Visclosky Announces HUD Awards for City of Gary, Lake County

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Visclosky announced five grant awards from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the City of Gary and Lake County under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG), and HOME awards programs.

The three programs are intended to improve economic opportunities and provide adequate housing for low- and very low-income families. The CDBG program is awarded annually and helps state and local governments provide decent, affordable housing. ESG grants are awarded annually to improve the quantity and quality of local homeless shelters. The HOME program helps to provide affordable housing to working families.

“These dollars continue to be welcomed resources as we are focused on improving the quality of life for Gary residents,” said City of Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson. “Federal funding helps level the playing field so that no matter the income, all citizens have options for suitable housing.”  

Milan Grozdanich, Executive Director of the Lake County Economic Development Department, explained that Lake County is one of only two HUD urban county grantees in the State of Indiana.  For over 20 years, Lake County was the only HUD urban county grantee.

Mr. Grozdanich said, “The CDBG and HOME grants received from HUD are very important to the urban Lake County communities. 50 percent of the CDBG funds are used for infrastructure improvements, with the remainder of CDBG and all of HOME going towards housing programs. We thank Congressman Visclosky for his continued support for these and other HUD programs used in Lake County.”

Congressman Visclosky said, “I commend the efforts of the City of Gary and Lake County to secure these HUD grants. Livable, affordable housing is essential not only to our economic development, but to Northwest Indiana residents’ quality of life.”  

The City of Gary received three awards: a CDBG award totaling $3,203,459, an ESG award totaling $286,918, and a HOME program award totaling $707,619. Lake County received two awards: a CDBG award totaling $1,294,100 and a HOME program award totaling $455,072.