La Crosse council adopts 2025–29 consolidated plan and 2025 action plan

La Crosse’s Economic and Community Development Committee on June 25 adopted the 2025–2029 Consolidated Plan and the city’s 2025 Action Plan, documents required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that set local priorities for federal community development funding.

The consolidated planning process, presented to the committee by community development staffer Mara, identifies priority needs and five‑year goals and ties them to annual allocations. "So every five years, the community development team goes through a large consolidated planning process, where we identify our priority needs and goals for the next five years," Mara said. She said the plan was developed with a market analysis, needs assessment and public input including a survey and public forums.

The nut graf: The plan frames the city’s priorities for HUD-funded programs — especially the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME program — and sets how the city proposes to use 2025 federal allocations once HUD confirms them. Committee members voted to authorize the plan so staff can move to contract execution and program implementation that depend on final HUD award amounts.

Key points from staff presentation

Mara told commissioners the plan’s priority needs are "quality affordable housing, poverty alleviation, economic development, and this is a new one for us: urgent need." She said HUD has been more permissive since COVID about allowing communities to identify an "urgent need" category but staff could not yet specify how the city might use that designation.

Mara said the community development office already received its HUD allocation for the 2025 program year (which for the city began April 1) and that allocations were roughly steady compared with the prior year. "I think we got about $900,000," she said, and added, "and at HOME, I think it was about $2.99" (staff characterized those as rough numbers). The plan’s annual action items show how the allocation will be split among the plan’s objectives; staff said contract execution for some services depends on the council’s earlier December funding decisions.

Public hearing, vote and next steps

The committee opened and closed a public hearing with no speakers and then voted to accept the consolidated plan and adopt the 2025 Action Plan. The motion to accept the plan was seconded by Council President Dickerson and passed by voice vote. Staff said adoption allows the city to proceed with required contract and program actions tied to HUD funding once federal allocations are finalized.

What the plan does and does not do

The plan itself sets goals and expected measurable outcomes but does not appropriate funds beyond authorizing staff to implement programs according to HUD rules. Staff told the committee that some program details will continue to be refined — for example, outcomes tied to the new "urgent need" category — and that precise dollar amounts reported in the plan reflect HUD award timing and staff allocations. Mara noted some figures in the draft are estimates and cautioned that some line items shown in HUD‑generated tables are static outputs of HUD reporting forms and may not include every local explanatory detail.

Bottom line

With committee approval, the city has adopted the Consolidated Plan and 2025 Action Plan and will proceed with contract execution tied to HUD allocations. Staff said they will continue to brief the committee as program awards are finalized and as the city translates plan priorities into specific contracts and services.