Residents urge council to prioritize shelter services in CDBG/HOME funding during packed public hearing

The city opened a public hearing for proposed Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME fund priorities and heard more than an hour of comments from residents, service providers and people with lived experience.

Melissa Jacobs, director of Blue RC Horizons, told the council that domestic violence shelter services qualify as housing‑stability work under HUD rules and urged the city to prioritize facility upgrades that would allow the agency to return to a centralized shelter model with ADA‑accessible showers. "Domestic violence is one of the leading causes of homelessness for women and children," Jacobs said, and she emphasized that capital improvements can reduce long‑term service costs and improve safety.

Multiple individuals who said they are currently homeless or at risk described barriers to accessing services, including limited shelter beds, difficulties obtaining paid work after incarceration, and medical or disability needs that current shelter arrangements cannot meet. One speaker said she was a disabled mother and asked why the council appeared focused on a canal project rather than immediate housing needs.

Other public commenters—longtime residents, service volunteers and business owners—offered a range of perspectives: some pressed for urgent expansion of shelter capacity and reallocation of funds to street outreach and motel‑conversion strategies; others urged balancing short‑term human services with longer‑term economic projects such as canal repairs that they said support downtown businesses and tourism.

Council members and staff heard repeated calls for more transparency about how CDBG and HOME dollars would be allocated and for the city to identify specific facility improvements and funding amounts before finalizing the action plan. The city manager noted that the city provides substantial funding to Blue Water Community Action Agency and that a recent stakeholder roundtable summarized ongoing homelessness work, but residents said gaps remain.

The hearing record included personal testimony about historically underfunded shelters, calls to examine parole placement practices, and proposals for zoning or programmatic changes to expand affordable housing stock. The public hearing was closed after a broad cross‑section of the community spoke.