photo by: City of Lawrence screenshot

Members of Lawrence's Affordable Housing Advisory Board discuss funding recommendations during a meeting on Monday, March 11, 2024.

The Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority and Tenants to Homeowners are one step closer to potentially receiving a little under $500,000 in combined federal funding.

Members of Lawrence’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board approved $480,000 in allocations for this year’s round of HOME Investment Partnerships Program funding — a grant program facilitated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — at their monthly meeting on Monday on a 6-3 vote. Of that total, $300,000 was recommended for the Housing Authority and $180,000 was recommended for Tenants to Homeowners.

The Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority’s request — which was recommended for the full amount of funding the agency asked for — is for its tenant-based rental assistance voucher program, which is intended to move individuals who are experiencing homelessness into transitional housing.

Tenants to Homeowners, meanwhile, made two requests that were recommended only for partial funding.

The nonprofit is classified as a Community Housing Development Organization under HUD’s rules, which mandate that at least 15% of HOME funds be set aside for such agencies. CHDO agencies can request operating funds, which cover daily operating expenses like rent and salaries. Tenants to Homeowners requested $50,000 and the advisory board recommendation was for $25,000.

The bulk of Tenants to Homeowners’ share of Monday’s funding recommendations comes from its other request, which was for $285,000 to cover a portion of the cost of a project to develop a trio of three-bedroom units of permanently affordable housing for income-qualified buyers at 105 Michigan St. The advisory board recommended providing $155,000 in funds instead.

The city had already estimated earlier this year that there would be approximately $480,000 in HOME funding available. And as of Monday’s meeting, the city is still working with an estimated funding pool and not a final figure.

Brad Karr, community development analyst with the city’s Planning and Development Services Department, told board members Monday that’s because the federal government has yet to approve an appropriations bill for this year. Karr said whatever the group decides to allocate in funding will need to be adjusted — up or down, depending on the amount — to reflect the final amount once it’s released at the federal level.

That’s a familiar part of the allocation process for this particular grant program; Karr said last year, the city was initially operating with an estimate of $500,000 in HOME funds and ended up getting closer to $503,000 and was able to spread the additional money equitably to awardees.

From here, there’s still a lot of work left before those funds will be awarded, though.

First, the Affordable Housing Advisory Board’s recommendations will go to the Lawrence City Commission for an initial round of approval in April, after which there will be a 30-day public comment period for the plan the city intends to submit to HUD. It’ll return to the City Commission in May for final approval, then be forwarded to HUD in June. HUD has the final say on whether the funding will be awarded, and the agency’s grant year for 2024 doesn’t begin until after this process is completed in August.