HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) posted the first round of CDBG-CV funds from the third round set-aside of $2 billion of CARES Act supplemental funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The sole award of $2.4 million is going to the District of Columbia.
Of the $5 billion Congress supplemental appropriation for CDBG (now referred to as CDBG-CV), $2 billion is set aside to be distributed directly to a state or a unit of local government at HUD’s discretion, according to a formula based on factors determined by HUD. The CARES Act requires this formula to prioritize risk of coronavirus, number of coronavirus cases compared to the national average, and economic and housing market disruptions resulting from coronavirus. These rolling allocations are to be made based on available data. CPD has not yet described the factors in the formula, though they may be similar or identical to the methodology used to distribute the second round of CDBG-CV to states (see Memo, 5/18).
CPD had previously posted the second round of CDBG-CV on May 11, with funding to be allocated to states and insular areas "to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus within the state or insular area, including activities within entitlement and non-entitlement communities.” This $1 billion is to be distributed based on public health needs, risk of transmission of coronavirus, number of coronavirus cases compared to the national average, economic and housing market disruptions, and other factors as determined by HUD using the best available data.
The first $2 billion allocation was announced on April 1 (see Memo, 4/6), with funds distributed to states and entitlement jurisdictions using the same statutory formula used to distribute the regular annual FY20 CDBG allocations.
The list of all CARES Act supplemental funding allocations is at: https://bit.ly/3eb5mTs
More information about the CDBG program is on page 8-3 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.