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Council hears recommendations to keep affordable housing, public services and code enforcement central to five-year consolidated plan
Summary
City staff and consultant Eric Chatham summarized priorities for the 2025–2029 consolidated plan, emphasizing affordable housing, public services and infrastructure while cautioning against designating fixed target neighborhoods because set-aside rules could limit flexibility.
Eric Chatham, a LEED consultant with Civitas LLC, presented the City of Columbia’s recommended priorities for the 2025–2029 consolidated plan to the Columbia City Council, saying affordable housing and related homeownership and rental support should remain the top focus.
“Affordable housing continues to be the top priority from resident responses,” Chatham said, summarizing results from outreach and noting that down-payment assistance, owner-occupied rehabilitation and rental development ranked highly in community feedback.
Chatham told the council that federal rules limit spending on some categories. “Unfortunately, the CDBG regulations limit us to only 15% of our CDBG allocation going towards the … public services,” he said, adding that HOPWA funding provides separate supportive…
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