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"As a former Mayor of The City of Dayton, I am well aware of the housing issues facing the community, roughly 35 [percent] of which is in poverty.
"It appears that the city has lost nearly half a million dollars that was granted to help Daytonians in need get affordable housing. Additionally, Dayton has nearly $4 million in federal funds that have been granted for the purpose of providing affordable housing, but has not made any plans for that critical money to be used to better our community.
"This is concerning and needs to be addressed."
Late Monday afternoon, City Manager Shelley Dickstein issued the following statement, in response to Turner's request:
"The City of Dayton has funded hundreds of projects that have helped thousands of low- and moderate- income Dayton residents.
"Since 1992, these funds have been used to help families purchase new homes and renovate their existing homes, to renovate formerly dilapidated and obsolete apartment buildings, and to construct thousands of new housing units for purchase and rent.
"HUD determined that two of the City's 2012 HOME projects, contracted with developers in 2014, did not meet the contract date set forth by HUD although the City Commission approved the contracts prior to the commitment deadline.
"The City was not required to repay funds and the two projects were completed successfully.
"Because HUD recognizes the challenges inherent in the current commitment deadline regulations, the two-year commitment deadline has been suspended for 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 HOME program years.
"As required through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the City submits annual action plans that outline how we will spend our federal allocation. It has been reported that the City has $3.96 million dollars in uncommitted HOME funds. However, all $3.96 million has been committed through our 2015, 2016, and 2017 Action Plans."
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