NEWS

Help Keizer, Salem chart course on affordable housing

A planning effort to address affordable housing in our community has begun. For the next nine months, the City of Keizer and the City of Salem will assess community housing and development needs in order to create a Consolidated Plan that will target federal HOME Investment Partnership and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding resources for five years (2020-2024). The planning effort is built on feedback from community partners and community members.

Want to participate?

Area residents can surveys and give input on community affordable housing needs, household needs to achieve self-sufficiency, and share experiences with housing discrimination. The Housing & Community Development and Fair Housing surveys are available online at tinyurl.com/skhousing. Surveys are available in English, Spanish, and Russian. The estimated time for each survey is 10 – 15 minutes.

Schedule a presentation for your community organization about the Consolidated Plan. To schedule a presentation, email Shelly Ehenger, Federal Programs Manager, at [email protected]

Become a part of the project email list to follow the planning process. To get emails, sign up by emailing [email protected]. Include your name, address, and if you are affiliated with a specific agency, neighborhood association or organization, in order to assist in the development of the plan.

The Consolidated Plan is a five-year housing and community development strategic plan based on data collection and community feedback (from county departments, city partners, state agencies, non-profit partners and community members) to inform how to best utilize the scarce federal resources over the five-year period.

The Analysis of Impediments uses collected data to identify and analyze impediments to fair housing choice and develop strategies to address those impediments. This also involves a comprehensive community engagement process. The two planning efforts will continue through April 2020.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires that jurisdictions receiving Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program funds conduct these planning efforts to address regulatory requirements.

More information about the Consolidated Plan process is available or by calling 503-588-6178.