SAN MARCOS CITY COUNCIL
The San Marcos City Council received a staff presentation regarding priority needs for drafting the 2025-2029 Community Development Block Grant Consolidated Plan, and council provided comments on the proposed renewal of the Citizen Participation Plan at last week’s meeting.
Irma Duran, San Marcos Community Initiatives Program administrator, said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a Citizen Participation Plan that allows citizens input on how the federal grant will be used, and it is now due for renewal, which occurs every five years.
“In February, we reviewed data and conducted outreach through a series of dream sessions, public surveys and meetings,” Duran said. “On March 16, I will post a draft Consolidated Plan for public comment along with the citizen participation plan. That will be available for 30 days here at City Hall, at the library and online as well as provided to citizens as requested.”
In 2017, Duran said the city completed an Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing review and found these issues, which are still relevant today: housing affordability, insufficient income, lack of awareness of fair housing rights, predatory lending and foreclosures, limited home and maintenance resources and concentrations of property. In 2019, a Housing Needs Analysis found the core housing needs were rentals for residents earning less than $25,000, displacement prevention, homes priced under $200,000, ownership product diversity and improved condition and accessibility of existing housing stock. Earlier this year, the council chose quality of life, economic vitality, public safety, mobility and connection and environmental protection as core goals for use of these funds.
Duran said the projects chosen must meet specific objectives as required by HUD. The objectives include prevention and elimination of slum and blight as well as urgent need. Additionally, 70% of program funding must benefit people below 80% of the area median income. That can include:
• Projects that benefits and area where at least 52% of the population meet the income limit
• Public service where at least 51% of the clients meet the income limit
• Housing - single family or apartments
• Jobs created where at least 51% are held by people who meet the income limit. Duran said the HUD allocation for 2025-2026 is $700,000, of which 70% must benefit low income people, no more than 15% can go to public services and no more than 20% for administration.
Staff recommended the following priority categories for funding: affordable housing, public services, public facilities, infrastructure, demolition activities and economic development. The council agreed.
San Marcos City Council Member Alyssa Garza asked what the response rate was, which was 86 online responses and seven different dream sessions with 50 additional people from that.
Garza said Community Action has done a survey where the community has given key needs, so she felt that would provide helpful insight.
San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson said she wants the Human Services Advisory Board to look at city’s human services funding at the same time as CDBG funding is looked at to streamline things for applicants as well as to ensure if a program cannot receive funding from one it could possibly get funding the other.
“I would really like to see this program and our human services program be looked at at the same time, “ Hughson said. “This is money, some of it comes from us and has fewer requirements. This is money from the federal government and has a lot of strings and a lot of reporting, so there are certainly things and agencies more suited to that than ours.”
San Marcos Planning and Development Services director said that next year’s plan is to review those two programs closer together, “if not on the same timeline.”
The process is that the city reviews data and conducts outreach starting in February. March is when city council direction is requested and the draft Consolidated Plan is posted for public comment. In April, council approval for the Consolidated Plan will be requested.
