Funding Categories
There are four funding categories under Montana's CDBG Program:
- Housing and Neighborhood Renewal
- Public Facilities
- Planning Grants (Housing and Neighborhood Renewal and Public Facilities)
- Economic Development
The principal activities proposed in a CDBG project must clearly be designed to address needs appropriate to the category applied for.
1. Housing and Neighborhood Renewal
The CDBG Housing and Neighborhood Renewal category is intended to assist communities in a wide range of activities to help them provide decent, safe and sanitary housing for their residents at an affordable price and to combat blighting influences in the community. A variety of activities can be combined in one single project as part of implementation of a comprehensive housing and neighborhood renewal strategy linked to the particular needs and circumstances of an individual community.
CDBG funds can be used to rehabilitate substandard housing or to support construction of new permanent, long-term housing. CDBG funds can also be used to finance or subsidize the construction of new permanent, residential units where a local nonprofit organization sponsors the project. CDBG housing projects can also include site improvements or provision of public facilities to publicly-owned land or land owned by a nonprofit organization to be used or sold for new housing. Housing activities can include the demolition of vacant, deteriorated housing units with the intent of making the site available for new construction, acquiring sites for use or resale for new housing, and converting existing nonresidential structures for residential use. Neighborhood renewal activities can include cleaning up junk and debris or improving or constructing public facilities such as sidewalks, streets, or neighborhood parks.
2. Public Facilities
In Public Facilities projects, CDBG funds are most often used in combination with other federal, state, or local funds to make basic community infrastructure improvements, such as water and sewer facilities, affordable to low and moderate income families. Public facility projects can also include facilities designed for use predominantly by persons of low and moderate income such as nursing homes, senior centers, Head Start centers, or mental health centers.
3. Planning Grants - (Housing and Neighborhood Renewal and Public Facilities)
According to local officials, the up-front costs of preparing a local needs assessment, a housing study, or capital improvements program often present a serious obstacle for communities who want to apply for CDBG assistance, particularly for small communities with limited resources. The CDBG program is able to play a unique role in assisting Montana communities because of its ability to offer planning grants to local governments for related housing and neighborhood renewal and public facilities activities. The grants can be used for a variety of planning activities including the initial planning necessary to get a project underway, or to conduct other important community planning activities such as preparing or updating a growth policy, preparing a neighborhood redevelopment plan, a housing study, capital improvement plan, or similar planning processes needed to help a community address critical needs.
4. Economic Development Projects
Funding for Economic Development projects is administered by the Business Resources Division of the Department of Commerce.
