Nixon's Community Development Block Grant program has long benefited Yorba Linda

Yorba Linda has long benefited from one of President Richard Nixon's signature ideas – the Community Development Block Grant program that allows federal funding for projects that provide assistance for low- and moderate-income areas and income-qualified households.

Although Nixon left office in 1974, and the program was implemented in 1975 during Gerald Ford's presidency, Nixon had proposed combining several programs under one umbrella to streamline federal assistance and reduce administrative expenses.

Block grants won bipartisan support in Congress because liberals liked addressing poverty and urban blight, while conservatives favored private investment, reducing the role of the federal government and returning tax dollars to local communities.

Yorba Linda has received $3.6 million during the past 15 years, although the amount of each year's grant has dropped nearly 70 percent since 2003.

This year's total is expected to match last year's $195,000, when the federal Housing and Urban Development Department releases the coming fiscal year's allocations to 1,209 participating governmental bodies.

In a report to the City Council, Pam Stoker, the city's economic development manager, explained that county officials asked cities “to begin the application process, so that there will not be a delay in awarding grants for the start of the fiscal year (July 1).”

The federal housing department determines grant amounts by using several measures of community need: population, extend of poverty, housing overcrowding, age of housing and population growth lag in relationship to their metropolitan areas, with citizen participation in grant use planning required.

The council unanimously approved the allocation of funds as follows:

--$50,000 in rehabilitation grants to income-qualified homeowners for general property improvements and repairs to meet local codes, standards and ordinances in the neighborhood improvement program through the city's community preservation division.

--$40,000 for Americans with Disabilities Act improvements in public areas for retrofitting about 12 of the 40 ramps at critical intersections that need work to meet ADA standards (about $3,400 per ramp).

--$37,000 for ADA improvements in private areas to replace two obsolete elevators at the 52-unit low-income Evergreen Villas senior community on Yorba Linda Boulevard at Avocado Avenue, east of Imperial Highway.

--$29,250 for operational costs related to the weekday senior lunch program at the Yorba Linda Community Center in the city's senior nutrition program (15 percent of total grant). Meals are served at 11:30 a.m., except at 11:15 a.m. Wednesdays, for a $3 suggested donation ($5 for under age 60).

--$39,000 for program administration, including overall development, management, coordination and monitoring, based on a maximum allowable 20 percent of the total grant, with equal shares going to the city and the county.