Housing committee recommends submission of draft 2025 CAPER to HUD

The Housing and Community Development Committee on March 20 recommended the city raft 2025 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report, or CAPER, for submission to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Marian Johnson, the city—ommunity evelopment housing and grants supervisor, told the committee the CAPER must be filed with HUD by March 31 and is the standardized report HUD requires to track how Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) funds were spent during the prior calendar year. "We are here to discuss the draft 2025 consolidated annual performance evaluation report that is to be submitted to HUD by March 31st," Johnson said.

The presentation framed key reasons why some 2025 activities appear as zeros in the system: HUD—ormats only allow projects to be reported as completed once they are fully closed; several housing rehabilitation projects and code-enforcement activities were started in 2025 but not completed and therefore are not shown as accomplishments for that year. Johnson also said ESG funding arrived very late in the year, which depressed 2025 ESG expenditures and means a large portion of 2025 ESG-funded work will occur in 2026.

Johnson summarized reported expenditures during 2025: "We had about $1.3 million of CDBG expended, $112,000 of HOME, and about $13,000 of ESG," she said. She also noted some homelessness goals were met using funds carried from the prior five-year plan (2020'024), so the activity appears as zero in the 2025 action-year table even though households were assisted.

Council member Rogers asked whether HUD ssessment of the CAPER can affect future funding. Johnson replied that funding allocations are calculated at the national level and the CAPER is not an automatic determiner of future dollars, "but could have consequences" in the city—ield-office relationship if goals are routinely unmet. "We have to explain why we didn't meet the goals and we may land in a specific situation or relationship with the field office related to the goals," she said.

Committee member Hilton asked how residents can access the rehab program; Johnson directed callers to the city's 311 service and to the city website for details on income and property-eligibility rules, noting the program focuses on critical repairs such as roof or sewer work rather than cosmetic projects.

Johnson addressed comparisons raised in public comments to a smaller-scale Arizona rehab program, saying that program's $10,000 maximum and different housing stock make direct comparisons misleading. "Every single project" in Evanston, she said, "has been at $50,000 or over on critical repairs," underscoring that deeper rehab needs increase per-project costs.

After the presentation and questions, the committee voted by roll call to recommend the CAPER to City Council. Chair Burns and all members present voted "I," and the motion passed. Chair Burns closed the meeting and noted the committee's next regular meeting is scheduled for April 21.

The CAPER now moves to the City Council for final consideration before the city's submission to HUD by the end of the month.