OHCD Documents

As a federal Entitlement Community, the City of New Bedford’s Office of Housing and Community Development (OHCD) is required by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development to report on its programs and activities. The City of New Bedford receives three entitlement grants, which are as follows: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnership Grant (HOME), and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG). The OHCD is responsible for administering the grants and preparing the following plans/reports:

Plans

• Consolidated Plan – The Consolidated Plan is a five-year plan for the expenditure of federal funds by the City of New Bedford. The plan is based on extensive community participation, detailed demographic analysis, socioeconomic trends and input from partnering community agencies. The Consolidated Plan (often called “The Con Plan) is the vision for OHCD department activities in each five-year period.

• Annual Action Plan – The City’s Action Plan is a statement of how federal funds will be spent over the course of the fiscal year (July 1st through June 30th). Each year a Request for Proposals (RFP) is released. These proposals are reviewed according to the priorities established in the Consolidated Plan and ranked for funding.

• Ten Year Plan to Address and Eliminate Homelessness – Articulates the City’s formal strategy for assisting homeless individuals and families move from streets and shelters to economic independence and self-sufficiency. The Office of Housing & Community Development, in partnership with the Homeless Service Provider Network, seeks to strengthen prevention strategies and to expand permanent affordable housing opportunities for chronic and episodic homeless individuals and families.
  Ten Year Plan to Address and Eliminate Homelessness

• Analysis of Impediment to Fair Housing Choice – Entitlement communities such as New Bedford are required to conduct an analysis to identify impediments to fair housing choice through a comprehensive review of local regulations affecting the location, availability and accessibility of housing as well as public and private programs, policies and practices that affect housing price.
  2021 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing
  2007 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing

• Citizen Participation Plan – The purpose of the Citizen Participation Plan is to provide citizens – especially low and moderate income citizens of the community with a written description of the process by which they can engage in the planning, implementation, and assessment of Community Development projects and activities.
  2024 Citizen Participation Plan
  2020 Citizen Participation Plan

Reports

• Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) – The CAPER is the report accounting for the Office of Housing and Community Development’s work throughout the fiscal year. A CAPER is submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development each year, and relates to the five year Consolidated Plan.

• Continuum of Care – The Continuum of Care (CoC) documents are actually annual application submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for funding in support of the City’s CoC.  Though not a report, the CoC document is an important review of the CoC’s activities and progress over the past year.