Aurora has an estimated $10.6 million from a variety of sources that it can distribute to community services in 2025, and the city has started planning how to spend those funds.
Aurora Community Services Director Chris Ragona, who presented an overview of the proposed grants to the Aurora City Council’s Public Health, Safety and Transportation Committee at a meeting last week, said that the city received a record number of applications for grants for this year’s round of funding.
More Top Picks Amazon Basics Low
While the city has millions of dollars in funding that it can distribute, each funding source has its own requirements, so it is the job of the Community Services staff to figure out how to best spend those funds, he said.
Out of the 85 total project applications sent to the city, which in total represents around $13.3 million in requested funding, city staff recommended the approval of 63 projects at a cost of around $6.1 million, according to Ragona’s presentation. This funding mostly comes from the federal government, with some coming directly to the city and some coming through state of Illinois grants, though some also comes from the city’s tax on gaming.
The largest source of funding for those projects was a state grant to expand shelters, through which the city is receiving $3.5 million, Ragona’s presentation showed. He proposed using the funds to partner with Hesed House, a homeless shelter, and Mutual Ground, a domestic violence shelter, on expanding and modernizing their shelters.
The city is expected to receive around $2.2 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant in 2025, according to the presentation. Of the 14 projects that would fit under this funding type, 10 were selected to be funded with a combined $1.4 million.
Key highlights of those projects include homelessness assistance, addressing domestic violence, senior assistance, child advocacy, job training, single-family home rehabilitation and assistance for public facilities, Ragona said.
A large amount of the projects recommended for approval would be funded through Quality of Life grants, which are funded through the city’s gaming tax, according to the presentation. Out of 64 applications, 50 were approved for a total funding of roughly $910,000, and Ragona said that is the highest number of applications the city has received and the highest number of recommended projects under this grant since he has been on staff.
His presentation showed that projects ranged in type from meeting people’s basic needs to supporting museums and from serving seniors to youth.
To select which projects proposed to the city would be recommended for funding, city staff looked at the completeness of the application, the quality of the application, the budget and use of other sources, grant management experience, past performance, ability to continue with reduced funds, performance metrics, duplication of services and the ability to serve Aurora residents, he said.
Even with the proposed grants, Aurora would still have well over $4 million to help support ongoing projects that need more funds than expected or for other projects, according to Ragona. He said some of those funds may go toward affordable housing projects, especially through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which has around $3 million in funding left over.
Along with the grants, the city of Aurora also is considering a new five-year plan that is set to guide the city’s spending of federal funds on housing and community development.
The proposed 2025–2029 Consolidated Plan would look to preserve and expand affordable housing in the city; make sure the city’s existing housing stock is safe, healthy and accessible; give assistance to public services and improve access to amenities, according to a draft copy. Last December, Aurora asked for the community’s input to help create the plan, which the city is required to create so that it can receive an estimated $8 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over the life of the plan.
Ragona said during his presentation that the plan’s goals were intentionally left broad so that they could be flexible because the city’s last Consolidated Plan was approved by the Aurora City Council just before the COVID-19 pandemic, and then the city had to adjust its strategies from what were laid out in that plan.
“We’re hoping that’s not going to be the case for the next five years and we can accomplish some things that are listed in the plan,” Ragona told the Public Health, Safety and Transportation Committee at last week’s meeting.
In addition to community input, the plan was also created using “significant research and analysis” along with input from focus groups ranging in topic from housing affordability to senior assistance that were made up of representatives from 65 organizations, according to Ragona.
A number of other plans and similar documents are set to work with the proposed 2025–2029 Consolidated Plan, including the 2025–2030 Affordable Housing Strategy, which was presented to Aurora City Council last year and is being included with the proposed Consolidated Plan for approval, he said.
City staff are currently working to design a homelessness strategy, which is expected to also work with the 2025–2029 Consolidated Plan but is expected to be unveiled later this year.
Both the proposed grants and 2025–2029 Consolidated Plan, along with some changes to other related plans and documents, are set to go before the Aurora City Council’s Committee of the Whole on Tuesday. That committee sets the agenda for the following City Council meeting, which is on March 11.