The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program offers $13 million in funding for housing rehabilitation, sewer and water hookups, demolition and small infrastructure projects for low-income households. Aaron Cooper, Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development for Kent County along with Brandy Nauman, Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development for Sussex County, provided details to Milford City Council. A public hearing in municipalities throughout Delaware must be held each year in order to gain endorsement from the city or town.
“Our offices apply for and administer the Community Development Block Grant Program, or CDBG, as we call it. We apply for this funding on behalf of municipalities and rural communities. CDBG funding comes from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and is allocated to Sussex and Kent counties through the Delaware State Housing Authority,” Nauman said. “One requirement of the CDBG program is to hold a public hearing, which gives us the opportunity to explain the program and provide an update. Most importantly, it gives citizens and local leaders, like yourself, a chance to have input on the upcoming application.”
Nauman explained that the grants were available to those whose median income was below 80 percent of the area median income which is set by HUD annually. In Sussex County, a two-person household would need to have an income of $66,050 or less while in Kent County, a two-person household would need to have an income of $69,000 or less.
“Historically, the majority of funding is used for owner-occupied housing rehabilitation, which is ideal because it helps us to maintain our existing housing stock. Housing rehabs include roofing, doors, windows, electrical, and plumbing upgrades, as well as energy upgrades,” Nauman said. “A home, in order to qualify, must be owner-occupied. They must be low- or moderate-income residents. The home must be insured or insurable, and county taxes and utilities must be current.”
When a home is rehabbed, Nauman explained they are required to put a lien on the property to protect the funding, and that ranges from a 5- to 10-year lien at zero interest, and it is a forgivable prorated lien.
“This is just to protect the home or protect the funding, so that a homeowner doesn’t receive our assistance and flip the home and earn a profit,” Nauman said. “In the last five years, Milford has received $290,000 in CDBG funding from the Sussex County side for housing rehab. It should be noted that we actually applied for $370,000 with the awarded funding. We assisted 14 households, and Sussex County also has the ability to help the city of Milford households with emergency repairs using funds provided by Sussex County Council for emergency things like no water, no heat, roof leaking, busted pipes, and accessibility. And over the last five years, we’ve assisted an additional 15 households with that funding.”
Each town must maintain a waiting list of at least four properties, but the agency prefers six or more. The waiting list must be complete when funding from the federal government is applied for.
“I can confidently say that we have exceeded expected expectations in serving our community homeowners within the past few years, none of the funding that that we been awarded has been recaptured, which I believe speaks volumes of the volume of work we do, and the quality we deliver,” Cooper said. “Because of this success, our waiting list grows daily through word of mouth, and also due to the visibility of our completed projects. Currently, we have 19 homeowners in the Milford area on our waiting list, though that number is subject to change. Last year we were awarded roughly $120,000 and here recently over $100,000 of that awarded money has been contracted and allotted, leaving us with little over, I believe, $20,000 which will give us enough room to finish an additional project on a small scale.”
Councilman Dan Marabello asked if council was just approving for the two agencies to make the application to the federal government. Nauman confirmed that was what they needed. A public hearing was held on the request with no one speaking for or against it.
Council approved the requests unanimously. To learn more about the CDBG and other programs that benefit low-to-moderate income families, visit Delaware State Housing online.
