Tulsa committee previews CDBG, ESG and HOME funding recommendations; leans toward continuing TBRA and boosting Village at Romaberry funding

The Housing and Urban Development Community Development Committee on Feb. 4 previewed staff recommendations for how the city should allocate federal CDBG, ESG and HOME funds, and agreed on a set of funding directions the committee will present at a public hearing Thursday.

Reese Williams, grants administrator, told the committee the city received 49 applications and that the total requests far exceed available funds: "Of those 49 applications, a total of 5,100,000.0 was asked for through CDBG," she said, then summarized subtotals for city projects, physical projects, economic development, housing services and public service projects. Williams also said the HOME program request totaled about $4.6 million and ESG requests about $400,000.

Why it matters: these allocations determine which shelters, homelessness-prevention programs, homeowner rehabilitation loans and new affordable housing projects move forward with federal support. Committee members repeatedly stressed the local consequences of prioritizing direct client assistance, long-term programs such as tenant-based rental assistance (TBRA), and capital projects that either preserve or add housing units.

Most important decisions and staff recommendations

- ESG (shelter and street outreach): Staff presented three scenarios for distributing a capped portion of ESG toward shelter/street outreach and homelessness-prevention services. Committee members said they favored staffScenario 1, which funds higher-scoring existing applicants at their requested levels and applies remaining funds to the Salvation Army—s Center of Hope. Scott (District 2) summarized the committee—s direction as a consensus to move Scenario 1 forward for final action Thursday.

- Homelessness prevention and TBRA: Williams said staff recommended continuing a TBRA pilot the committee funded last year. "We started a tenant…