Fayetteville Council adopts $3.65 million HUD action plan to fund housing, neighborhood services

Fayetteville's City Council voted unanimously April 27 to adopt the 2026-27 HUD Annual Action Plan, a package staff said combines entitlement grants, program income and local match totaling about $3.65 million for community development, affordable housing and homelessness services.

Economic and Community Development Director Chris Collie told the council the plan "consists of our federal and local resources" and that staff had shaped the budget to translate grants into services and projects. "We are talking about $3.6 million worth of federal and local resources here," Collie said in his presentation.

The plan allocates CDBG, HOME and ESG dollars to a mix of programs: a CDBG-funded home-repair program (about $300,000), HOME funds for new rental and single-family projects and gap financing, expanded homebuyer-assistance funding, and targeted ESG support for homelessness prevention and shelter operations. Collie said the HOME program this year will include a developer-initiated rehabilitation of an existing apartment complex and noted the city closed on roughly 262 units of affordable housing in a recent period.

Councilmembers pressed staff on capacity and timing. Collie said some programs are limited by staff capacity or programmatic rules, and that program income and a state grant had been tapped to boost down-payment and mortgage-assistance efforts; he told council the city projects to increase next-year homebuyer assistance from $200,000 to $400,000 to respond to demand. On senior emergency repairs, Collie said the service is constrained by contractor and administrative capacity and that doubling funding would likely require additional staff.

Councilmember McNair moved to adopt the resolution authorizing the 2026-27 Annual Action Plan; Councilmember Ferguson seconded and the motion carried unanimously.

The adopted plan directs staff to proceed with statutory public-notice requirements and implementation steps under HUD rules. Staff said they will return with administrative details and any adjustments required by HUD.

What happens next: staff will finalize administrative policies, complete the public-comment period required by HUD and begin contracting with nonprofit partners and developers identified in the plan.