[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23683-23684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[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 https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs. 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 [email protected]. 
Interested parties may also visit HUD's website at https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/comm_planning 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: 
https://www.hud.gov/grants/. 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 https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs.

Marion McFadden,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and 
Development.
[FR Doc. 2023-08158 Filed 4-17-23; 8:45 am]
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