HUD CPD Provides CDBG-CV CAPER Quick Guide

HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) issued “Quick Guide to Reporting CDBG-CV Accomplishments in the CAPER,” providing Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Entitlement Jurisdictions and states (“grantees”) with guidance for reporting how they used both regular formula CDBG funds and special supplemental CDBG funds provided by the “CARES Act” (CDBG-CV). That reporting is in the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) that each grantee must prepare and make public each year as part of the Consolidated Planning (ConPlan) process. The ConPlan applies to all CPD formula programs: CDBG, HOME Investments Partnerships (HOME), Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG), Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS (HOPWA), and the national Housing Trust Fund (HTF). While the “Quick Guide” is oriented towards grantee staff completing their jurisdiction’s annual CAPER, advocates may benefit from the greater understanding of methods for monitoring their jurisdiction’s use of CDBG and CDBG-CV funds offered by the new guide.

The existing eCon Planning Suite Desk Guide explains how jurisdictions are to create Five-Year Consolidated Plans, Annual Action Plans, and CAPERS by inputting information from CPD’s Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS). CAPER guidance begins on page 247 of the eCon Planning Suite Desk Guide. One important CAPER “screen” is CR-05: Goals and Outcomes (page 253). Grantees should report CDBG-CV-funded accomplishments using a combination of the two CR-05 data tables along with narrative descriptions. Another very important screen is CR-10: Racial and Ethnic Composition (page 258). Grantees should use the narrative field to report on race and ethnicity categories that are not available on CR-10.

Other useful fields include CR-15: Resources and Investments (page 260), which describes all financial resources, including CDBG-CV, available during a grantee’s program year. If necessary, grantees should provide more information about CDBG-CV uses, and in particular locations where CDBG-CV funds were spent. CR-45: CDBG (page 275) is where grantees should indicate how non-coronavirus CDBG activities were impacted, such as through changes in priorities, programs, or funding amounts.

The “Quick Guide” notes that a new report, the “PR02 CDBG CARES Act Activity-Level Detailed Report,” has been added to the “IDIS Online Reports User Guide” on page 48 to provide detailed information about each CDBG-CV funded activity (page 57). Two existing IDIS reports have also been updated: the “PR-03 CDBG/CDBG-R Activity Summary Report” (page 61) and the “PR03-BOSMAC Report” (page 64). These updated reports should provide detailed beneficiary information that can be used to verify or complete the CR-10: Racial and Ethnic Composition screen of the CAPER.

Read the “Quick Guide to Reporting CDBG-CV Accomplishments in the CAPER” at: https://bit.ly/3NdFJng

Read the eCon Planning Suite Desk Guide at: https://bit.ly/3NmVR6m

Read the “IDIS Online Reports User Guide” at: https://bit.ly/3iovG0N

Read more about CDBG-CV on page 10-15 of NLIHC’s 2021 Advocates’ Guide.

Read more about CDBG on page 8-4 of NLIHC’s 2022 Advocates’ Guide.