City holds public hearing on draft 2025–2029 Consolidated Plan; staff to return with final allocations in June

The City of Chico held a public hearing April 20 on its draft 2025–2029 Consolidated Plan and the draft 2025–26 Annual Action Plan, which set priorities and proposed programs for federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships funds.

Housing Program Manager Mary Jo Alonzo summarized the five‑year strategy and the one‑year annual plan, describing the Consolidated Plan as “a five‑year strategic planning document developed through a collaborative process that allows jurisdictions to define a vision for housing and community development.” She said the document aligns HUD‑funded programs with locally identified needs and includes goals, a needs assessment, a housing market analysis and measurable benchmarks.

Alonzo said the plan identifies five priority needs and 12 goals, including affordable housing production, homelessness prevention and services, neighborhood revitalization and economic development. She cited specific projects previously funded with CDBG and HOME, including the Habitat project Roslyn Court (five units) and completed developments Creekside Place and North Creek Crossings phases 1 and 2. Alonzo also said the city has used disaster tax credits and CDBG disaster recovery funds to support the development of more than 1,200 affordable units over the past five years. She noted that federal formula entitlement amounts have been essentially flat for nearly two decades and do not match inflation or rising construction costs.

Alonzo described staff’s outreach for the draft plan: two public workshops last fall, an online survey that received about 450 responses, meetings with local agencies and service providers, and a 30‑day public review period. She said the plan’s citizen participation procedures and an updated Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing are included as appendices.

Councilmembers asked how the committee process works for recommending public service funding and whether final CDBG awards would be returned to council for approval. Alonzo said the Citizens Advisory Committee scored applicants with a HUD‑based rubric and that tonight’s hearing reflected the outreach step; she told Councilmember Vandenbaum that staff will return in June with final allocations and a request for council approval once HUD issues the city’s formula allocations.

The public hearing was opened and, with no speakers who wished to change the draft, closed. No final action on the plan was taken at the April 20 meeting.

Next steps: staff will incorporate comments received during the 30‑day comment period, finalize allocations once HUD issues the entitlement notices and return to council in June with a resolution and the annual plan for council approval so documents can be submitted to HUD.