Introduction

Housing and Community Development Department

312 W. 8th Avenue, Fourth Floor
Spokane WA 99204
(509) 477-2521 Fax (509) 477-2561

Established as an Urban County Entitlement in 1988, Spokane County receives approximately $ 1.8 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnerships ( HOME) entitlement grants annually from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. (HUD)

As an entitlement grantee, Spokane County is solely responsible for ensuring that activities funded with CDBG or HOME funds are conducted in compliance with all applicable Federal, State and local laws and regulations, and that the benefits of each activity and the overall entitlement program are provided principally to low and moderate-income persons or households within the County, exclusive of the City of Spokane.

The Spokane County Community Services, Housing, and Community Development Department maintains this responsibility and oversees the integrity of the County's CDBG and HOME entitlement from beginning to end. The department provides all administrative, planning, compliance, monitoring, training and reporting functions necessary to meet the requirements of these two programs.

The department conducts a Request For Proposal (RFP) process each year and allocates these federal funds to eligible applicants to conduct activities that address high priority needs in the community and meet the test of benefit to low income persons. Activities come in many forms and range from providing emergency medical assistance to upgrading wastewater treatment facilities, to job creation.

The Housing and Community Development staff provide technical assistance to organizations conducting CDBG and HOME activities, administer individual projects to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations, implement planning policies to guide the allocation of funds, provide professional review and analysis of all applications for funding, and work closely with the Housing and Community Development Advisory Committee and Board of County Commissioners to ensure funding is provided to activities that effectively address the many high-priority needs of Spokane County residents.

Department Documents

Each year, the department is responsible for the completion and submission of key documents and reports to HUD for the purposes of planning, verifying compliance with federal requirements, and reporting on activities conducted throughout the program year. These documents include a 5 year Consolidated Plan to guide the allocation of funding, Annual Action Plans to outline how CDBG and HOME funds will be used in a given year to address the needs and goals stated in the Consolidated Plan, and the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) to demonstrate the degree to which these goals were accomplished.