Bloomfield Hills offers seniors Meals on Wheels

Bloomfield Hills city commissioners on Tuesday, June 12, approved the allocation of $6,000 from Oakland County for fiscal year 2018, to continue participating in the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program through the Bloomfield Township Senior Center to provide Meals on Wheels to Bloomfield Hills residents.

The U. S.·Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires Oakland County to renew its cooperation agreement with participating communities every three years.

Funds from the township's CDBG program are provided to Oakland County and then funneled to the community based on an annual action plan, which identifies specific projects that meet federal program requirements.

City clerk Amy Burton wrote in a memo to commissioners that for several years the city has disbursed its annual CDBG funds through the Bloomfield Township Senior Center to provide Meals on Wheels meal delivery service to qualifying residents. She stated that while the number of participating households varies, every month there are residents who partake of the program.

At the November 2017 city commission meeting, the CDBG allotment for fiscal year 2018 was $8,000, but Burton said the allotment was finalized at $6,000.

The CDBG program is a federal program under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs. First created in 1974 as a compilation of numerous existing federal programs during the Nixon administration, the CDBG program is one of the longest continuously run programs at HUD.