HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) posted a Memorandum from CPD Acting Assistant Secretary John Gibbs on May 4. It describes CARES Act provisions that streamline the Consolidated Plan public participation requirements for amending an Annual Action Plan for the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) programs.
The Memorandum advises ESG and HOPWA grantees to amend or prepare their Annual Action Plans as soon as possible. HUD suggests grantees submit a substantial amendment to their most recent Annual Action Plans to expedite access to CARES Act funding. ESG and HOPWA grantees should begin working on Annual Action Plan amendments now by adding the ESG-CV and HOPWA-CV allocations into their Annual Action Plan as available resources for the year. On April 1, CPD announced allocations of the first $1 billion. Grantees should not wait for CPD to allocate the next $1 billion allocation of ESG-CV that will be distributed using the same FY20 formula that distributed the first $1 billion.
Another $2 billion will be distributed by CPD using a unique formula that reflects coronavirus-related needs. Following the announcement of those ESG-CV allocations, grantees will then amend Annual Action Plans accordingly.
The CARES Act allows ESG recipients to omit the public participation and consultation requirements for substantial amendments and new Annual Action Plan submissions for ESG-CV. However, each grantee must publish how it has used and will use its allocation to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. The substantial amendment must be published, at a minimum, on the appropriate government website or through other electronic media.
A CPD Memorandum posted on March 31 (see Memo, 4/6) allowed HOPWA grantees to provide no fewer than five calendar days for public comment (rather than 30 days) for its substantial amendment, which should indicate how those funds will be used to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. Grantees should post the substantial amendment along with a summary of public comments on their official websites.
The Memorandum is at: https://bit.ly/2zX2b2X
More information about ESG is on page 4-82 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about HOPWA is on page 4-79 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.