CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The City of Cheyenne is preparing to decline entitlement funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development beginning in 2024.
A resolution will be submitted to the City Council for approval to decline the Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, Entitlement Program, which assists local agencies with housing, community and economic development activities, as well as assistance to low- and moderate-income persons and special-needs populations.
Cheyenne received its CDBG Entitlement status in 1975 and since 2017 has been the only city in Wyoming to administer these funds.
The city said that expenditure to meet the specific and increasingly restrictive eligibility, compliance, and reporting requirements for the funds have burdened staff members, subgrantees and local contractor agencies.
Housing and Community Development staff will work closely with regional and federal HUD offices in the upcoming months to ensure that all requirements will be met in a timely manner, the city said.
City staff will also begin scheduling a series of informational meetings with grantees to assist with the completion and close-out of current projects and to transition toward applying for neighborhood development and CDBG grant opportunities through the Wyoming Community Development Authority.
Qualifying nonprofits and applicants will still be able to apply for CDBG grant funds through the State of Wyoming.
“We understand that many of our local agencies depend on grant funds to stretch their already tight budgets, and we are committed to supporting their grant-seeking efforts through the WCDA.” the city’s Grants Manager, Renee Smith, said.
