In March 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities (CARES) Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Included in the CARES Act was a $5 billion supplemental allocation to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The State of Iowa has received $31.3 million in CDBG-CV funding; Approximately $21 million will be available to non-entitlement communities/ counties in Iowa.
Activities funded with CDBG-CV funds must be determined to be a CDBG eligible activity. In addition, each activity funded with CDBG funds must meet one of three national objectives:
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Prevention and elimination of slum and blight
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Benefit low to moderate income persons
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Meet an urgent need
A minimum of 70% of all CDBG-CV funds must benefit low- to moderate income persons.
All activities funded through this program must prevent, prepare for, or respond to COVID-19.
All applicable state and federal CDBG regulations apply to CDBG-CV funds. (Davis-Bacon, Section 3, environmental/ 106 review, et al).
In addition, the CARES Act requires CDBG recipients to implement procedures to prevent any duplication of benefits as required by section 312 of the Stafford Act, as amended by section 1210 of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018. All recipients must implement policies and procedures to ensure and document that project activities have not or could not receive financial assistance for the same activity costs.
The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) will accept applications for assistance for the following activities under the state’s CDBG-CV program:
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Public facilities/ public spaces
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Public Wifi/ broadband access
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Microenterprise assistance
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Housing conversion
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Commercial façade improvements
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Food bank/ food program assistance
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Daycare assistance
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires that a minimum of 80% of all CDBG-CV funding must be spent/ disbursed by July 20, 2023. Funds not spent by this date will be repealed by HUD.
With this deadline in mind, IEDA will require projects funded under the CDBG-CV program to be completed and have all CDBG funds drawn down by this date.
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