At its August 2 meeting, the Henry County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved Fiscal Year 2022 Action Plans related to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnership (HOME) programs.
Both CDBG and HOME are funded by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, with the County’s annual allotment determined through a formula that takes population, income levels, and housing stock into account. This year, Henry received $1,042,369 and $512,877 respectively as part of the two initiatives.
The Board heard a presentation from the County’s Director of Community Development, Shannan Sagnot. In her remarks, she outlined spending line items.
Infrastructure improvements for things like water, sewers, sidewalks and streets constitute $603,896 of the $1,042,369 CDBG allotment. What remains will go to façade improvements for small businesses, public services such as food bank and rental assistance, as well as the costs of administration.
Sagnot also noted that an additional $190,224.48 was being reprogrammed from a previous allocation of CDBG specific to COVID relief. The County initially over-estimated the costs of administration and are now re-dedicating those funds to public services.
While Henry has been given CDBG dollars since 2012, this is the first year it has received funding through HOME. Of the $512,877 awarded, nearly half will be used for down payment assistance. Other funds will go to tenant based rental assistance as well as assistance to community housing development organizations.
The housing assistance provisions under HOME, and these were the subject of a lengthy conversation among Board members. County Chair Carlotta Harrell noted the importance of getting these much-needed dollars into the hands of residents facing rising costs in a down economy.
“You have a lot of individuals that are renting, and when it’s time to renew their lease, they are going up on the rent $100, $200, or even $300,” said Harrell. “If you are on a fixed income or have a minimum wage job, $100 makes a difference on whether you can stay in your apartment or home.”
District IV Commissioner Vivian Thomas added, “If we are going to be of assistance getting people to a better place, we need to give them the opportunity to rebuild. We will help them with this step so they can absorb new costs.”
Sagnot believes that the down payment assistance set aside will be key in helping Henry residents purchase a home. She also lauded the program’s flexibility.
“The big difference [compared to other grant programs] is that individual households are not limited in home selection,” she said. “They get to look on the open market…we’ll have a list of approved banks they can go through.”
The last topic of conversation was homelessness. Specifically, District II Commissioner Dee Clemmons wants to see the County grow its commitment in this area.
“I would like to see that Henry County is doing something for the homeless population,” she said.
Federal guidelines restrict spending of HOME funds to permanent or transitional housing. However, County leadership plans on revisiting the topic in the near future. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is more flexible. The County may be able to use some of its ARPA allotment to invest in homeless services.
