MANSFIELD — How would you like to see the City of Mansfield spend about $5.5 million over the next five years in federal community development funds?
Adrian Ackerman, the city’s director of permitting and development, wants your input into the city’s next five-year consolidated plan, which will help set goals for federal Community Development Block Grants and HOME funds.
Under a formula, the city receives about $850,000 in federal CDBG funds annually, along with around $325,000 through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program.
The CDBG program provides annual grants to states, cities, and counties to develop viable urban communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment, and by expanding economic opportunities, principally for low- and moderate-income persons.
HOME provides grants to states and localities that communities use — often in partnership with local nonprofit groups — to fund a wide range of activities including building, buying, and/or rehabilitating affordable housing for rent or homeownership or providing direct rental assistance to low-income people.
“Every five years, as part of the (U.S. Housing & Urban Development) grant, we must create a large-scale, consolidated plan that’s supposed to guide us in planning,” Ackerman said.
“We are looking for community input on its wants and needs to direct that funding to where those gaps exist,” she said.
To help achieve that input, the city has created an online survey (located here) that residents can complete.
A public meeting is also scheduled Feb. 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Community Room at the Mansfield-Richland County Public Library, 43 W. Third St.
For those who cannot attend, a “virtual” public meeting is schedule Jan. 31 at 2 p.m. via Zoom.
In recent years, for example, the city has allocated funding to the West End Neighborhood Improvement Plan, which has targeted an area whose geographic boundaries are generally Marion Avenue/Park Avenue West to the west and north; South Main Street to the east; and Glessner Avenue to the south.
That project is being done in phases, according to Ackerman, who said the second and third phases are in the engineering/design phase now with construction planned for the spring of 2025.
She said federal funds have also been allocated in recent years for public service purposes, such as the Richland County Transit Dial-A-Ride program, summer programming for youth in Mansfield parks, North End Community Improvement Collaborative gardens and emergency housing.
“We want community feedback if they want us to continue doing these things … or do something else,” Ackerman said.
The public input sessions will also cover impediments to fair housing in Mansfield and Richland County, according to Ackerman, who is the fair housing officer in the city and county.
She said calls received regarding obstacles to fair housing will be evaluated, along with training programs and other aspects involving the federal Fair Housing Act.