Mayor John O’Reilly Jr.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – Federal funds for eviction relief may soon be available, with the city council authorizing the mayor Dec. 8 to apply for a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant.
The council’s resolution allows the mayor to execute an agreement for the third round of 2020 Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding.
Community Development Coordinator Regina Sistrunk explained in a Nov. 24 memo that the third round of CDBG CARES Act Program funds could provide an additional $626,398 to support approved coronavirus relief programs.
Last March, when the federal CARES Act made $5 billion available in Emergency Solutions Grant Coronavirus supplemental funds, the city of Dearborn received $1,149,371, and added $700,000 of the previous year’s unspent CDBG funds to its efforts to prevent, prepare for and respond to the coronavirus.
The September HUD allocation of $1.988 billion in CARES Act funding for the CDBG-CV allocates $626,398 for the city of Dearborn.
This grant will be used to help households facing the highest risk of eviction, as well as those struggling to meet rent and mortgage obligations as a result of circumstances brought about by the pandemic.
The city will allocate $501,118 to its existing Public Service (Subsistence Payments) CDBG activity, which provides short term (up to six months) of emergency payments for rent, mortgage and utility payments. The balance, $125,280, will be used to administer the current CDBG-CV program activity.