The Community Investments division oversees activities that are funded through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The City of Wichita is an Entitlement City and as such, receives funding directly from HUD according to a formula, and in amounts determined by Congressional appropriations.
Following are the fund categories which are a part of the City's Entitlement allocations:
- Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
- HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME)
- Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG)
Programs funded with these resources are provided to persons who meet income guidelines.
Current Funding Cycles
The 2022-2023 & 2023-2024 CDBG, HOME and ESG RFP opened on December 27, 2021 and closed on January 21, 2022. A total of 17 applications were received. H&CS Staff is proposing a two year funding cycle this year to round out the 2019-2024 Consolidated Planning period.
Annually, the City Council appoints a Grants Review Committee
(GRC) to review applications and make funding recommendations for the three entitlement grant programs. The GRC will meet three times in the month of February to review applications and develop allocation recommendations. The three meetings are open to the public.
At GRC Meeting #1, H&CS Staff explains the GRC process and provides a high-level overview of the three entitlement grants and the applications submitted. This meeting took place on 2/9/2022 from 2:00-4:00 pm via Zoom. The meeting agenda and minutes are below.
GRC Meeting #2 is the Public Hearing. At this meeting, applicants for HOME and CDBG funding are given an opportunity to make a presentation on their proposals, which is followed by a 5-minute Q&A with H&CS staff and GRC members. ESG proposals are reviewed by a representative from the United Way's Continuum of Care (CoC). CoC funding recommendations are provided as well. This meeting took place on 2/17/2022 from 3:00-6:00 pm via Zoom. The meeting agenda and minutes are below.
At GRC Meeting #3, the committee works to develop funding recommendations for CDBG, HOME, and ESG proposals. This meeting took place on 2/23/2022 from 2:00-4:00 pm via Zoom. The meeting agenda and minutes are below.
Meetings were held virtually to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The public was given an opportunity to weigh on the proposed applications at GRC meeting #2, the Public Hearing.
After the meetings, staff took the recommendations from the GRC and included them in the Annual Action Plan (AAP) for Program Year (PY) 2022-23. Staff sought input from the public on the AAP during our formal public comment period which ran from March 31, 2022-May 2, 2022.
On May 3, 2022, staff brought the plan to the City Council for consideration, with contingencies outlined in the event funding allocations were higher or lower than estimated. Funding allocations were provided by the US Department of Housing & Urban Development on May 13th. Staff updated the plan according to the contingencies approved by Council and submitted the AAP to HUD for review and approval.
