La Crosse committee accepts 2024 CAPER, finds mixed results against five‑year goals

The La Crosse Economic and Community Development Committee on June 25 accepted the city’s 2024 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), a HUD report that inventories accomplishments for the 2024 program year and summarizes progress against the 2019–2024 consolidated plan.

Mara, the community development presenter, told commissioners the CAPER is a retrospective look at the city’s April‑to‑March program year and lists completed deliverables, such as replaced homes, rehabilitated multifamily units and executed public service contracts. "This is really just a look back at the activities that we've completed in the last year," Mara said.

Why it matters

The CAPER is HUD’s mechanism for documenting how the city spent federal entitlement dollars and whether the city met the five‑year goals in the consolidated plan. The committee reviewed tables that compare "expected" five‑year outputs to actual reported numbers and asked staff about how those targets and reported outcomes are set and measured.

Staff explanations and commissioner questions

A commissioner pointed to a table on page two that compared an expected five‑year goal of 8,000 persons assisted with an actual reported total of 10,161 and asked how the numbers are set and measured. Mara said the expected figures are estimates that were set when the prior consolidated plan was written and that the 10,161 figure is an aggregate reported to HUD over the five‑year period.

Commissioners also asked about a HUD table that lists program source and amount where the report showed missing dollar entries. Mara said some HUD‑generated report tables are static parts of the consolidated plan/reporting package and do not always contain the local detail staff would like; she welcomed suggestions for future report improvements.

Accept and file

The committee opened a public hearing on the CAPER, heard no public comments and voted to accept and file the 2024 CAPER. The motion to accept and file the CAPER was made by Council President Dickerson (moved) and seconded by Commissioner Lee; the committee approved the item by voice vote.

What the CAPER does not show

Staff noted certain program columns (for example, section 3 program columns) had no data because the city did not actively run that specific CDBG program in the program year. Mara also explained that HOME program deliverables such as home sales typically show low counts on paper because the HOME program in La Crosse typically serves one or two households per year.

Next steps

Staff said the CAPER will be filed with HUD as required. Commissioners asked staff to consider report formatting improvements (for example, adding dollar amounts beside outcomes) in next iterations to make it easier to see money spent alongside outcomes.