Committee seeks BOCC sign-off to apply for housing action-plan grant before April deadline

Committee members reviewed a proposed shorter "phase one" housing action plan intended to identify immediate gaps and produce a roadmap for a longer-term, multi-year strategy. Eric (the plan drafter) shared an overview of the condensed approach intended to produce near-term priorities and surface longer-range needs for Walton County.

Committee members discussed whether to ask the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to place a permission item on an upcoming agenda so the county could apply for a grant to pay for the plan. Staff and grant personnel said the grant would cover the cost of drafting the plan, and that Emerald Coast Regional Council could administer the work rather than contracting an outside consultant—an approach described as keeping out-of-pocket county costs to a minimum.

Timing was the central concern. Committee members said the BOCC calendar includes meetings on March 24 and an April meeting window; staff reported that the grant's historical deadline has often been mid-April and that the team believed the current deadline to be April 15 but had not yet seen the funder's website reflect that date. Members agreed to pursue placement on the BOCC agenda for mid-April if necessary and to prepare a draft permission item that could be presented by a committee representative if the project's primary staff cannot attend.

Why it matters: Securing grant funding would pay for the housing action-plan work without requiring county general-fund contributions, allowing the county to move faster on gap analysis and short-term strategies.

Next steps: Staff will resend the draft materials, coordinate with grant-writing staff (Ada) and Eric to have the application ready, and try to arrange for an appropriate committee member or commissioner to present the request to the BOCC in mid-April if needed. The transcript records that the committee asked staff to verify the exact funder deadline before final BOCC scheduling.