CDBG-DR Universal Notice Published

By: Steven Molinari, Policy Analyst

On January 8, HUD published a notice titled “Common Application, Waivers, and Alternative Requirements for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Grantees: The Universal Notice.” The notice describes processes, procedures, timelines, waivers, and alternative requirements that HUD intends to implement with each allocation of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding after a qualifying presidential disaster declaration.

The CDBG-DR program provides grant funds to help cities, counties, and states to recover from Presidentially declared disasters. With continuing weather patterns causing natural disasters across the United States, HUD intends to use this notice to provide increased transparency and more timely access to CDBG-DR funds.

HUD will provide a future Allocation Announcement Notice (AAN), which will announce allocations of appropriated CDBG-DR funds. The AAN will also impose waivers and alternative requirements for CDBG-DR grants.

The Universal Notice is laid out into three phases which provide guidelines for (1) the Action Plan, (2) Financial Certification and Oversight of Funds, and (3) Implementation of Universal Notice Requirements. These phases are meant to provide CDBG-DR grantees and other stakeholders with organized information in completing the grant process.

The notice will have no legal effect until further action is taken by Congress. According to HUD, “the Universal Notice has no legal effect on a CDBG-DR grant until funds are appropriated by Congress and the appropriation authorizes the HUD Secretary to waive or specify alternative requirements for the assistance, and the AAN that incorporates appropriate provisions of the Universal Notice is published by the Department and goes into effect.”

The full notice can be found in the Federal Register here.