HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) issued a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) to help Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) grantees determine whether use of CDBG for acquisition, demolition, or disposition meets one of the CDBG “national objectives.”
The CDBG statute requires an eligible CDBG-assisted activity to meet one of three national objectives. The principal objective is to benefit low and moderate income households. At least 70% of a grantee’s CDBG allocation must be used to meet this “Low-Mod Income” (LMI) objective. The remaining 30% may be used to address slums and blight or meet an “urgent need” (primarily acts of nature).
The FAQ poses 13 questions with answers and, occasionally, examples. The FAQs address a variety of situations pertaining to the use of CDBG for the purpose of acquisition of real property, demolition, and disposition (sale or long-term lease). There is also a chart describing common scenarios.
NLIHC notes a technical error in the response to question 10 concerning the Uniform Relocation Act (URA) as well as the enhanced displacement provisions of Section 104(d) of the Housing and Community Development Act pertaining to CDBG and HOME. The FAQ mistakenly attributes Section 104(d) to the URA.
The FAQs are at: https://bit.ly/2Plp7eD
More about the CDBG program is available on page 8-3 of NLIHC’s 2018 Advocates’ Guide.