The Elk Grove City Council held a public hearing on May 13 on the city’s 2026-2027 Action Plan for two federal housing programs, and authorized the city to formally accept the incoming federal dollars. The Action Plan is the city’s annual blueprint telling the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD — the federal agency that funds local housing and anti-poverty programs) exactly how Elk Grove intends to spend the money it receives over the coming year.
The two funding streams covered by the plan are CDBG (the Community Development Block Grant — flexible federal money cities can use for affordable housing, public services, and neighborhood improvements in lower-income areas) and HOME (the HOME Investment Partnerships Program — a separate federal grant aimed specifically at building, buying, or rehabilitating affordable housing and helping lower-income renters and buyers). For Elk Grove residents, these are the dollars behind things like down-payment assistance for first-time buyers, repairs for aging homes owned by lower-income seniors, rental assistance, and grants to nonprofits that serve homeless or at-risk families.
The hearing is a required step before the city can draw the money down. HUD requires every city receiving these funds to publish its plan, take public comment, and have the council formally adopt it — a process meant to ensure residents have a say in how the federal dollars get prioritized. Practically, that means anyone who wanted to argue for more spending on, say, senior home repairs versus homeless services had this hearing as their chance to weigh in on the record.
By authorizing receipt of the funds, the council cleared the way for the city to sign the standard grant agreements with HUD once the federal government finalizes its allocations. Elk Grove’s annual CDBG and HOME awards typically run in the low millions combined — modest compared to the city’s overall budget, but significant because they are among the only dedicated federal dollars the city receives for housing affordability work. Without council action accepting them, the city cannot legally spend the money.
For residents and prospective buyers, the practical takeaway is that programs funded through these grants — including Elk Grove’s first-time homebuyer assistance and housing rehabilitation help for income-qualified homeowners — will continue into the new fiscal year that begins July 1. Details on how to apply are posted on the city’s housing services pages.
What’s coming up: With the Action Plan hearing complete, the city’s next housing-related decisions will return to the council in the coming weeks as staff process the final HUD award amounts and bring forward specific contracts with the nonprofits and subrecipients that actually deliver the programs on the ground. Residents who want to track where the dollars land should watch upcoming council agendas for those individual funding awards.