Evanston council approves 2025-2029 consolidated plan and HUD grant submission after public comment period closes

The Evanston City Council voted to approve the draft 2025—2029 consolidated plan and the city's draft 2024 citizen-participation plan for submission to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, after the public-comment period closed at the meeting.

Council member Hedakaddis moved approval of the consolidated plan and Council member Harris seconded. The clerk took a roll call; council members voted in favor and the draft was approved. City staff noted the deadline to submit the consolidated plan to HUD is Aug. 8 and said HUD prescribes the data sources the city must use. Staff also said the city received additional federal funding in the FY2024 budget, which required a second public-comment period and amendment to the draft plan.

Several public commenters during the meeting had raised specific critiques of the consolidated plan's analysis and data, including requests for clearer treatment of the demand side of the housing market and corrections to some inconsistent statements in the draft. Jeff Smith, who requested the council's attention to the plan, told the council the release timing and overlapping large documents made public review difficult and identified passages he said contained factual inconsistencies. Staff said it would incorporate public comments into the submittal and would review submitted written comments for errors and corrections where the city has discretion.

Action details: Council member Hedakaddis moved to approve the draft consolidated plan and citizen participation plan for submission to HUD; Council member Harris seconded. The motion carried in the roll call; staff will submit the plan by the HUD deadline and include the record of public testimony.

The public-comment period for the consolidated plan closed at the meeting; staff said all oral and written comments received in the comment window will be included with the HUD submission.