The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it will allocate a third wave in CARES Act coronavirus relief money.
This wave totaling $1 billion is through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. To date, HUD has provided more than $3 billion in CDBG funding nationwide to help communities acutely combat coronavirus and alleviate economic hardship.
“Coronavirus has impacted our communities and populations in unprecedented ways, and while some begin to see a decline in reported cases, others continue to fight this invisible enemy aggressively,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in a news release. “This funding will afford states the ability to respond to the unique circumstances they are facing – from reducing risk of transmission to regaining the sound footing of their economy.”
Carson said HUD will continue to issue funding until the pandemic is over using an allocation formula. Every U.S. state and insular area will receive a portion of the money.
The formula uses variables focusing on public health needs, risk of transmission of coronavirus, rate of coronavirus cases and economic disruption. It also uses data on low-income elderly and poor children to target to places with higher public health risk while also using recent unemployment insurance claims data to provide for states hardest hit, at the time of the allocation, by unemployment.
All of the factors are adjusted so that places with higher than the national average in COVID-19 cases receive a slightly higher share of funding.
Grantees may select from more than 25 eligible CDBG activities to shape their local programs to meet their needs, including:
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