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Mayor proclaims National Community Development Week and National Healthy Homes Month, highlights local CDBG and HOME projects
Summary
Mayor Walt Maddox proclaimed the week of April 21, 2025 as National Community Development Week and April 2025 as National Healthy Homes Month for Tuscaloosa, and Deputy Director Heather Hill outlined how CDBG and HOME funds support local affordable housing and health programs.
Mayor Walt Maddox proclaimed the week of April 21–25, 2025 as National Community Development Week and designated April 2025 as National Healthy Homes Month in Tuscaloosa, citing the city’s use of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME funds to support affordable housing and healthy-home initiatives.
"The CDBG program has operated since 1974 to provide annual funding and flexibility for local communities for decent, safe and affordable housing," Maddox said as he introduced the proclamations. He read language recognizing the programs’ local uses and encouraged support for their continued role in the community.
Heather Hill, deputy director of Community and Neighborhood Services, told the council that the city uses CDBG and HOME funds for affordable housing projects such as Springer Estates, Habitat for Humanity homes and infrastructure at West Grove. Hill said recent infrastructure work using CDBG created nearly 80 additional lots available for vertical construction, allowing HOME and private funds to be combined to develop more houses.
Hill said that over the past five years CDBG-funded public-service activities have reached more than 30,000 people for homeless prevention, youth services, housing counseling, food banks, mental-health services, domestic-violence victim assistance and workforce training. She said HOME funds have supported down-payment assistance, tenant-based rental assistance and new construction.
Because 2025 is a Consolidated Plan year for the city, Hill said the department has planned events for National Community Development Week, including a public hearing and healthy-homes workshop and a Thursday "Future Fest" where district boards will gather community input for the Consolidated Plan.
Ending: The council accepted the proclamations into the record and encouraged residents to participate in upcoming Con Plan events to help shape housing and community development priorities.
