City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: SEPTEMBER 19, 2023
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
THROUGH: JAMES F. PARAJON, CITY MANAGER /s/
FROM: HELEN S. MCILVAINE, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF HOUSING
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of Draft Citizen Participation Plan for Housing and Community Development Activities.
BODY
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ISSUE: Consideration of Draft Citizen Participation Plan (“Participation Plan” or “Plan”) for Housing and Community Development Activities.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council:
1. Receive the Draft Citizen Participation Plan for Housing and Community Development Activities; and
2. Approve the Plan.
BACKGROUND: The Office of Housing prepares the Participation Plan in accordance with
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations and guidance. The document is occasionally updated to better reflect the needs of the community, changing technologies used for public outreach, and updated HUD guidance. The last Participation Plan update was in 2021.
HUD requires the Participation Plan to describe how the City will provide residents with reasonable and timely access to local meetings, information, and records related to the City's proposed and actual use of funds; provide for public hearings to obtain citizen views and to respond to proposals and questions; provide for timely written answers to written complaints and grievances; and identify how the needs of non-English speaking residents will be met in the case of public hearings where a significant number of non-English speaking residents can be reasonably expected to participate.
The Participation Plan is being revised to include Community Development Block Grant Section 108 Guaranteed Loan Funds. It is anticipated that an application to use this funding source will be submitted in the Fall as part of the planned support for Housing Alexandria’s Glebe-Mount Vernon project.
The Draft Participation Plan was released on August 21 for a required 30-day public comment period, which ended on September 22. To solicit public comments, the Draft Participation Plan’s release was announced by notices placed in local newspapers, via social media, the City’s eNews service, and the Office of Housing website. Hard copies were available for review in City libraries and at the Office of Housing. It was also distributed to a host of interested parties on August 21 via email. Staff responded that the activities described in the Participation Plan are baseline requirements and additional methods of community outreach and engagement could be employed as part of the implementation of the Participation Plan.
DISCUSSION: The City of Alexandria’s Draft Citizen Participation Plan for Housing and Community Development Activities has been prepared in accordance with regulations set forth by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development which refers to the Participation Plan as the “Citizen Participation Plan” in all official documents. These regulations require that participants in certain HUD programs including, but not limited to, the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) programs have a Participation Plan describing how low- and moderate-income people can participate in, and comment on, the creation of the Annual Action Plan for Housing and Community Development (“Action Plan”) and review the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER).
The Draft Participation Plan is attached. It describes the methods to be used for outreach to low- and moderate-income persons, lists housing and community development organizations to be consulted, describes how the public participation process will function during emergency situations, and contains other information required by HUD. The approved Participation Plan will be effective until the City chooses to revise it, or HUD requirements change, and a revision is needed.
FISCAL IMPACT: None.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Draft Citizen Participation Plan for Housing and Community Development Activities
2. Citizen Participation Plan Presentation
STAFF:
Emily A. Baker, Deputy City Manager
Eric Keeler, Deputy Director, Office of Housing
Kimberly Cadena, Housing Analyst, Office of Housing