has more than doubled over recent years and thanked the city and CDAC for the funding process. Mario Blado Jr., chief of government and public affairs for the San Antonio-New Braunfels Food Bank, also thanked the council for ongoing support as federal nutrition funding tightens.

Gates said council is scheduled to consider adoption of the consolidated plan and the 2025 annual action plan, with proposed awards, at the July 28 council meeting. If adopted, the city will submit the plan to HUD ahead of the Oct. 1 program year start.