Coeur d’Alene’s Community Development Block Grant program got the go-ahead to continue its six goals to help low-to-moderate income residents in the coming year.

The goals have actually been on the CDBG program’s radar since 2018, when program leadership developed a four-year strategy to try to improve lower-income residents throughout Coeur d’Alene.

Those goals involve increasing the supply of affordable housing, increasing the supply of affordable rentals, improving the city’s sidewalks to help residents with disabilities, continue to improve neighborhood revitalization efforts, expand higher-paying job opportunities through economic development, and offer public service program assistance to service organizations.

Chelsea Nesbit, CDBG specialist with the city’s planning department, said the recent economic downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic has changed the needs facing the community, as well, giving the program new needs they’ve identified to help a struggling population within the community.

“The main needs are affordable housing, the sidewalks,” Nesbit said. “One of the other new needs that we’ve seen is the mental health support, and that’s become a pretty big increase due to COVID-19, and the affordable child care, as well, for that.”

Those affordable housing efforts in 2021 could include grants for Habitat For Humanity and rental assistance. Nesbit and Mayor Steve Widmyer agreed that the affordable housing problem hanging over the city’s head will require more Herculean efforts than what CDBG can provide.

“Unfortunately, on that issue, as far as affordable housing, that’s going to have to come at the federal level,” Widmyer said. “The amount of dollars (CDBG has): It just can’t make a significant impact. They can help smaller projects like Habitat For Humanity and some of those others, which would reach a few people. But this is a wider problem than that.”

Nesbit stressed that affordable housing has become even more of a priority over the past year, as have the need for emergency family shelters, business incubator support and specialized housing for both youths with behavioral health needs and seniors.

The program submitted its budget draft Tuesday night to city council, giving an outline based off of 2020’s funding of $339,375, but that number is an estimate in an uncertain budget landscape.

“We don’t know yet what the exact amount is going to be for 2021,” she said. “We probably won’t know until the middle of April what the exact amount is.”