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Council committee clears HUD entitlement spending and presses Community Development on backlog and staffing

Cleveland City Council Finance, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee · November 11, 2025

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Summary

Committee approved an ordinance to expend nearly $28 million in HUD formula grants; council members pressed Community Development on staffing shortfalls (78 of 111 budgeted FTEs), a backlog of over 2,000 home-repair applications and use of an implementation vendor, NextGen, to accelerate payments and compliance work.

The Department of Community Development presented ordinance 12-25-2025 to authorize expenditure of HUD formula grants for program year 2025–26. Director Hernandez (presenting) said the city has received approximately $19,460,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds; $4,250,000 in HOME funds; $1,760,000 in Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds; and $2,370,000 in Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) funds — totaling just under $28,000,000.

The director emphasized the grants support home repair and lead hazard mitigation, investments in the housing trust fund, neighborhood development activities and citywide service providers. She framed passage of the ordinance as necessary to move dollars to CDCs and other nonprofit partners.

Council members used the hearing to press the department on capacity and execution. Responses from staff included: the department currently has 78 full‑time employees against an ideal head count of 111; leadership vacancies remain at senior levels; the department recently added hires, a compliance manager overseeing roughly five staff and other grant- and budget-focused positions; and there has been progress in improving payment timeliness relative to prior years.

Council members raised a backlog of more than 2,000 home‑repair applications dating back as far as 2020; the director said staff are auditing all applications, updating statuses, and working with implementation and technology partners — NextGen (led by Shakuri Davis), Urban AI and Bloomberg Innovation teams — to increase throughput and add visibility to pipeline work. The director said NextGen handles front-end intake and some environmental-review vendors and that the city retains final compliance and sign-off authority.

Multiple council members urged targeted attention to community development corporation (CDC) reimbursements and to ensure smaller contractors are able to get paid; one council member referenced Famicos Foundation nearing $1M outstanding and asked for improved indicators so elected members are not surprised by payment delays. The director said the department has reduced complaint volume and is working with partners to speed reimbursements; the committee approved the ordinance as amended.