ADOH receives approximately $9 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) entitlement funds annually from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to fund eligible programs and projects in communities located in the 13 rural counties in the state.
CDBG funds may be utilized to address a wide variety of community needs, including construction or renovation of various infrastructure projects such as water, wastewater and solid waste facilities, streets, and flood control projects; construction or improvements of a range of community facilities such as senior, health and social services centers; expansion of public services to serve low-income persons; creation of new jobs through small business loans or infrastructure improvements; and various affordable housing projects including home reconstruction, rehabilitation or repair programs.
Funding is accessed through a process that is described in the HUD required Five-Year Consolidated Plan and annual action plan updates to the 5 year plan. The rural Councils of Government (COGs) partner with ADOH to assist communities with project administration and technical assistance. CDBG funds available to eligible applicants are divided into 3 accounts; Regional Account, State Special Projects Account (SSP) and Colonia Set Aside Account.
Regional Account
The CDBG Regional Account (RA) consists of 85% of the remaining funds from the state of Arizona's allocation from HUD after the 10% Colonias Set Aside and the state’s retention of 2% plus $100,000 for administration and 1% for technical assistance and is divided into 4 sub accounts, one for each of the non metropolitan COG areas. The RA is distributed on a non-competitive basis. Each non-metropolitan COG region creates a Regional Council approved Method of Distribution (MOD) which will be submitted to ADOH for review. The MOD contains a multi-year schedule indicating how CDBG regional allocations are to be distributed such that all eligible communities within each respective COG region will receive funding and an estimate of the amount to be available. This will allow each community to plan its CDBG projects in advance.
The application deadline for the RA round is typically June 1 for Northern Arizona Council of Government (NACOG) and South Eastern Arizona Government Organization (SEAGO) regions and July 1 for the Western Arizona Council of Government (WACOG) and the Central Arizona Association of Government (CAG) regions unless otherwise announced by ADOH thru an Information Bulletin.
State Special Project Round
The CDBG SSP account consists of 15% of the remaining funds from the state of Arizona's allocation from HUD after the 10% Colonias Set Aside and the state’s retention of 2% plus $100,000 for administration and 1% for technical assistance and the funding round is competitive. All communities eligible to receive funding from the state CDBG program are eligible to apply for State Special Projects. Applications submitted must propose all activities pursuant to 24 CFR 570 that are ready to begin implementation immediately with environmental review requirements completed, Release of Funds issued, land control secured, planning, design, and permitting complete, and all other related up front issues resolved.
SSP Competitive application rounds are announced thru a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) and the application process for the SSP funding can be found in the most current CDBG Application Handbook, located on the Forms and Handbooks page of this website. Interested applicants should refer to the application guidelines in the CDBG Application Handbook, the SSP NOFA and the SSP Rating Forms.
Colonia Set Aside Round
The Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 obligated the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to earmark CDBG funding for upgrading the housing and infrastructure of Colonia communities. It mandated a set-aside (10%) for the improvement of Colonias communities in all the states along the U.S.-Mexico border. Colonias communities often lack the basic necessities most Americans take for granted including running water, sanitary waste water treatment, electricity, and safe housing. Arizona must set-aside at least 10% of its total annual allocation for Colonias projects; only projects that address the lack of basic infrastructure or safe and sanitary housing can qualify as colonia projects.
In order to provide sufficient funding to address those issues that plague Colonias, ADOH will make funding available through the Colonia set-aside once every two years in a competitive application process announced Through a Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA). Applicant must be a State of Arizona, Department of Housing Certified Colonias or must complete and submit a Colonias Designation and Certification packet along with all source documentation at least 60 days prior to the Colonias Application deadline. The current list of those Colonias who have been certified as eligible to participate in the competitive Colonias Set Aside application round is posted on the Department’s website on the Community Development and Revitalization page.