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New Castle County presents draft five-year HUD consolidated plan, seeks community input
Summary
County staff outlined priorities and proposed uses of roughly $7.2 million in HUD and related funds for fiscal years 2025–2029, emphasizing affordable housing, homelessness prevention and infrastructure tied to housing projects; public comment and a July 16 hearing were announced.
New Castle County officials on June 24 presented a draft five-year consolidated plan and the fiscal 2025–26 annual action plan that will guide how the county applies for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2030.
Nicole Waters, community development and housing manager for New Castle County, told the Community Services Committee the consolidated plan identifies priorities and proposed activities that must be grounded in community engagement and submitted to HUD for approval under federal rules in 24 CFR Part 91.
The plan proposes five priorities: increase the supply of affordable housing, decrease homelessness, improve public facilities and infrastructure that support housing, provide public services to low- and moderate-income residents, and maintain planning and administration for CDBG, ESG and HOME programs. Waters said the county has roughly $7.2 million available to allocate in the coming program year, combining HUD allocations, carry-forward balances and anticipated program income.
Planned uses Waters described include: allocating about $1.9 million in HOME funds to support four affordable-rental projects (including funding for the Arc of Delaware group-home upgrades and a veterans homeless-services project), a $1.4 million match for creation of 68 permanent supportive housing units at the Hope Center, and continued rental and homeowner rehabilitation programs (about $800,000 in CDBG funds) to assist roughly 116 households with health-and-safety repairs and modifications. Public-service funding proposals include food-voucher support for seniors at Absalom Jones Senior Center, summer-camp scholarships and neighborhood revitalization grants.
Waters said Newark receives 12% of the county’s annual CDBG allocation under an existing cooperation agreement and that Wilmington is excluded from the county HOME allocation because the city applies directly to HUD. She also said the county plans to conserve CDBG dollars for down-payment assistance this year and use revolving-loan and nonfederal sources for that program instead.
Committee members thanked Waters for the presentation and noted the competitive nature of HUD funding. Councilman Hollins emphasized that HUD priorities and monitoring constrain how the county can use the funds, and Councilman Street and Councilman Carter described continuing local homelessness challenges and local homeownership projects, respectively. A public commenter who identified himself as the president of the Veterans Advisory Council asked whether the Hope Center funding could support on-site laundry; Waters said grant applications include requests for on-site laundry facilities and that the county is applying for grants to add that service.
The county opened a 30-day public comment period on the draft plan; Waters said a public hearing on the draft is scheduled for July 16 and the county plans to submit the final plan to HUD in August so funding and activities can be retroactive to July 1.
