City briefing: Knoxville is an entitlement grantee for HUD programs; officials stress housing-first goals and federal compliance

Kevin Dose, the city's housing/federal grants presenter, told council that Knoxville is an "entitlement city" for several HUD programs and explained how those federal awards differ from local grants. "We are an entitlement city which means for a couple of programs we receive funding automatically based on several factors," he said, adding the three HUD programs discussed were Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and the HOME Investment Partnerships program (the latter was not covered in detail at the workshop because it is development-related).

Dose reviewed the HUD requirement that federal activities be consistent with a locally developed five-year consolidated plan and an annual action plan; he said the major focus of Knoxville's consolidated plan is to "keep people in their homes, keep people housed." He explained ESG requires a local dollar-for-dollar match, while CDBG has no local-match requirement but limits public services spending to 15% of CDBG funds.

Dose and other presenters also highlighted compliance differences: when the city acts as grantee to HUD, the city must follow federal labor, procurement and citizen-participation requirements and subrecipient reporting. He credited longtime city community development administrator Linda Russ for the city's compliance record: "Linda has 30 years of experience... and we are just very high thought of by our funders," Dose said.

Council members asked for updates on specific federal grants (including a Department of Justice grant and ARPA-related projects), and staff agreed to follow up with detail on several reallocations and status items. Staff also noted federal grant awards have declined in purchasing power over decades and that the city now spends more local general-fund dollars on housing and homelessness than it receives in federal housing dollars.

Staff reiterated that federal grants are administratively intensive and that many federal programs are best paired with local funding to achieve city goals and timelines.