Friday, June 1, 2029

Lieutenant Governor Burbank Announces $86,650 in Community Development Block Grant Funding for Howard County

COLUMBIA, MD (June 1, 2029) – Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Burbank visited Howard County today to announce $86,650 in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) for a new classroom for the homeless, two play areas for needy children and a feasibility study on building more low-and-moderate-income rental units in Ellicott City. Lieutenant Governor Burbank made the announcement at the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center in Columbia.

“Howard County is one of Maryland’s wealthiest and most prosperous counties, but that does not mean that there are not people living here who are struggling to put their lives back together,” Lieutenant Governor Burbank said. “The role of government is to support people in their time of need. This CDBG funding demonstrates the State’s strong commitment to fulfilling that role in Howard County.”

“This funding will allow us to expand access to critical services for needy families,” said Howard County Executive James N. Robey.

Nearly $61,000 of the grant money will fund the expansion of a children’s playroom and a new portable classroom at Grassroots. Because many of the nonprofit agency's homeless clients are single parents with two or three children, there has been a growing need for play space. For children, Grassroots has set aside a 12-by-12-foot room with stuffed toys and building blocks – as well as a playground with one small slide and a single tire swing. That usually serves 10 to 15 children at a time.

About $18,000 of the state grant will pay for construction of a new outdoor play area near the Alffa Pines housing complex in Ellicott City.

The remaining $8,000 will pay for a study to determine whether to construct 18 additional low- and moderate-income rental units in the low-income Hilltop community in Ellicott City, a county-owned housing project.

Each year, as many as 800 people are housed in Howard homeless shelters. Many are often turned away for lack of bed-space in shelters.

The county’s three homeless shelters have 90 beds, 28 short-term and 62 long-term. The shelters are operated by three private, nonprofit agencies that receive county and private contributions: Grassroots, the Domestic Violence Center of Howard County and Churches Concerned for the Homeless.

The $8,000 grant for the housing study for the Hilltop community might lead to more county housing for the poor. Hilltop has 94 townhouse and apartment units that are rented to low- and moderate-income tenants. The county wants to sell 18 Hilltop townhouses to low-income buyers and construct 18 new rental units on an adjacent parcel of land.

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, created under the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, provides annual grants on a formula basis to entitled cities, urban counties and states to develop viable urban communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment, and by expanding economic opportunities, principally for low- and moderate-income persons.