Housing authority will get reimbursed for CM Allen Homes

The city is taking steps to reimburse the San Marcos Public Housing Authority for money it spent to repair the CM Allen Homes community after the 2015 floods. Council held a public hearing and voted on an amendment to the city’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR) Action Plan to allow for a payment of $866,603 to the housing authority. 

“This amendment is the first step in determining their eligibility,” Housing and Community Development Manager Stacy Brown explained to council. 

When the council approved the city’s CDBG-DR Action Plan in December 2016, Brown said, “At that time no funds were allocated to the San Marcos Housing Authority, and it was not included in the action plan.”

Gloria Salazar, who was chair of the public housing authority during the 2015 floods, said that residents could not wait for the authority to apply for and receive funding to repair the housing units. Instead, the housing authority used its own funds that had been set aside for other purposes to make the CM Allen Homes community liveable as quickly as possible.

“Waiting for funds to begin repairs was not an option,” she said.

When the action plan was under consideration, Salazar said, “The city’s position was that the housing authority did not have an unmet need, That was not the case then, and it is not the case now. The housing authority still has an unmet need.”

Albert Sierra, chair of the housing authority, also spoke to the council about the need to get the public housing community repaired soon after the floods.

“We couldn’t afford to wait,” he said. 

Brown noted that the council’s vote Tuesday night was not to allocate the funds, but to process the amendment according to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations. City staff will bring an agenda item detailing eligible cost reimbursement at a future council meeting. 

The amendment to the CDBG-DR Action Plan passed unanimously.