Shawnee to reprogram CDBG funds toward infrastructure to protect federal entitlement status

Shawnees commission approved a substantial amendment to its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) consolidated and action plans to move the majority of CDBG funding from individualized housing-rehabilitation projects to larger community infrastructure and public-works projects.

CDBG manager Kellen Wincy told commissioners staff made the change because staff reductions and a lack of qualified contractors had made intensive, individualized housing-rehab projects unsustainable, leaving uncompleted activities and unspent funds that put the citys federal entitlement status at "high risk." "These issues put the community's entitlement status at a high risk," Wincy said, urging the shift to spending categories that can reach more low- and moderate-income households at scale.

Under the amendment, staff will prioritize projects such as parks, sidewalks, water and sewer line replacements and road work, which Wincy said would benefit a larger number of eligible households and improve the citys ability to meet federal timelines and spending requirements. Commissioners moved to approve the amendment and the motion carried, recorded in the meeting as "6."

The paperwork presented described multiple amendments across the 2020s consolidated plan and the current 2025-2029 consolidated plan and action years; staff said the goal is to preserve Shawnees entitlement status so the city continues to receive a consistent federal funding stream and maintain administrative coverage for future grants.

Next steps: staff will begin reprogramming funds to identified public-works projects and return to the commission with project lists and schedules for expenditure monitoring.