Council conditionally authorizes draft consolidated plan allocations, directs staff to add performance metrics and to fully fund local nonprofit requests with a

Staff presented the draft FY 2025–29 consolidated plan and the proposed FY 2025–26 CDBG annual action plan, explaining the Community Development Block Grant program is administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and historically has funded public services, planning and administrative support, and housing rehabilitation.

Dominique Clark, a consultant with RSG, and Cindy Schubert, a city management analyst, summarized engagement conducted last fall and winter (180 community survey responses and stakeholder meetings) and the draft plan’s goals — fair housing, homeless services, renter/homeowner assistance, affordable housing, public improvements, infrastructure and public services. Staff estimated the city’s FY 2025–26 CDBG award at approximately $273,884 and explained program caps: public services are limited to about 15% of the grant, and planning/administration is limited to 20%.

Staff reported the city issued a request for proposals and received four public‑service requests totaling about $75,000. Because the public‑services cap limits the available public‑services pot to roughly $41,000, staff recommended smaller awards than requested. Staff recommended approving a planning/administration allocation (about $54,616 including fair-housing services) and a roughly $178,000 recommendation for a residential rehabilitation program administered by Development Services.

Representatives of proposed subrecipients addressed council. John Van Cleef, CEO of Community Resource Center (CRC), described ongoing food and nutrition work and said CRC serves thousands of unique clients at its locations and that a subset are chronically food-insecure. Marina Kavandervoort, chief executive of the Boys and Girls Club of Northwest San Diego, and other nonprofit representatives described program needs and asked for funding. A neighbor who said he lived near CRC described concerns about street-level impacts.

Following public comment and council discussion the council voted unanimously to take three related actions: (1) authorize the allocations recommended for incorporation into the FY 2025–26 annual action plan, (2) continue the public hearing to April 16, 2025 to accept additional public comment and finalize the plan after the 30‑day public review, and (3) direct staff to work with the city attorney to add measurable performance standards, metrics and accountability language to subrecipient MOUs. Councilmembers also agreed to supplement the recommended awards from the general fund so that the three local organizations (Community Resource Center, Meals on Wheels and Boys and Girls Club) would receive the full amounts they requested in their applications; staff said the additional amount to fully fund requests from the general fund would be about $14,040.

Council members discussed the dropping federal award levels over recent cycles and emphasized the need for clear performance outcomes, more visible reporting and stronger documentation to address community concerns about program impacts and neighborhood effects. The council opened, then continued, the public hearing and set a second public hearing on April 16, 2025 to finalize allocations after the 30‑day public review period.