Community Development Block Grant Program

The City of Manhattan has been an Entitlement Community in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program since 2010. The CDBG Entitlement Program provides the City with federal dollars based on an annual formula allocation to provide grant projects that benefit low- and moderate-income persons, families, and neighborhoods.  

Participation in the Entitlement Program requires the City to prepare a Consolidated Plan, which is updated every 5 years, and an Annual Action Plan that is updated each year of the 5-year Consolidated Plan.  The current Consolidated Plan covers the Years 2020-2024, beginning on July 1, 2020, and ending on June 30, 2025.  

Once the annual allocation of CDBG funds is known, the City must adopt an Annual Action Plan that is consistent with the approved 5‑Year Consolidated Plan.  

The 2021 Annual Action Plan begins on July 1, 2021 and ends on June 30, 2022, and will specify the activities, actions, and projects the City will implement with the CDBG allocation for the 2021 Program Year to address the priority needs and objectives identified by the Consolidated Plan. The final Annual Action Plan will be prepared once HUD notifies the City of its annual allocation, sometime in March or April of 2021. 

HUD has allocated $534,354.00 to the City of Manhattan’s for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program Year 2021. All interested persons are invited to review and/or download on the draft 2021 CDBG Annual Action Plan,   For non-English speakers, the City website has a translation page to convert text to multiple other languages. Para los que no hablan inglés, el sitio web de la ciudad tiene una página de traducción para convertir texto a varios otros idiomas. The City encourages all interested persons to submit comments and questions by email to Christina L’Ecuyer, Grant Administrator at lecuyer@cityofmhk.com.  

 

The Manhattan City Commission will conduct a Public Hearing during the televised City Commission meeting, at 7pm on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, to receive any final public comments on the proposed “2021 CDBG Annual Action Plan”. To Participate in This Public Hearing: You may submit written comments, or you may choose to speak in person. Seating is limited.  Comments may be submitted through the City’s website at www.cityofmhk.com/3047/Public-comment, beginning on Friday, April 30, 2021, until 4 pm on May 4, 2021.   The Public may watch this hearing on Cox Cable Channel 3, on Facebook, or stream it live using the City of Manhattan “Watch a Meeting” on-line service found on the home page of the City’s website. 

 

CARES ACT FUNDING 

The CDBG CARES Act Grant (CDBG-CV 2020) still has funds available that can be used to Prepare for, Prevent the spread of, or Respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic.  Funds will be disbursed on a first come-first served basis.  Attached is the application, several documents provided for instruction and guidance, and a blank sample of the grant contract that each agency must sign.   

CDBG-CV is a re-imbursement type grant, so if any agency has had to “dig into its savings” in 2020 or had shortfalls in grant funding or fundraising in 2020 as compared to 2019, due to impacts of COVID 19, the difference lost is eligible for replacement funding through CDBG-CV.  Examples of this could include, but is not limited to:  

  • a decrease the Special Alcohol grant funding from the City, or 

  • not being able to hold typical fundraising events, and the difference from 2019 to 2020 can be documented, 

  • hiring of staff to sanitize facilities or equipment between clients’ usage, 

  • Documentable hours where staff spent time dealing specifically with COVID related issues or impacts on clients, which was funded from savings or used fundraising $ intended for other activities/initiatives.

 For the funds that agencies are asking to replace or support, there are 3 minimum reporting requirements.  CDBG-CV requires agencies document the number of clients from Manhattan that they served, the income level of their clients (extremely low, very low, or low income) unless clients are part of a presumed benefit group, as well as the race and ethnicity of clients.  There are other demographics that HUD may ask for depending on the clientele, and all are included on the reporting form.  HUD permits clients to self-certify, and the City will provide a form for that if needed.    

The applications are set up to help determine that funds requested will not ‘supplanting funds’ and will not duplicate benefits each agency may have already received from other sources.  However, CDBG-CV can support funding that was received (make up the difference), or can replace funding that was eliminated.  

 The City has cleared these types of requests with HUD, and agencies must be able to document the funding decrease from 2020 and potentially 2021, or the amount of funds that were eliminated, or otherwise used to assist clients with COVID related issues.  

Finally, CDBG-CV funds are a separate source of funds not related to ESG or annual CDBG allocations, so if any agency is already receiving these funds or has received these funds in 2020 and still had COVID-related shortfalls, counting the clients served with CDBG-CV funds in making up the difference will not be considered a duplication of beneficiaries. 

2020 Cares Instruction                                                                                         

2020 Public Services Activities 

CARES Act Application

CARES Act Programs

CDBG Contract Form 

 Presumed Benefit Income

If you have any questions, please call 785 587-2430.

2020 Environmental Reviews

CDBG Housing Rehabilitation Environmental Review 2020
CDBG Housing Rehabilitation Environmental Review Attachments 2020

Citizen Participation Plan 

The Citizen Participation Plan (CPP) encourages full and proper citizen participation at all stages of the planning process and designates the structure, procedures, roles and policies to be followed by program participants and are consistent with federal requirements for the Community Development Block Grant Program and the Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program.

2018 Citizen Participation Plan                                                                                                            PY 2020-2024 Cares Act Amendment-Citizen Participation Plan

Consolidated Plan

Manhattan has developed a Consolidated Plan using a collaborative process whereby the community established community needs, program goals, and proposed projects and activities over five years. These have been incorporated into the Amended 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan. The Consolidated Plan also includes annual Action Plans, which provide concise summaries of the activities and programs that will take place during that specific year to address priority needs set forth in the Strategic Plan, including funding. The City is has prepared a new Consolidated Plan for the next 5 grant years, 2020-2024. 

2020-2024 Consolidated Plan and 2020 Annual Action Plan
PY 2020-2024 Cares Act Amendment-Consolidated Plan and 2020 Annual Action Plan

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) 2015-2019 Consolidation Plan-Amended and the Annual Action Plans provide a basis and strategy for the use of funds allocated to the City of Manhattan by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  HUD provides the City with funding each year for CDBG Programs. 

The City of Manhattan adopts an action plan each year for CDBG funding. For 2020, the plan includes continued funding for the housing rehabilitation program, continued funding for public service agencies in the community, and funding for new public facility and infrastructure improvements.

HUD also requires the City to update its Analysis of Impediment To Fair Housing (AI). The AI process involves a thorough examination of a variety of sources related to housing, the fair housing delivery system, housing transactions, locations of public housing authorities, area having racial and ethnic concentrations of poverty, and access to opportunity. In accordance with the applicable statutes and regulations governing the Consolidated Plan, the City certifies that it will affirmatively further fair housing by taking appropriate actions to overcome the effects of any impediments identified in the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice and maintain records that reflect the analysis and actions in this regard. 

Performance & Evaluation

The City of Manhattan prepares a consolidated annual performance and evaluation report (CAPER) each year to summarize the actions of each year’s plan.  

Other Documents

Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing 2015-2019                                                                          Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing 2020-2024