This year, the cities of Westminster and Thornton will spend community development block grant funding on home repairs, parks and open space enhancements, and homelessness outreach.
Westminster and Thornton city councils both recently approved the cities’ 2021 annual action plans for CDBG funds that the cities received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The goal of the program is to provide suitable housing and expand economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents.
“The entire time I have been on council, we have really promoted and pushed to make sure we have affordable and attainable housing in our community because it is so vital. And allowing people to age-in-home is an important tool for that,” said Westminster Mayor Anita Seitz at a council meeting on July 26. Westminster and Thornton city councils both unanimously voted for the CDBG action plans.
Westminster is receiving about $610,000 in CDBG funding. It will spend $122,000 on administrative costs, $240,000 on preserving and expanding attainable housing, and $200,000 on affordable housing rehabilitation.
Some of Westminster’s funding will be for more targeted projects, such as streetscape and lighting improvements to a section of South Westminster. Other funding will go to the Emergency and Essential Home Repair program, which helps with urgently needed repairs at low- and moderate-income residences.
Thornton is receiving about $851,000. It will spend $503,000 on public facilities improvements, $127,600 on the city’s homeless outreach team, $170,000 on administrative costs, and $50,000 on housing improvement programs.
Thornton’s CDBG programs include art installations and enhancements to parks and open space, sidewalk construction, and the continuation of the city’s homelessness outreach team.
Jason Mccullough, a program manager with Brothers Redevelopment, a nonprofit, spoke during public comments at the Westminster City Council meeting and attested to how CDBG funding benefits residents. “We have a saying with Brothers Redevelopment: `We help those that no one else can help.’ With these funds, with the city, you are allowing us to do this work and continue to help people age in place in Westminster,” he said.
Mccullough explained that Brothers receives CDBG funds from cities to repair homes occupied by older, lower-income residents. Projects can range from building wheelchair ramps, custom safety rails, or broken water heaters, as examples.
The funding doesn’t address minor inconveniences, Mccullough said. “We use funds to take care of those kinds of issues to allow folks to continue to reside in their homes.
