Ten single-family households in Erie will get $15,000 per home across three manufactured home parks to make repairs that directly address health and safety concerns, including weather-sensitive construction.
This support comes through a Weld County program that is described by its program manager as the reason government exists. Elizabeth Relford is the manager of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and has helped municipalities around the county fund several similar projects to benefit their residents.
Though the project was only just approved, Erie Housing Management Analyst Eric Leveridge is optimistic and appreciative of the county for providing the funds necessary to get this project off the ground. Residents and town leaders are excited, and Leveridge even says they intend to go through the CDBG program again in 2025.
To the north, in Pierce, area seniors found value in the program through renovations to the Pierce Senior Center, which was awarded $120,000 for the renovations. The senior center is the only gathering place for seniors in Pierce and is regularly used by seniors from Nunn and Ault.
The funding was used to upgrade the center’s restrooms to be handicapped-accessible as well as to replace flooring throughout the building, replace the kitchen sink and light fixtures, add floor heaters in the dining room, replace four windows and the front door.
Renovations were completed at the beginning of November, and Senior Coordinator Kenny Dill, who himself is also a senior, says they cannot be more thrilled with how everything turned out.
“People started coming in, and they were just totally amazed with the improvement that it made to this whole building,” Dill said. “Everybody that comes in is just amazed, and we’re so happy. I think it’s an outstanding program. It really went well for us.”
Dill said the Pierce Senior Center took a different approach from most CDBG applicants, applying with the county themselves instead of working through the town of Pierce. After such a positive experience, Dill says that they plan to apply for even more renovations to the center for the 2025 round to help fix the heater in the kitchen.
The interior of the Pierce Senior Center is seen in a courtesy photo. The center used Community Development Block Grant funds to replace flooring throughout the building, add floor heaters in the dining room and more. (Courtesy/Weld County Government)The CDBG program is a part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which provides a $1 million entitlement allocation to cities and counties across the nation that exceed a population of 200,000 residents.
In 2021, Weld County became one of the counties to receive entitlement funds as part of the CDBG program. Since then, the county has funded 16 different projects that were all aimed to help improve the wellbeing of low- and moderate-income individuals.
CDBG funds are provided to counties to help develop viable urban communities with housing, revitalized neighborhoods with community facilities and services as well as to help expand on economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income individuals, which is the main factor for funding. To be considered for funding, a community has to be located in an area where 51% or more residents are low- to middle-income.
Despite having restrictions and requirements for which projects in the county are applicable for funding, Weld County sees a wide variety of projects that don’t appear to have any pattern dependent on location.
“We’ve helped fund a huge low-income project in Firestone with building low-income housing, and in the north, we’ve helped fund the Pierce Senior Center,” said Severance Town Manager Nicholas Wharton, a member of the CDBG advisory committee. “They like to direct us to get as many diverse projects so we can help as much as possible throughout the county.”
To continue receiving CDBG funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the county must file a consolidated plan every five years and an annual action plan every year describing what the county has done with the funds, its priorities for the funding and what projects it plans to fund. The county last submitted its consolidated plan in 2023 and isn’t due to submit another one until 2028.
When the county receives an application for funding, Relford and Senior CDBG Analyst Cynthia Martin visit the applicant and work with them to ensure their request meets CDBG guidelines and adheres to the county commissioners’ established priorities: public improvements, adequate public infrastructure, housing, preservation and access to public services. Projects that more closely adhere to these priorities have a greater chance of being awarded the funding they’re after.
“We want to discuss their application with them and help ensure that their application for their communities is as strong as it can be because it’s going to be competing with other communities,” Relford said.
After meeting with the county, the community will resubmit its application and then go in front of the advisory committee, where project representatives will provide an explanation as to why the project is important. Then, if it aligns with the county’s priorities and there is enough funding available, the county approves the project.
Despite the many hoops and hurdles communities have to go through for funding, Relford points out that it is significantly easier than it was before 2021. Back then, if a community needed funding for a project, it would have to go through the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. Projects then had to compete with other projects from across the entire state instead of against the other 25 participating municipalities in the county.
“Not all submit every cycle,” Relford added. “I’m fairly confident that we’ll have anywhere from five to eight this year, and I mean if I hit eight applications, that’s a huge round ”
Firestone submitted a project for CDBG funds in 2023 and received funds for one of the five projects that were approved in 2024. The project will expand their Day of Service event from one day to two. The event partners with Brothers Redevelopment Inc. and volunteers to provide minor exterior home improvements for low- and moderate-income households.
“Home repair and maintenance assistance is extremely limited for low- to moderate-income homeowners in our region,” Firestone Director of Marketing and Communications Katie Hansen said. “Many residents struggle with the cost of making necessary exterior home improvements, such as exterior painting.”
Firestone had asked for $50,000 to help put on this event and provided home improvements for 12 households. According to Hansen, the event was a big success and the town is considering applying for funds again.
Other communities that were recently awarded funding include Ault, Evans, Eaton and Platteville. Applications for the 2025 round of CDBG funding are due on Dec. 31, as Weld County staff prepares to enter their fifth year of the CDBG program.
“The reason I love this program is because this is, to me, one of the reasons government exists,” Relford said. “You are truly helping provide the services for an area that needs it … and that just means the world to them.”
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