Albany Community and Economic Development sets housing meetings

ALBANY — The city of Albany’s Department of Community and Economic Development is seeking local input to help with development of a five-year plan that identifies community development and affordable housing needs and sets priorities for investment of federal grant funds to address those needs.

Public meetings are scheduled in Albany nightly Tuesday-Friday.

“What we’re looking for is input from a diverse group of community stakeholders,” Hawkins said. “A consulting group will be involved in the meetings to collect data and, eventually, help us develop our five-year plan and an action plan.

“From our five-year plan, we’ll determine what priority needs we’ll focus on for each year of the plan.”

The so-called “Five-year Consolidated Plan and Annual Action Plan” assesses the current housing market, discusses characteristics of the city’s population, identifies community improvement priorities, and outlines a plan to fund and implement them. Additionally, an analysis of barriers to fair housing, called “Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice,” will identify barriers to equal housing access and propose fair and affordable housing strategies to overcome those impediments.

Officials with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development say the process is heavily influenced by the opinions and perceptions of local residents, whose input is sought at the public meetings and through an online survey.

“What many think is that affordable housing impacts only certain groups,” Hawkins said. “But because the funding can be used to meet specific infrastructure needs, the process actually impacts all of our residents.”

The four Albany meetings are scheduled:

— Tuesday: Cathedral of Praise Church, 1510-A W. Broad Ave., 6 p.m.

— Wednesday: Monroe Comprehensive High School, 900 Lippitt Drive, 6 p.m.

— Thursday: Greater Second Mt. Olive Baptist Church, 302 Atkins St., 6 p.m.

— Friday: Albany State University, Simmons Hall, Room 101, 504 College Drive, noon

An online survey will be available for public input starting today and continuing through Feb. 26 at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AlbanyConPlan. A Spanish version of the survey will be available on those same dates at https://es.surveymonkey.com/r/AlbanyConPlan_Spanish.

A draft of the completed plan will be posted for public comment in late March on Community and Economic Development’s website at www.albany.ga.us/dced. Questions may be directed to Hawkins at (229) 483-7650. The DCED director said she’s also looking for sites to host other community meeting that will be scheduled in March.

“As you see from our February meeting sites, we try to offer a variety of places convenient to all of our stakeholders in the community,” Hawkins said. “If others are interested in hosting one of the March public meetings, we’d love to talk with them. We just need a representative to get in touch with us, let us know the availability, and we’ll take it from there.”