St. Cloud Planning Commission Recommends Allocation of $520,000 in CDBG Funds to Address Homelessness and Low-Income Needs

(KNSI) – An advisory committee has outlined its recommendations for allocating more than a half million dollars to help organizations improve the lives of homeless and low-income individuals in St. Cloud.

The planning commission met on Monday afternoon after hearing from more than a dozen groups in February on how they would spend their portion of Community Development Block Grant money if approved.

The commission recommended fully or partially funding 11 of the 17 projects that were applied for. There were $1.8 million in asks with $520,000 to give away. The city estimates it will get around $670,000 in funds and keep $150,000 for administrative costs. The final amount could fluctuate by up to $80,000 up or down.

Planning Commission Chair Marty Czech told KNSI News that picking winners and losers is always hard. “One of the challenges with this money every year is how can we make this money do the most good. Because, there’s a reason why we’re awarded this money every year. It’s because we’re a community of need. And the hope is that we can benefit people in the community.”

Czech explained they recommended a surge in CDBG funds to combat homelessness in St. Cloud. “We’re starting to talk about some facilities possibly being built to help house some homeless, in addition to fixing up places that are already here. Definitely more than what we’ve seen in the past. But I think we are also seeing that homelessness has been a more visible problem, the last 12 to 18 months.”

The Planning Commission is recommending the city dole out:

$65,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Minnesota to replace the furnace and air conditioning system at the Roosevelt Club (345 30th Avenue North)

$50,000 to Center City for site preparation to construct a three-story apartment building with 40 one-bedroom units for single adults who’ve had trouble staying in permanent housing

$40,000 to Central Minnesota Habitat For Humanity for site preparation for its Tiger Build Program at St. Cloud Tech High School

$60,000 to St. Cloud Park and Recreation to make improvements to Diocese Park (3150 Maine Prairie Road)

$15,000 for District 742 LEAF to support St. Cloud Area School District students experiencing homelessness

$10,000 for Lutheran Social Services Crisis Nursery, which provides parents in Benton and Stearns County with short-term emergency childcare placements, a 24-hour crisis hotline and additional support

$20,000 to the OIF Dream Center to replace the windows on its building at 530 16th Avenue North; the center provides transitional housing to men getting out of prison

$109,000 to Place of Hope for upgrades to its Compassionate Hope Family Center (121 Park Avenue South)

$100,000 could go to St. Cloud’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority to provide deferred loans to residents to make improvements to their homes

$40,000 to Too Much Talent for improvements to a future community center at 1415 5th Avenue North

$5,000 to Tri-Cap’s Project Connect program, which is a local event held at the River’s Edge Convention Center to connect people who are at risk of being homeless with resources

The city council will hold a public hearing on the proposed CDBG recipients and decide who will get funding at its March 25th meeting.

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