(Courtesy photo)
The City Commission of Arkansas City will hold a public hearing on the state of housing in Ark City during its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The meeting will be held in the commission room at City Hall, located at 118 W. Central Ave. It also can be viewed via GoToMeeting on a computer or smartphone at global.gotomeeting.com/join/214478429 or by calling (571) 317-3122 and entering the access code 214-478-429.
The City currently is working on applying for a Community Development Block Grant for housing rehabilitation this summer. As part of this process, staff must soon create a report using the Kansas Department of Commerce’s Housing Assessment Tool (HAT).
As part of developing this HAT, the City has offered a variety of opportunities for citizens and stakeholders to provide input of the status of housing within the City and the City’s future housing needs.
This public hearing will provide an opportunity for anyone who wishes to address the City Commission about housing concerns and have their comments noted for the record as part of the HAT that will be compiled later in May.
The purpose of conducting a housing assessment is to help local communities to identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and priorities before allocating resources to implement strategies or tasks that will address those priorities. It should be participatory and completed locally, and this evolving process should be driven by local leaders.
Part of this process involves reaching out to various stakeholders in housing for their thoughts and needs. Those who are unable to attend this public hearing, but would like to offer some input, may instead fill out a HAT questionnaire at http://bit.ly/arkcityhat or email comments to housing@arkcity.org.
