The City of Grover Beach has been awarded a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of $3,100,000 from the California Department of Housing and Community Development. These funds will be used for water system improvements ($2,600,000) and public services to prevent homelessness among Grover Beach residents ($500,000).
Through the CDBG competitive grant program, the City has been awarded a total of $7,500,000 funds since 2013 for water line improvements, housing assistance programs, and development of an economic development strategy and a senior center feasibility study. The City also received $101,000 this year in CDBG funds through the CARES Act to help fund this year’s South County winter warming center and provide a child care licensing program for Grover Beach residents.
“This much needed funding is helping the City take a big step towards addressing community needs and priorities during these critical times,” said Grover Beach Mayor Jeff Lee. “Receiving $7,500,000 in CDBG funds over the past seven years illustrates our commitment to making strides towards creating a bright future for our residents and businesses.”
The $2,600,000 water system improvements grant will allow the City to build on its past work of updating substandard water service lines and expanding capacity in residential areas, adding control valves and fire hydrants, and replacing old galvanized steel lines. The City designed this project to take advantage of this competitive round of CDBG grants and these funds will enable the construction on this project to begin in 2021.
The $500,000 portion of the grant allocated to public services will continue to provide funding support for two housing assistance programs for Grover Beach residents administered by the 5Cities Homeless Coalition. “We are grateful for our successful partnership with the City of Grover Beach and very pleased to be included in another round of CDBG grant funding,” said Janna Nichols, 5Cities Homeless Coalition Executive Director. “This award will help our agency continue the critical work of providing case management, guidance and direct financial assistance to Grover Beach residents who are homeless or at risk of losing housing.” The grant will help meet growing needs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The City has received $1,000,000 through multiple CDBG funding awards to address immediate housing issues and prevent homelessness in our community.
“The City Council deserves credit for their leadership in pursuing these competitive CDBG funds which allows us to obtain significantly more grant funding to benefit our community than we would have received otherwise,” said Grover Beach City Manager Matthew Bronson. “I appreciate the work of our staff team to prepare the CDBG applications and carry out these projects with our partners to improve people’s lives in our community.”