1987-11-02 Public Hearing, Workshop Meeting, and Called Meeting

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HARRIS COUNTY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY 3100 Timmons Lane, Suite :330, Houston, Texas 77027 626-5651 JON LINDSAY, County Judge WALTER L. )ONES, Executive Director October 1, 1987 o~tl wK P `t~ ~~,~ The Honorable Norman Malone City of La Porte 604 W. Fairmont Parkway P.0. Box 1115 La Porte, Texas 77571 Dear Mayor Malone: Harris County is one of four Texas counties with sufficient population to qualify as an "urban county" and therefore receive a direct entitlement grant of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In the past twelve years, Harris County has received approximately $54 million which have been used to build community centers, parks, streets, water, sewer and drainage improvements, rehabilitate homes, etc., within Harris County cooperative cities and unincorporated areas. A small percentage of funds also has been used for public services such as counseling, emergency shelter, and medical transportation. Attached is a Fact Sheet describing the activities of the Harris County Community Development Agency which is responsible for planning and implementing CDBG activities. The amount of the entitlement grant received from HUD is based on the popula- tion, age of housing and the percentage of low and moderate income persons living in the urban county service area. The service area is defined as all unincorporated areas of Harris County and those cities within the county whic h sign cooperation agreements (co-op cities). Your City is again requested to sign a cooperation agreement with the County to undertake or assist in the undertaking of community development and housing assistance activities within your city for the next three fiscal years, 1988, 1989, and 1990. Attached are two copies of the cooperation agreement. Sign- ing this agreement would enable your city to request grant funds for CDBG eligible projects and income-eligible city residents to request low interest or deferred payment housing rehabilitation loans. Although CDBG funds are intended to directly benefit primarily low and moderate income neighborhoods, they indirectly benefit Harris County as a whole. Even if your city does not have large concentrations of low and moderate income families (currently defined as a family of four earning less than $30,400) and would therefore be unlikely to qualify for an area project, individual families might still qualify for low interest housing rehabilita- tion loans, grants, or other direct benefit activities. Although there is no