County staff detail HUD awards, housing vouchers and lead-remediation funding for FY26

Carrie Casey, general manager of the New Castle County Department of Community Services, briefed the Community Services Committee on May 27, 2025 about federal housing-related awards the county expects for fiscal year 2026 and ongoing program operations.

"We did receive notice from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that we will be receiving money for fiscal year 26," Casey said. She provided dollar amounts and year-over-year percentage changes for recurring HUD allocations the county uses for housing and homelessness programs.

Casey reported the county's expected Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocation as $2,509,120, an increase she said of roughly 2.29% from the prior year; the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) award as $987,574.20 (a 2.43% increase) and the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) as $215,564 (a 2.92% increase). Casey also said the county's Housing Choice Voucher program (Section 8) receives funds that pay roughly $1.5 million in rent per month and that the award for the calendar year is "roughly $16,800,000." She said these awards and program utilization mean the county will be funded through at least fiscal year 2026 for those programs.

Casey highlighted an additional $450,000 in CDBG funds originating from the City of Wilmington to support the county's lead-hazard remediation program; she said the county is the only lead program in the state and has received city funding because the city's CDBG money can be used to expand lead remediation work. "The city has money and is awarding money to help for lead remediation in the city and has given us a considerable amount of money over the last year due to the fact we're the only lead program in the state," Casey said.

Committee members and the general manager noted the county's capacity to administer federal funds and the absence of audit findings for fiscal community-services awards. Councilman Jay Street and others described a reliance on these recurring federal funds to support housing and homelessness services in the county and urged continued stewardship of award dollars.

Councilman Mark Carter (Council member) asked Casey for a concise white paper summarizing county programs and outcomes to support advocacy with the National Association of Counties (NACo) and with congressional staff. Casey agreed to provide a short document for council distribution.

The presentation was informational; no committee votes were taken on HUD allocations during the meeting. Casey and the committee thanked staff responsible for lead remediation and federal grants management for their work.