County seeks input ahead of virtual hearing on federal housing grants

A virtual public hearing Tuesday, March 30 will focus on Richland County’s Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), an end-of-year account that gives information on federal funding to address the needs of low-to-moderate-income residents.

During the 2019-20 fiscal year, the County received $1,519,657 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding and $676,580 in HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

• CDBG funding includes support for Operation One Touch, which helps low- and moderate‐income residents with household repairs, as well as funding for Public Service Grants.
• HOME funding includes support for Richland County’s Homeownership Assistance Program and Richland Rebuild, a program that involves tearing down unsafe housing and building new homes for residents.

The County’s Community Planning and Development Department will discuss the report for these two programs at 5:30 p.m. March 30. This virtual hearing is required by HUD and open to the public via Zoom. To attend, email a request for the meeting link to [email protected].

CAPER identifies the County’s level of progress and accomplishments in meeting the goals and objectives of its Consolidated Plan. To view the CAPER document, visit www.richlandcountysc.gov, navigate to Community Development, and then to the Housing & Urban Development webpage.

Richland County encourages residents to review and comment on CAPER. Public comments will be taken from Thursday, March 25 until the virtual hearing March 30 and can be submitted in two ways:

• Mail: Richland County Government
  Community Planning & Development Division
  2020 Hampton St., P.O. Box 192, Columbia, SC 29204
  Attention: Clayton Voignier, Director
• Email: [email protected]

All received comments will be submitted to HUD’s local office in Columbia. For more information, visit Richland County Community Development.