CDA celebrates banner year in affordable housing production and preservation

The Community Development Administration serves as a clearinghouse for a variety of federal, state, and local funds which we deploy to drive Economic Justice by supporting a wide range of public and private entities providing social services, building affordable housing, activating vacant properties, and empowering communities. Thanks to expanded staff capacity - CDA grew from 27 to 40 employees over the past year - we were able to expand our impact, nearly doubling expenditures of federal funds from $24M in FY22 to $46M in FY23.

The Community Development Administration (CDA) continues to make strides in housing production, marking 2023 as a banner year of achievements. Guided by the 2022 Economic Justice Action Plan and the recently released 2023 Affordable Housing Report, CDA is subsidizing over 2000 affordable housing units in partnership with dozens of non-profit and for-profit developers. Among these, 626 units cater to individuals with incomes under 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI), reflecting our commitment to housing accessibility. For comparison, the City subsidized 1,261 affordable units between 2015 and 2019, including just 39 units set aside for individuals earning less than 30% Area Median Income.

Below are homes and houses that were recently completed and sold to low to moderate-income new homeowners in Baden, the Ville, West End, the Gate District, and Benton Park West.

In addition to dramatically expanding the city’s housing production pipeline, we doubled the number of homeowners served through our Healthy Home Repair Program from 155 households in 2022 to 317 households in 2023. The exceptional progress was driven not just by the need for home repair by residents in the St. Louis region, but by the effective use of ARPA funds to expand the program and the intentional recruitment of dozens of new contractors into the program.

As we look towards 2024, we are looking forward to deepening our impact and fostering more sustainable and resilient neighborhoods, with a particular focus on deploying committed ARPA funds at scale and velocity.

Additionally, please be aware that we will be launching our HUD-mandated 2025-2029 Consolidated Planning process in the coming months, and we will be releasing multiple NOFAs in February which will make funds available for permanent supportive housing, vacant unit turns, and neighborhood plan implementation - among other uses - with a strategic focus on Economic Justice demonstration areas.

Our work relies on dozens of public and private partners. Thank you for being a part CDA’s mission and progress. We encourage you to share your priorities with us by engaging in the upcoming 2025-2029 Consolidated Planning process and look forward to working together on more great achievements in 2024.

Happy New Year!

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RFP for Community WiFi Services

The City of St. Louis, acting through the Community Development Administration, and in partnership with ITSA, seeks proposals to set-up a Community WiFi network by:

Providing services to install the necessary infrastructure and set-up the network, utilizing City owned fiber network

Providing or sourcing the necessary hardware and supplies

Managing the network, including daily monitoring of wifi network stability and responding remotely or with on site maintenance crews to restore any network outages

Providing helpdesk support to City staff and City residents managing and using the network

Click here to learn more.

RFP for Archaeological Cultural Resources Surveys

The City of St. Louis requests proposals from qualified consultants in order to conduct cultural resources surveys in order to identify and evaluate cultural resources for housing project sites with construction financing provided by the Community Development Administration of the City of St. Louis.

Click here to learn more.

RFQ for Architectural Services

Proposal deadline extended to January 31, 2024!

CDA is in need of an architectural firm that can augment CDA staff for the release of drawings for projects CDA is supporting with funding. This firm will be a trusted partner to provide services on an as-needed basis. Applicants will need to have licensed architects on staff to review drawings and will need to dedicate approximately 20 hours per week to said projects.

Click here to learn more.

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CDA Career Opportunities

The Community Development Administration (CDA) serves as a clearinghouse for federal funds and is charged with deploying and leveraging over $175,00,000 in ARPA funds to drive economic justice by supporting a wide range of public and private entities working to provide public services to low to moderate income city residents, build affordable housing, combat blight, and conduct various other community development activities.

With a commitment to impact, accountability, and compliance with federal regulations, CDA is seeking to fill many open positions.

Interested individuals can learn more about these opportunities and submit applications by visiting www.stlouis-mo.gov/jobs. The following positions are open for applications:

• Architectural Manager

• Community Development Specialists (3 positions)

• Grants Administrator

• Audit Coordinator (coming soon)

• Community Development Planner II (coming soon)

• Program Manager II

• Accountants (3 positions)

  Please note that the two Grants Administrator positions and the Program Manager II positions are term-limited through 2026.

Contact CDA@stlouis-mo.gov for more info.