Ione officials held a pre-application public hearing for the project design phase of the new Community Development Block Grant at their meeting Tuesday evening. The grant, which is the third in a series that the City has applied for, is part of the City’s housing strategy for first time homebuyers who meet the qualifications of low and moderate income families, households, and individuals. The City is currently proposing to use the funds mainly for housing acquisitions; however, the money may also be used for other aspects of housing including new construction, housing rehabilitation, public works, and economic development. As stated in the staff report, “Projects funded with CDBG allocations must carry out at least one of three objectives: benefit to a targeted income group, elimination of blight, or meeting urgent community development needs.”

The proposed national objective to be met by the city is to provide decent housing to those households making 51-81 percent of the median income of Amador County. The city’s consultants for the project, Connerly and Associates, will take the lead in preparing the necessary application and other related documents if the grant is awarded. John Broussard of Connerly and Associates was present at the meeting to field comments made by the public and the council regarding the program. According to Broussard, “the waiting list (for the program) is ever growing; there are currently 18 families on the list as of right now.” If the grant is awarded to the city, the application process will not begin until December 16th of this year. He also stated that “we try to serve members of the community first.” The next CDBG funding cycle opens in January of 2009.