City of Lima Associate Planner Sophia Fisher outlines proposed CDBG/HOME fund allocations during Lima City Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee meeting Monday in council chambers.
Craig Kelly | The Lima News
LIMA — Livability issues were at the center of two meetings Monday at the Lima Municipal Building, with Lima City Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee discussing Community Development Block Grant and HOME Grant allocations followed by Lima City Council hearing the results of a recent community survey.
The committee meeting served as the third and final meeting concerning CDBG/HOME grant funding allocations for the upcoming year. Allocations allotted to the city from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development total just over $1.05 million in CDBG funds and just over $337,000 in HOME funds, creating a total allocation of just over $1.39 million, which represents a 1 percent decrease from last year’s allocation total.
CDBG/HOME funding allocations
According to City of Lima Associate Planner Sophia Fisher, the plan as it currently stands would see a greater priority placed on programs related to housing repair and home purchases, with maximum loan allotments in the First Home Lima first-time homebuyer program increased from $6,000 to $14,999 and the city’s home update projects increasing its maximum loan payment to $48,000.
“We’ve definitely increased a lot of the home repair budget,” she said. “We’ve always had these programs, but we’re trying to boost them up and get these dollars out the door so we can fix up some of the housing.”
One advantage the city has this year is that in the years since the COVID-19 outbreak, some of the funds from previous allotments have been carried over to the tune of more than $263,000 in HOME allocations and almost $596,000 in CDBG funds, which has helped increase allotments for this year’s plan.
“COVID really slowed down a good number of projects,” Fisher said. “So this year, we’re trying to get all this money out the door. We’ll feel it a little more next year when we have the new allocations.”
CDBG funding will be focused on various economic and community development initiatives, including blighted home demolition, streets and curbs projects and improvements to areas like the Jackson Street Community Garden, Cook Park and MLK Jr. Park.
The current allocation plan is available for public comment until July 22. For more information on how to see the allocations, call the city’s housing and neighborhoods department at 419-221-5146.
Community survey priorities
During the regular council meeting, Public Information Officer Jessica Begonia presented the findings of a recent community survey conducted earlier this year by the National Research Center.
“The survey was sent out to 2,800 Lima households with 287 of those responding, giving us roughly an 11 percent response rate,” Begonia said. “However, it is worth noting that we did have poor representation from citizens under the age of 55 years old, from renters and minorities.”
The survey showed that public safety and economic development were the top two areas of perceived need in the community. While those results will be considered in future policy decisions, Mayor Sheretta Smith emphasized that there are already tremendous investments in these areas.
“We’ve recently accomplished several major successes that will further strengthen our city’s economic health,” she said in a statement. “We’ve had over $60 million in public and private investment in our downtown over the last few years, and we are confident that the establishment of the Community Entertainment District will continue to build on that momentum.”
Smith’s also pointed to initiatives such as the 23 active Community Reinvestment Area agreements that represent over $65 million in capital investments, along with workforce development initiatives like GenNext to help build up the city’s future workforce.
An additional statement from Lima Police Chief Angel Cortes centered on recent safety initiatives in the city.
“Our safety improvement initiatives include everything from technology, like the flock cameras and speed trailers, to increased street lighting,” he said. “We have re-instated the Pro-Active Crime Enforcement Unit (PACE Unit) to target quality of life issues. We are also shifting to a community-oriented policing philosophy and working to improve engagement with community organizations.”
Reach Craig Kelly at 567-242-0391 or on Twitter @cmkelly419.
