Community Development Authority Meeting – July 15, 2026
Community Development Authority Meeting – July 15, 2026
The Community Development Authority (CDA) met on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, at 5:30 PM in City Hall Council Chambers. The meeting included approval of routine items, a public hearing on housing and community development priorities, and a director's report on upcoming policy changes and disaster recovery resources.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes from the June 17, 2026 meeting and the May Budget Performance Report were approved by consent without objection.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public attended the public hearing. A written comment from Rock County Public Health (RCPH), dated June 17, 2026, was submitted and read into the record. RCPH provided data from the 2024 Community Health Assessment, noting Rock County has the sixth highest eviction rate in Wisconsin, over one in five renters spend at least half their income on housing, and more than one-third of middle and high school youth have experienced housing insecurity. RCPH urged aligning CDBG and HOME funds with county initiatives focused on eviction prevention (e.g., mediation and court navigation), affordable and workforce housing development, and healthy housing promotion.
Discussion Items
- Public Hearing on Needs Memo and 2027 Annual Action Plan (AAP): CDA staff (Kelly) explained that every five years HUD requires a consolidated plan with overarching goals, implemented annually through an AAP. The top needs identified through multiple public hearings and a survey were affordable housing and support for homeless and special needs populations. The CDA was asked to recertify these priorities to allow the city to issue applications for CDBG public service funding (capped at 15% of CDBG funds, historically about $100,000 annually) and begin the 2027 budgeting process. The public hearing was opened and closed with no oral testimony.
- Director's Report: Kelly announced two items: (1) On July 27, 2026, she will bring a change to Council Policy 100 regarding TID affordable housing extension funds to allow funding for single-family homes, in addition to large-scale multifamily projects which have been difficult to realize. (2) The Disaster Recovery Center (DWC) has opened at 1717 Center with representatives from FEMA and SBA for residents with flood, hail, or wind damage; members were urged to share this information.
- Board members expressed support for the policy change, noting it aligns with upcoming zoning changes and new state financial tools.
Key Outcomes
- Motion and Vote: Michael Cass moved to reaffirm the housing and community development priorities from the 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan for the 2027 AAP, encourage nonprofit agencies to submit CDBG and HOME proposals that align with these priorities, and stipulate that proposals not addressing a priority not be considered for 2027. Jennifer Anderson seconded. The motion passed by a unanimous voice vote (5-0, with two members absent: Max Ryan and Neil Guilance).
- Next Steps: The CDBG public service application will be released the following day; applicants will present at the next CDA meeting, with a special meeting the following week to determine preliminary allocations for 2027 budgeting.
Meeting Transcript
Right, we are going to call to order the community development authority meeting for Wednesday, July 15th, 2026. Anna, would you take role? Michael Cass. Here. Chain Seaman. Here. Jennifer Anderson. Lisa Higgins. Here. Scott Greenland. Here. So Max Ryan and the Neil Guilance are absent today. Thank you. We have the minutes and the budget performance report, minutes from June 17th, and the attachment budget performance report for May. This will pass under consent unless any members want it pulled. Okay. Moving on. Requests and comments from the public regarding items on the agenda not requiring a public hearing and on matters which can be affected by CDA action. Nobody is in the chambers today. So we'll move on. We have agenda item number five, the public hearing on needs memo and the public hearing notice. The 2027 AAP. We will need a motion. Oh, I'd like to open. Oh, yes, Kelly. Oh, Kelly. Yeah. I'll just tell you a little bit about. Um, so every five years we are required by HUD to do a consolidated plan. That consolidated plan gives us overarching goals that we will do on an annual basis through our annual action plan, which is much more specific, but the consolidated plan gives us those overarching goals. So what's before you tonight is just a recertification of those goals that were determined through a pretty robust public process. Um we actually had a consultant for this that term. Um they did multiple public hearings, there was a survey. Um, so it's a pretty robust process to determine what the the highest needs in the city of Janesville are. I don't think that they that any of you will find them surprising. Um if you've lived here at all. Um what those two the two top needs that came out were affordable housing and support for homeless and special needs populations. So what we're asking for you to do tonight is to recertify those needs as the top needs in the city of Janesville right now that can be used or our funds can be utilized for. That allows us to then put out our application for our CDBG public service. Um we are authorized to use 15% of our CDBG funds towards public service. Um, the last several years that's been about just shy of 100,000 that we're able to distribute out to local nonprofits so that they can do the great work that they do. Um, but it's capped at a certain dollar figure. This allows us by certifying these needs, it allows us to kind of tailor what we're going to support by way of those awards using the priorities as a benchmark as a as a threshold for those applications. So, what we're asking you to do tonight is following a public hearing is to certify the needs as well as um encourage those nonprofits who fit within those needs to submit their applications. Excuse me. That application would go out tomorrow or be available tomorrow. Excuse me. And um with a relatively tight turnaround, but it's not a horrible application to do, and then you would hear from each one of those individual applicants at the next um CDA meeting. Next CDA meeting is really important. Um, and then as a reminder, you will have the initial and then a week the following week you have the special meeting, which allows you to determine what those preliminary allocations would be.
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