Council members press staff on rehab funding, CDBG trade-offs and district-level SHIP commitments

Council members used the June 23 Planning and Community Development Committee meeting to press staff for more granular analysis of how SHIP goals translate into district-level results and to explore near-term reallocations of federal CDBG funds.

A council member raised the clearest funding challenge: "So even if if we don't want to touch the production, I feel like we should at least take this $3,000,000 and move it out of streets and sidewalks," the member said, urging staff to consider moving CDBG infrastructure dollars into home-rehab funding. Veronica Gonzalez, assistant director with Neighborhood and Housing Services, responded that CDBG is flexible for infrastructure in eligible low-to-moderate-income areas and that staff could layer CDBG with projects or swap with general-fund dollars, but she did not commit to a reallocation at the meeting.

Council members also focused on preserving existing homeownership stock and on trade-offs between preservation and new production. Several members noted that major home rehab projects frequently uncover unforeseen repairs that increase costs and recommended staff present trade-off scenarios (for example, how many preservation units an extra $10 million could secure versus rental production). Veronica Garcia, the department director, told the committee that HUD rules and rising construction costs — and in some cases updated city code and a deconstruction ordinance — are contributing to longer timelines and greater per-unit costs for rehab work.

Committee requests and staff commitments: Members asked staff to provide AMI (area median income) breakdowns for SHIP goals, district-filterable dashboards showing which projects and units are tied to which districts, and comparative scenarios that model how alternative allocations (bond funds, general fund, shifting CDBG) would change unit counts for production and preservation. Staff agreed to provide those materials, said they will meet with councilmembers individually, and will bring recommended adjustments back to PCDC in August.

No formal vote was taken on any reallocation. The discussion will inform staff recommendations that return to the committee and then to council ahead of the HUD submission.