City presents CAPER showing CDBG, HOME funds supported housing and services last year

Mary Jo Alonzo, the city's housing program manager, presented the 2023 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), the required report to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development summarizing the city's use of CDBG and HOME funds over the prior program year.

Alonzo outlined program outcomes: tenant-based rental assistance served 17 households with up to 24 months of rental support; HOME funds contributed to North Creek Crossings Phase 2, a 52-unit multifamily affordable development in Merriam Park that is fully leased; CDBG funds helped connect four low-income households in the city's nitrate compliance area to city sewer; and public-service funding supported programs that aided about 1,300 individuals. "The purpose of the CAPER is to report on the progress in carrying out the city's 5 year strategic plan for both the CDBG and the HOME funds," she told the council, adding the full CAPER had been posted with the agenda packet on August 31.

Alonzo also noted disaster-recovery and tax-credit activity tied to post-Camp Fire rebuilding: more than 575 units had been completed, 43 projects were under construction and roughly 130 units were pending financing. She asked the council to approve submission of the CAPER to HUD once the public-hearing portion of the meeting closed. Council members asked clarifying questions about how special disaster allocations had driven a temporary spike in production and whether affordable-housing activity would drop once that funding stream ended; Alonzo responded that the federal disaster recovery dollars and special tax credits were time-limited and production would likely decline when they run out.

The public hearing closed without additional public comments on the CAPER and staff recommended, and the council later moved to approve submitting the report to HUD as required by federal funding rules.