CDBG Eligible and Ineligible Activities

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) eligible / ineligible activities

Administrative & Planning Costs CDBG Conditions
Program Administrative Costs - 570.206
  • General management, oversight, and coordination
  • Providing local officials and citizens with information about the CDBG program
  • Preparing budgets, schedules, reports and other HUD documents
  • Monitoring activities
  • Fair housing activities
Planning - 570.205
Limited to 20% cap of total CDBG allocation (Administrative and Planning Costs combined)
  • Comprehensive plans
  • Community development plans
  • Functional plans (housing, Consolidated Plan, land use, economic development, open space and recreation, energy use and conservation, floodplain and wetlands management, transportation, utilities, and historic preservation)
  • Other plans and studies
Eligible Public Facility and Improvement Projects 570.201(c) CDBG Conditions
Sewer and water facilities

Eligible facilities include but are not limited to:

  • Infrastructure
  • Neighborhood facilities
  • Facilities for persons with special needs

Eligible costs include:

  • Energy efficiency improvements
  • Handicapped accessibility improvements (to include buildings for the general conduct of government)
  • Architectural design features and similar treatments, such as landscaping, sculptures, pools of water and fountains and other works of art

NOTE: If the facility is owned by a non-profit, the facility must be open to the public during working hours.
Streets and sidewalks
Curbs and gutters
Parks and recreational facilities
Youth and senior centers
Facilities for persons with special needs
Parking lots or garages
Privately-owned utilities
Recreation centers
Fire station/equipment - 570.207 (b)(1)(ii) Fire protection equipment including fire engines, fire fighters’ protective clothing, “jaws of life,” and other life-saving equipment are eligible for CDBG funding under public facilities and improvements as this equipment is integral to the fire protection facility.
City halls, or government centers

The Community Development Block Grant funds may be used by the grantee or other private or public non-profit organizations to develop, improve, or install a public facility except for buildings used for the general conduct of government.

“Buildings for the general conduct of government” means:

  • City halls;
  • County administrative buildings;
  • State capital or office buildings; and
  • Other facilities in which the legislative, judicial, or general administrative affairs of government are conducted.
Neighborhood facilities Public facilities that serve the entire jurisdiction of the grantee, a main library for example, may qualify under the Low-Moderate Income (LMI) Area Benefit national objective only if the percentage of LMI persons in the entire jurisdiction is sufficiently high to meet the “area benefit” test.

Public facilities and improvements – meeting a national objective

Public facilities and improvements – meeting a national objective
National objective subcategory Conditions for eligibility Example
Low-Moderate Income Area Benefit (LMI) A facility or improvement will be used for a purpose that benefits all residents in a defined area primarily residential in which at least 51% are Low-Moderate Income households.

Paying all or part of a special assessment on behalf of Low-Moderate Income households qualifies under this objective.		 The installation of paved streets, sidewalks, curbs and gutters in a predominantly Low-Moderate Income household neighborhood.

CDBG funds pay the assessment made to Low-Moderate Income household homeowners when a new water/sewer system is installed in their neighborhood.
Low-Moderate Income Limited Clientele (LMI)
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