The City of Covington will host a public hearing next week to collect feedback on how the city should spend the federal grant funding it receives.
The forum will take place during the meeting of the Covington Board of Commissioners on the evening of Tuesday, May 12.
Specifically, the City is seeking feedback on how to allocate money from two federal programs administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD; the Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, program and the HOME program. As a federal entitlement city, Covington automatically receives a certain amount of funding from the two programs every year and legally must collect public input on how to spend the money. The public comment period this year ends May 25.
CDBG has historically been the larger of the two programs. It can be used to fund home repairs, street infrastructure, park improvements, literacy programs, economic development initiatives and other programs that benefit the city as a whole.
The second program, HOME, is more narrowly focused on housing. Most notably, the HOME dollars go toward an inter-city consortium that offers housing down payment assistance in the form of forgivable loans for residents in the following cities: Covington, Ludlow, Newport, Bellevue, Dayton, Erlanger, Florence and Independence. HOME funds can also go to nonprofits that help alleviate housing problems.
Spending plans for the programs are updated annually and every five years. You can learn more about the specifics of each program and see current annual plans at Covington’s federal grant webpage.
Next week’s meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12, at Covington City Hall on West Pike Street.