HUD Overreach

Part 2: Social Engineering and Federal Overreach Coming to Johns Creek? 7/14/16,

This 3-part series explores some lesser-known facts about how the city of Johns Creek has subjected itself to unnecessary outside influences and Federal government overreach.

In part 2, we will look at the recently obtained Federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) grant and the mandatory Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) that was triggered by the receipt of Federal money.

All of this is subjecting our city to Federal overreach through efforts toward forced social engineering. You see clear Federal overreach today with US states that are currently filing lawsuits in response to Federal funding cut threats. And in these cases, the Federal threats have no real basis in law. But the states have been forced into litigation.

One of the consequences of forming the City of Johns Creek was the loss of Fulton County grant money to local area charities like the Drake House, North Fulton Community Charities, and other important social services. Rather than look internally within the city for this funding, the city ended up pursuing a Federal grant, specifically CDBG funding.

This funding had serious strings attached with required compliance to a myriad of Federal mandates. These mandates are summarized in a Federal document called the CAPER, Federal HUD form HUD-40110-D. Let’s examine some text excerpts from our city’s 2014 CAPER.

The city responded as follows to an Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice study in 2010: Since 2011 the City has approved 480 apartments including 90 age-restricted, reduced cost apartments for seniors and in 2013 approved 216 high density housing units.

Additionally, the City Council has approved funds to launch a study for the development of a City Center that encourages the development higher density residential and rental properties within walking distance of employment opportunities.

In response to general questions, the city stated: The City Council approved the construction of 264 apartment housing units in 2011 and while the city did not approve any new apartments in 2014, there are currently 3,133 tenable units in the city. (Barrier 1 & 7)

The City Council approved 214 higher-density owner-occupied projects in three separate zoning cases in 2013. (Barrier 1 & 7)

The City launched a regional arts festival in 2013 and held again in 2014 and 2015 that includes entertainment that specifically celebrates the diverse culture and the varied minority groups within Johns Creek. (Barrier 4)

The Mayor of the City continues as an active participant at the Atlanta Regional Commission, particularly as an advocate for public transit. He has been installed at the first vice president of the Georgia Municipal Association, and will continue to work toward economic stability initiatives in that role. (Barrier 13)

The City has posted links to education materials for Fair Housing from HUD and Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) on the City web site for our community. City staff has hosted public fair housing workshops and is making plans to partner with Fulton County on workshops going forward.

The City will continue to consult with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and the Metro Fair Housing Services of Atlanta. (Barriers 3, 4 & 14) In response to questions about addressing barriers to affordable house, the city stated: …the City has taken positive steps towards encouraging additional high density, rental housing in conjunction with a city center development plan.

In response to questions about community development, the city stated: While Johns Creek remains in the earliest stages of its identification as an entitlement community the city continues to monitor use of all CDBG funds through normal accounting procedures under the direction of the City Finance Director and CDBG Program Administration.

In response to questions about managing the process, the city stated: City staff is regularly briefed on CDBG requirements as per training and advice received by the Program Director, Program administration staff and the Deputy Director of Community Development.

Program administration consults regularly with HUD offices when questions arise and HUD’s response is communicated to staff and City Attorney as appropriate.

Keep in mind these are just a few excerpts. In all, the Johns Creek CAPER for 2014 contains 19 pages. Parts of it are inapplicable since we have not yet triggered all possible compliance mandates.

In closing for Part 2 of this series, if you have read both parts up to now you should be scratching you heads. How in the world did our suburban agricultural community of unincorporated Fulton County get tangled up with Inclusionary Housing initiatives, developer subsidies for higher density projects, and HUD compliance mandates?

Are city leaders 180-degrees out-of-sync with the vast majority of city residents? Are city residents too busy to see this social engineering storm brewing in their back yards? It should be noted, the CDBG money received in 2014 amounts to only $270K.  But regardless of the amount, the compliance mandates still kick in.

Stay tuned for Part 3 where all of this information will be summarized and analyzed further.

https://johnscreekpost.com/part-2-social-engineering-and-federal-overreach-coming-to-johns-creek/