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Des Moines Neighborhood Services outlines HUD grant uses for housing, shelter programs
Summary
Federal funds administrator Lisa Krebs told the City Council how the city spends HUD entitlement grants — CDBG and HOME — and homelessness grants (ESG, CoC), and gave examples of recent projects supported by gap funding and subrecipient agreements.
Lisa Krebs, federal funds administrator for Des Moines Neighborhood Services, told the City Council the department manages the city’s HUD entitlement grants and homelessness funding and administers multiple subrecipient agreements that support housing rehab, new affordable units and emergency shelter services.
Krebs said the city administers Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME funds and uses them for rental rehab, infrastructure and public facilities, owner-occupied repairs and affordable housing gap financing. “The first one is Community Development Block Grant or CDBG. And that one is the most expansive in how we can use it,” she said. She described HOME as “appropriately named. It’s for housing” and said it can fund new construction or rehab for rental or owner-occupied uses.
Krebs cited local projects that received federal support, including alley and façade work at Varsity Lofts/Alley Landing, gap funding for the Climb Building on Sixth Avenue, the upcoming Beacon Village project and a condo association repair at Casa Vista. She said the department’s quarterly metrics track expenditures and development agreements tied to those programs.
On homelessness funding, Krebs described the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and Continuum of Care (CoC) awards the city administers. She said ESG funds emergency shelter, homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing and centralized intake and that CoC funds supportive services and permanent supportive housing; both grant streams also support HMIS (the Homelessness Management Information System). “With these, our staff are administering between 15 and 25 different agreements between all the agencies. Right now we’re up to about 31,” Krebs said, noting some additional, one-time funding recently increased that total.
Krebs said HUD reporting is substantial and that the city publishes an annual report of the prior year’s metrics; she said the city prepares about a 40-page report each spring describing clients served and program outcomes.
The Neighborhood Services presentation also noted partnerships with other city departments on projects funded through federal programs and emphasized quarterly performance reporting to the council. Krebs said the department will continue administering those federal funds and providing quarterly metrics and annual HUD reporting.
Ending: Neighborhood Services did not propose new HUD-funded programs at the session; Krebs said the department will continue current grant administration, subrecipient oversight and quarterly reporting to the council.
