Flint, MI — The City of Flint is asking for residents’ feedback on strategies for spending millions of incoming federal dollars during a public needs hearing on Thursday, Nov. 9. 2023.
The hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m. at Hasselbring Senior Center, located at 1002 W. Home Ave., according to a Nov. 7 Planning and Development Department, Division of Community and Economic Development (DCED) press release.
At the hearing, DCED is seeking input on three grants stemming from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD):
- The HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), which focuses on affordable housing;
- the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), which focuses on homelessness prevention; and
- the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), which focuses on opportunities in community development, like public facility improvements, homeownership assistance and code enforcement.
Feedback will be used to help shape the city’s 2024-25 Annual Action Plan, which outlines anticipated uses for each of these grants.
While incoming dollars are not yet known, for reference, the city expected a total annual allocation of $4,019,558 in CDBG funding, $963,438 in HOME funding, and $356,897 in ESG funding for the 2023-24 program year.
“Residents who are curious/interested/opinionated in how ESG, HOME, and CDBG funds are strategically invested in community assets and/or programs should voice their feedback,” Emily Doerr, Flint’s Director of Planning and Development wrote to Flint Beat in a Nov. 8 email about the upcoming hearing.
Doerr added that her department will be drafting the city’s 2024-25 Annual Action Plan in spring of next year, combining public feedback with applications expected from the plan’s RFP process.
“The Action Plan per federal statute needs to be submitted to HUD by mid-August,” Doerr wrote. “We intend to put the resolution in front of Council by May so they have plenty of time for input.”
For residents unable to attend the Nov. 9 hearing, comments can be submitted in writing either by emailing communitydevelopment@cityofflint.com with the subject line “Public Needs,” or by submitting them to the DCED office at Flint City Hall, located at 1101 S. Saginaw St., South Building, Room S8.
For those seeking more information on the action plan process, there will also be two townhall events on Nov. 17 that include staff presentations.
The first will cover CDBG and HOME funding at 10 a.m. and the second will cover ESG funding at 1 p.m. Both will take place in the Dome Auditorium of Flint City Hall.