Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 06-02-09 special — reading text

signed by President Obama. This letter provides your FY 2009 allocations for the Office of Community Planning and Development' s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG); HOME Investment CPD' s) formula programs: Partnerships; Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS ( HOPWA); and Emergency Shelter Grants ( ESG). These programs provide funding for housing, community and economic development activities, and assistance for low- and moderate -income persons and special populations across the country. HUD' s budget for FY 2009 is included in the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (Public Law 111 -8). The amounts available include reallocated funds for the CDBG and HOME programs. There is no funding for the American Dream Downpayment Initiative ( ADDI) in FY 2009. The following amounts reflect the level of funding available for these programs in your community: 142, 221 Community Development Block Grant $ HOME Investment Partnerships $ 0 0 Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS $ 0 Emergency Shelter Grants $ This letter provides an opportunity for HUD to highlight several important issues. First, HUD continues to emphasize the importance of effective performance measurements in all of its formula grant programs. Grantees must report outcome indicators for all open activities in the Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IRIS) to assess their performance toward achieving their objectives and outcomes in their Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report. It is vitally important that HUD have complete performance measurement data to report to Congress, the Office of Management and Budget, and the public at large. The Obama Administration' s Your commitment to transparency and accountability underscores the importance of this data. ongoing attention to ensuring complete and accurate reporting of performance measurement data will be crucial to HUD's ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of its formula grant programs. Second, problems in the subprime mortgage markets and resulting property foreclosures are having significant impacts on a number of local governments. CDBG and HOME funds represent a resource that local governments may use to address some of the consequences of these problems, particularly for lower income families and neighborhoods. HUD urges its formula grantees, as part www.hud.gov espanol. hud. gov of the consolidated plan process, to examine their use of these grant funds to either reinforce activities that help stabilize homeownership at the local level or to consider establishing such activities in the coning year. HUD is committed to using the flexibility of these programs to aid communities in addressing the potential impact of these problems and urges grantees to contact the appropriate CPD field office to discuss any ideas or concerns on the use of formula funds for these purposes. Additionally, these funds are separate from funds appropriated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act). The Recovery Act provided funds for the CDBG program and several other initiatives managed by CPD, such as the Homelessness Prevention Fund and the Tax Credit Assistance Program. These Recovery Act funds have already been allocated on a formula basis and HUD has issued guidance on how to access and use these funds. If your jurisdiction is receiving funds under any of the Recovery Act programs, please review the appropriate guidance by visiting HUD' s Recovery Act website at www.bud.gov. Finally, the Department again urges grantees to consider the needs of our returning veterans and their families in the design and administration of these formula programs. Over the past seven years, several hundred thousand of our fellow Americans have served our nation on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan and countless other places around the globe. Many veterans are returning to our communities with wounds and injuries that may make it difficult for them to find housing or support themselves and/ or their families. I am confident that you will consider their sacrifice and ensure that these men and women receive the utmost consideration in the use of these funds at the local level. I look forward to continuing our partnership to assist lower income residents in your community. As always, HUD is available to provide any assistance you require in implementing your programs. If you or any member of your staff have questions, please contact your local CPD office director. Sincerely, Nelson R. Bregon General Deputy Assistant Secretary  DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT Docket No. FR- 5309 -N -011 Notice of Program Requirements for Community Development Block Grant Program Funding Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, HUD. