New Castle County Councilmembers Jea Street and Penrose Hollins sponsored a slew of ordinances appropriating federal grant funds to housing and disability services.
One ordinance will send about $1 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to the county’s Department of Community Services.
Hollins said the county is accepting millions of dollars, some of which will go toward housing people with disabilities.
“It’s a testament to the staff we have here in community services…” Hollins said. “What we all need to understand is that these grants don't just happen automatically. Because they are federal funds, they're really scrutinized by audits.”
Each federal grant has its own application process county staff had to go through in order to obtain the funding.
“We call you the godfather of affordable housing,” Council President Monique Williams-Johns said to her colleague at Tuesday’s meeting.
Another one of the HUD grants will see about $220 thousand go toward the FY2027 Emergency Solutions Grant, which will support shelters and homelessness prevention efforts.
Councilmembers also transferred some grant funding to local parks after FY2027’s budget cuts.
Councilmember David Carter sponsored the ordinance seeking to move nearly $17 thousand total from his and Councilmember Kevin Caneco’s office budgets.
The funds will help manage the Wiggins Mill Natural Area and the Southern Regional Park.
“It is for the general park management and maintenance, as they feel fit,” Carter said. “They took cuts, 10 staff, and had a lot of other budget cuts. Phase three was cut out, so anything they can use this money to help improve the parks and better maintain them will be a help, and so that's why we're appropriating it.”
Councilmembers passed the ordinance unanimously with 13 votes.
The ordinance has no fiscal impact on the county as the funds used were already allocated to be spent as Councilmembers Carter and Caneco saw fit.
