SALISBURY — Residents of Rowan, Cabarrus and Iredell counties have been asked to provide input for the Annual HOME (Home Investment Partnerships Program) Action Plan, which establishes a unified vision for future affordable housing activities.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds are distributed to the three counties via the Cabarrus/Iredell/Rowan HOME Consortium, which is asking residents for input to try and determine what are key housing concerns and ways to address them using the funds. Concord is the lead for the consortium and must file both an annual and a five-year report with the federal government to receive HOME funds.

The five-year report is a consolidated overview of how funds will be spent in the counties, and each May, an annual action plan that requires input from residents must be filed with HUD.

In addition to HOME money, HUD also provides Community Development Block Grant funds to Concord, Kannapolis, Salisbury and Mooresville, and those communities also seek feedback from residents on the use of funds.

The HOME program is described in a summary by the Congressional Research Service as “a federal block grant program that provides funding to states and localities to be used exclusively for affordable housing activities to benefit low-income households.

“Funds for HOME are appropriated annually to HUD, which in turn distributes funding to states and certain localities by formula. Forty percent of HOME funds are allocated to states and 60 percent are allocated to localities. The formula takes into account six factors, including the number of units in a jurisdiction that are substandard or unaffordable, the age of a jurisdiction’s housing, and the number of families living below the poverty line in the jurisdiction.

“States and localities that receive HOME funds are known as participating jurisdictions. Participating jurisdictions must match the HOME funds they spend with their own 25 percent permanent contribution to affordable housing activities. They also must submit a Consolidated Plan to HUD that identifies the community’s housing needs and describes in detail how HOME and other HUD block grant funds will be used to meet those needs.”

If you are interested in giving feedback visit here to watch a video describing where the funds come from, and to fill out a survey and share input on what services could best address the needs of your community.