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice advises the public of the statutory and regulatory waivers granted to grantees under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ( Recovery Act). The Recovery Act appropriated $ 1 billion in Community Development Block Grant ( CDBG) funds to states and local governments to carry out, on an expedited basis, eligible activities under the CDBG program. HUD is authorized by statute to specify alternative requirements and make regulatory waivers for this purpose. This notice also explains statutory issues affecting program design and implementation. The Department is also using this notice to provide grantees information about other ways in which the requirements for this grant vary from regular CDBG program rules. Except as described in this Notice, the statutory and regulatory provisions governing the CDBG program apply to this program. DATES: Entitlement grantees, Insular Areas, and non -entitlement counties in Hawaii are to submit the substantial amendments to their program year (PY) 2008 action plans to their HUD field office by June 5, 2009. States are to submit the substantial amendments to their PY2008 action plans to their HUD field office by June 29, 2009. The deadline for the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re- housing Program ( HPRP) funding pursuant to  2 HUD' s March 19, 2009, Federal Re ister notice is May 18. Grantees that wish to submit a single substantial amendment for both programs must do so by May 18, 2009. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stanley Gimont, Director, Office of Block Grant Assistance, Office of Community Planning and Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW, Room 7286, Washington, DC 20410; telephone 202 -708 -3587 ( this is not a toll -free number). Persons with hearing or speech impainnents may access this number through TTY by calling the toll -free Federal Information Relay Service at 800 -877 -8339. Interested parties may also visit the CDBG -R web page on HUD' s Recovery Act website, h":// www.hud.gov/ recoveM/, for updated information and resources. Questions regarding the CDBG -R program may be submitted to HudRecoveryAct@hud. gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Authority to Provide Alternative Requirements and Grant Regulatory Waivers Title XII of Division A of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Public Law 111 -005, approved February 17, 2009) appropriates $ 1 billion to carry out the CDBG program under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 ( 42 U.S. C. 5301, et seq.) ( the HCDA) on an expedited basis. These funds will be distributed to grantees that received CDBG funding in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 in accordance with the provisions of 42 U. S. C. 5306. The grant program under Title XII is commonly referred to as the CDBG Recovery (CDBG -R) program. When referring to a provision of the appropriations statute itself, this notice will refer to the Recovery Act; when referring to the grants, grantees, assisted activities, and implementation rules, this notice will use the term CDBG -R.  3 In administering CDBG -R funds, the Secretary may waive or specify alternative requirements for any provision of any statute or regulation in connection with the obligation by the' Secretary or the use by the recipient of these funds except for requirements related to fair housing, nondiscrimination, labor standards, and the enviroru-nent, upon a finding that such waiver is necessary to expedite or facilitate the timely use of such funds and would not be inconsistent with the overall purpose of the statute. Such regulatory relief as HUD deemed necessary and is authorized to provide under 24 CFR 5. 110 and 24 CFR 91. 600 to pen-nit implementation of CDBG -- R is provided in this notice. The Secretary finds that the alternative requirements outlined in Section 11. of this notice are necessary to expedite the use of these funds for their required purposes. Except as described in this notice, statutory and regulatory provisions governing the CDBG program, including those at 24 CFR part 570 subpart 1 for states and those at 24 CFR part 570 subparts A, C, D, E, F, J, K, and O for CDBG entitlement communities, as appropriate, shall apply to the use of these funds. Subpart M, concerning the Section 108 Loan Guarantee program, is not applicable to CDBG -R. Other sections of the notice will provide further details of the changes, the majority of which deal with adjustments necessitated by Recovery Act provisions to expedite the use of CDBG -R funds. Ensuring_Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds Funding available under the Recovery Act has clear purposes T- to stimulate the economy through measures that modernize the Nation' s infrastructure, improve energy efficiency, and expand educational opportunities and access to health care. In implementing the Recovery Act, Federal agencies are undertaking unprecedented measures to ensure transparency and accountability in the use of the funds. Concurrently, Federal agencies must  4 ensure that the funds are employed in a prudent manner consistent with applicable program requirements. The Department desires that CDBG -R grantees carefully evaluate proposed projects for consistency with the overarching goals of the Recovery Act, especially the above -cited purposes. To this extent, HUD strongly urges grantees to use CDBG -R funds for hard development costs associated with infrastructure activities that provide basic services to residents or activities that promote energy efficiency and conservation through rehabilitation or retrofitting of existing buildings. While the full range of