Last week’s announcement comes later than is typical, because Congress and the president didn’t reach a budget deal for the rest of the federal fiscal year until the end of April.
That deal level-funds the Community Development Block Grant program and the HOME Investment Partnership program, leaving Burlington expecting a combined $1.1 million to support projects carried out largely by nonprofits. Those programs are, among other things, expected to improve and keep affordable 49 homes in the Old North End; provide 55 low-income children with summer camp opportunities; serve 27 low-income children nutritious meals; and build 76 affordable apartments.
Those figures come from a memo the Community Economic Development Office, which administers the grant money, sent to the mayor and City Council.
Both grant programs are in jeopardy in next year’s federal budget. President Donald Trump’s proposal for the coming federal fiscal year, which begins in October, eliminates both the CDBG and HOME grant programs.
The city held a public hearing on the 2017 Community Development Block Grant/HOME action plan at Monday’s City Council meeting. Once the federal grants are finalized, CEDO will return for council approval of a spending plan.
Residents also weigh in on the plan through the CDBG Advisory Board, which includes members from each of Burlington’s eight neighborhood planning associations.
In total, projects supported by the CDBG/HOME grants are expected to leverage $20 million in local, state, private and other federal support for initiatives laid out in the federally required action plan.
The $1.1 million is a fraction of that $20 million total, but Marcy Esbjerg, assistant director of Burlington’s Community Economic Development Office, said the grant money takes on special importance because “there is no other dedicated source of funding for these initiatives.”
Other municipal funding for these projects could be reflected in the mayor’s fiscal year 2018 budget, which he will present later this week. Still, Esbjerg said, “This is the city’s primary way of supporting projects that help our most vulnerable.”
In some cases the CDBG/HOME money may be just one of many funding sources an organization has layered together to finance a project. But for many projects, typically smaller renovations, it’s the lion’s share of the budget, Esbjerg said.
That’s the case for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, which is seeking $200,000 to improve and expand its North Winooski Avenue space, she said.
While the $1.1 million total is subject to change, as the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development does the math for each recipient community, Esbjerg said she doesn’t anticipate much variation from last year.
Burlington’s CDBG/HOME allocations were on a downward trajectory before Trump took office, but now the specter of deeper cuts has created uncertainty for the nonprofits and other organizations that rely on them.
“I don’t think you’ll see (Trump’s) budget passed as is, but when your starting point is ‘eliminate these programs,’ that definitely means they’re on the chopping block,” said Chris Donnelly, director of community relations for the Champlain Housing Trust.
The housing trust is a major beneficiary of the CDBG/HOME grants. Large affordable housing projects now require as many as a dozen funding sources, many more than was historically the case, Donnelly said.
“I think there are other sources that would eventually amass, but it would certainly take more time,” Donnelly said. In a business where delays lead to greater costs, that could mean fewer large projects, he said.
