A grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will help DeKalb’s poor and homeless population, but there still is a long way to go before the city receives an estimated $519,000 in aid.

“The purpose of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) is to develop a viable urban community by providing decent housing, a suitable living environment and expanded economic opportunities for persons of low and moderate income,” said Sue Guio, community development assistant.

The grant came about because of the designation of DeKalb as an entitlement community. The 1990 census showed that 20 percent of the working population of DeKalb County commuted into Chicago and the collar counties, which allowed DeKalb to get direct federal aid under HUD guidelines.

According to Guio, there are many steps in the process of actually receiving the grant. “The first thing we had to do was prepare a Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS),” she said. “This is a five-year planning document and it is to identify the overall needs of affordable and supportive housing, as well as how we’re going to identify those needs in the future.”

To assist the city staff in determining the housing needs, an Ad Hoc Citizen’s Advisory Committee was formed. “They helped with determining the level of service in housing-related programs, and whether the services were meeting the needs of the residents or not,” Guio said. “They helped decide which population group needed the most assistance the soonest.”

This ad hoc committee will stay together to perform more duties in the CDBG program. “The next step after the CHAS is complete is to prepare a proposed statement of what we will use the CDBG money for,” she said. “They will help with the recommendations to the city council.”

Also, at the end of the first year of the five-year program, the committee will go over the recommendations for uses of the money and determine if the money was used appropriately, Guio said. “They will put together an annual review and a plan for the next year,” she said.

The proposed CHAS will go to the city council at the next meeting to be considered for approval, Guio said. If accepted, the document will then get filed for a 30-day public comment period.

“In the 30 days, anyone who wants to give a comment about it is welcome to,” Guio said. “Once we receive the comments, we choose whether to incorporate or reject them. At the end of the 30 days, the council approves or rejects any changes we’ve made.”

From here, the CHAS is sent to the HUD office in Chicago for a 60-day review period. “If they accept it in those 60 days, we make a proposed statement for the use of the CDBG funds, which is again reviewed by HUD.”

If this draft is accepted, the city does a final statement, and the grant is sent, she said.

The recommendations so far meet various needs in the community. “We are discussing using funds for the rehabilitation of existing properties for low income persons, down payment assistance for first-time home buyers, rental assistance for low income families and other programs for elderly and existing homeowners,” Guio said.

Local organizations, such as Safe Passage and Hope Haven, are also a part of the overall plan, Guio said.

“One of the first steps was to take an inventory of area organizations and the services they delivered,” she said. “Once we have the proposed statement put together, we will ask for requests and proposals from non-profit groups who would like to expand or offer new programs to help the populations identified in the CHAS.”

The city wants to get other agencies involved because housing development is a big task. “One thing that’s important about the CDBG and the CHAS is that it’s a program that can’t be administered by the city alone,” she said. “We’d like to be able to tap into other funding sources. Then the money becomes seed money and can grow into something bigger.”

“We’d like to be able to tap into other funding sources. Then the money becomes seed money and can grow into something bigger.”