David Wimsatt of the Chief Legislative Analyst’s office presented the Year 1 (PY51) Housing and Community Development Consolidated Plan and related findings to the Civil Rights, Equity, Immigration, Aging and Disability Committee on June 20.

Wimsatt said the PY51 plan bundles four federal grants — HOME, Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) — and that updated federal entitlements required adjustments to the mayor’s earlier estimates. He said the adjustments included a roughly $420,000 reduction to the CDBG allocation and about a 3.5% downward revision to the ESG entitlement.

Wimsatt outlined recommended allocations and a list of neighborhood projects across council districts, including legal aid for small businesses, preschool and park improvements, street lighting, ADA work, and shade structures for youth baseball fields. He also read amendments to Attachment A and Attachment C of the CLA report. The amendments read into the record were: delete the Rose Hills Park Improvements line item and reallocate $300,000 in CDBG to a new line item under economic development called “Assistance to Micro Enterprises program / DTLA small business assistance;” reduce Hollenbeck Park Improvements by $27,000 and create a new line item for Hermann Park Improvements with $27,000 in CDBG; and remove Amar and Santa Cruz Street lighting from the vested future priority projects list.

A motion to adopt the amendments was moved and seconded during the meeting; the committee then voted to adopt the CLA report as amended and to note and file the mayor’s report dated May 12, 2025. Committee leadership also directed CIFD to provide a report back by Sept. 1, 2025 on the status of each project funded in the consolidated plan to identify any projects unlikely to move so funds can be reprogrammed.

During the discussion, the committee chair said he would ask departments and council offices to assign staff to help move projects and warned that funds not spent in a timely manner could be reprogrammed. Wimsatt and CIFD staff said some projects were advanced because departments’ budgets already provided for the identified needs; others remain on a longer-term list. The amendments and the adoption carried with four recorded ayes.