By Megan Alley
Sun staff

The Clermont County Commissioners approved a 5-year affordable housing and community development plan on May 20. The plan is a prerequisite for the county to self-manage the annual allocation of the $932,702 it receives from the Community Development Block Grant program.

The 179-page document, formally called the 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan and Assessment of Fair Housing, is due by June 1 to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which manages the CDBG program.

This year’s funding allocation is significantly more than prior allocations, due mainly to an increase in Clermont County ‘s population, which recently surpassed 200,000. HUD now identifies Clermont as an Urban County.

“Consolidated plans document the demands for affordable housing and public services, based on the most current data,” said Paul Lippens, principal planner for McKenna Associates, in a presentation to commissioners. “It’s really important that recommendations for funding are based on relevant and current data, and that’s why HUD asks for these plans to be updated every five years.”

The county reviewed census data, economic data and data that comes directly from HUD, said Lippens.

“This is not the first time that Clermont County has been funding these types of programs,” added Lippens. “They have just been doing it through the regional Ohio HUD programs prior.”

The department assessed the prior programming and project accomplishments to develop the potential priorities of the new Consolidated Plan.

They also worked with the public, through focus groups, open houses and public hearings, to develop priorities for the next five years.

The goals stated in the Consolidated Plan are: enhance economic development and training activities, improve public facilities and infrastructure, increase quality of owner-occupied homes, address the needs of homeless and at-risk families, increase quality and affordability of rental housing, and provide and expand public services.

If needed, the Consolidated Plan can be amended.

In addition to the Consolidated Plan, the county will develop and submit an annual action plan, said Lippens.

“Every year, the county will select and fund the projects for that year based on the strategies that are included in the Consolidated Plan,” said Lippens.

Project categories that have been selected for funding in the first year include the Clermont County Health District Septic Rehab Program, public facilities and infrastructure improvements, public services such as drug and alcohol counseling, People Working Cooperatively home repairs, administration and planning, and homeless and at-risk family service support through repairs to the YWCA.

“There’s a lot of work that went into this over the past seven months,” said Andrew Kuchta, director of the Department of Community and Economic Development. “This is the last step in our transition to Urban County status for the CDBG program.”