Notice2023-08158
Notice of Change to an Expenditure Deadline Under the CARES Act for Community Development Block Grant Program Coronavirus Response Grants
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
April 18, 2023
Issuing agencies
Housing and Urban Development Department
Abstract
On August 20, 2020, HUD issued a notice providing for the program rules, statutory and regulatory waivers, and alternative requirements applicable to supplemental Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds made available to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus (CDBG-CV funds) and to annual formula CDBG grants awarded in fiscal years 2019 and 2020. This notice describes a change to one of the regulatory waivers and alternative requirements applicable to the CDBG-CV funds. The change removes the requirement that eighty percent of a grant must be expended within three years of grant agreement execution. Except as otherwise described in this notice, the August 2020 Notice, the CARES Act, and the statutory and regulatory provisions governing the CDBG program continue to apply to CDBG-CV funds.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 74 (Tuesday, April 18, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23683-23684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-08158]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-6218-N-02]
Notice of Change to an Expenditure Deadline Under the CARES Act
for Community Development Block Grant Program Coronavirus Response
Grants
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and
Development, HUD.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: On August 20, 2020, HUD issued a notice providing for the
program rules, statutory and regulatory waivers, and alternative
requirements applicable to supplemental Community Development Block
Grant (CDBG) funds made available to prevent, prepare for, and respond
to coronavirus (CDBG-CV funds) and to annual formula CDBG grants
awarded in fiscal years 2019 and 2020. This notice describes a change
to one of the regulatory waivers and alternative requirements
applicable to the CDBG-CV funds. The change removes the requirement
that eighty percent of a grant must be expended within three years of
grant agreement execution. Except as otherwise described in this
notice, the August 2020 Notice, the CARES Act, and the statutory and
regulatory provisions governing the CDBG program continue to apply to
CDBG-CV funds.
DATES: April 18, 2023.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Savin Ven Johnson, Deputy Director,
Office of Block Grant Assistance, Office of Community Planning and
Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th
Street SW, Room 7282, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number 202-708-
3587. HUD welcomes and is prepared to receive calls from individuals
who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as individuals with speech or
communication disabilities. To learn more about how to make an
accessible telephone call, please visit <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs">https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs</a>. Facsimile inquiries may be
sent to Ms. Ven Johnson at 202-708-0033. Except for the ``800'' number,
these telephone numbers are not toll-free. Questions regarding the
CDBG-CV program may be submitted to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2d6e7d697c58485e594442435e6c435e5a485f48496d455849034a425b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cc8f9c889db9a9bfb8a5a3a2bf8da2bfbba9bea9a88ca4b9a8e2aba3ba">[email protected]</span></a>.
Interested parties may also visit HUD's website at <a href="https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/comm_planning">https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/comm_planning</a> for updated information and resources.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Overview and Background
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Pub. L.
116-136) (CARES Act) was signed March 27, 2020. The CARES Act made $5
billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) coronavirus
response (CDBG-CV) funds available to prevent, prepare for, and respond
to coronavirus. CDBG-CV and CDBG grants are a flexible source of
funding that can be used to pay costs that are not covered by other
sources of assistance, particularly to benefit persons of low and
moderate income. The CARES Act also provided the Secretary the
authority to grant waivers and alternative requirements to quickly
administer the funds.
On August 20, 2020, HUD published in the Federal Register a Notice
of Program Rules, Waivers, and Alternative Requirements Under the CARES
Act for Community Development Block Grant Program Coronavirus Response
Grants, Fiscal Year 2019 and 2020 Community Development Block Grants,
and for Other Formula Programs (August 2020 Notice) to provide
requirements applicable to HUD grantees for the use of CDBG-CV funds.
85 FR 51457. In the August 2020 Notice in Section III on CDBG-CV
Grants, HUD established a Period of Performance requirement, in
paragraph III.B.7.(a), which required a
[[Page 23684]]
six-year expenditure deadline in the CDBG-CV grant agreement as well as
a requirement that each grantee must expend at least 80 percent of
their CDBG-CV funds within three years (Three-Year Requirement). The
Three-Year-Requirement was based on CDBG expenditure patterns in more
usual times.
Since January 21, 2020, when the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first case in the United States of a
coronavirus known by several names, including novel coronavirus, and
SARS-CoV-2, and which causes the disease commonly referred to as COVID-
19, the course of the ensuing pandemic caused unforeseen obstacles for
grantees implementing their CDBG and CDBG-CV assisted activities. The
Three-Year Requirement, set in August 2020, did not take into account
the expenditure delays that would be caused by the pandemic, such as
major supply chain issues for construction materials, prolonged
shutdowns, and the other economic effects of quarantines, social
distancing, and workers dropping out of the workforce to care for
family members.
In hindsight, these forces delayed construction launch and
completion, stalled inspections, and--despite strenuous grantee
efforts--delayed at least some activities for virtually every CDBG-CV
grantee. Delays were compounded for CDBG-CV grantees as State and local
staff struggled to adjust to remote or hybrid work while implementing a
spate of other fast-moving and often overlapping CARES, FEMA, and
American Rescue Plan (enacted March 3, 2021) funding from multiple
agencies while considering the best uses for each funding source and
preventing duplications of benefit.
II. This Notice
Due to COVID-19, more than a third of the 1,200 plus CDBG-CV
grantees need more time to achieve the 80 percent expenditure target
(based on data from the IDIS online information system from March
2023). In response to the delay experienced by grantees and given HUD's
experience with slow distribution of funds, this notice removes the
August 2020 Notice's paragraph III.B.7.(a) Three-Year Requirement to
expend 80 percent of funds for CDBG-CV funds. This Notice maintains the
paragraph III.B.7.(a) Period of Performance requirement that provides
grantees of CDBG-CV funds a six-year period of performance and 100
percent expenditure requirement.\1\
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\1\ 24 CFR 570.200(k) and 24 CFR 570.480(h) allow HUD to
establish a period for performance and expenditure that is shorter
than the normal period.
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III. Findings and Certifications
Paperwork Reduction Act
The information collection requirements in this notice have been
approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520) and assigned OMB
Control Number 2506-0085. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction
Act, HUD may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information unless the collection displays
a currently valid OMB control number.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance numbers for the CDBG-CV
grants under the CARES Act are: 14.218 (Community Development Block
Grants/Entitlement Grants); 14.225 (Community Development Block Grants/
Special Purpose Grants/Insular Areas); and 14.228 (Community
Development Block Grants/State's Program and Non-Entitlement Grants in
Hawaii) (formerly CDBG Grant/Small Cities Program).
Environmental Impact
A Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) with respect to the
environment has been made in accordance with HUD regulations at 24 CFR
part 50, which implement section 102(2)(C) of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). The FONSI is
available for inspection at HUD's Funding Opportunities web page at:
<a href="https://www.hud.gov/grants/">https://www.hud.gov/grants/</a>. The FONSI is available for public
inspection between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays in the Regulations
Division, Office of General Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban
Development, 451 7th Street SW, Room 10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500.
Due to security measures at the HUD Headquarters building, an advance
appointment to review the docket file must be scheduled by calling the
Regulations Division at 202-708-3055 (this is not a toll-free number).
HUD welcomes and is prepared to receive calls from individuals who are
deaf or hard of hearing, as well as individuals with speech or
communication disabilities. To learn more about how to make an
accessible telephone call, please visit <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs">https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs</a>.
Marion McFadden,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and
Development.
[FR Doc. 2023-08158 Filed 4-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P
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