CDBG funds may be used for the following activities:

(a) Acquisition. Acquisition in whole or in part by the recipient, or other public or private nonprofit entity, by purchase, long-term lease, donation, or otherwise, of real property (including air rights, water rights, rights-of-way, easements, and other interests therein) for any public purpose, subject to the limitations of §570.207.

(b) Disposition. Disposition, through sale, lease, donation, or otherwise, of any real property acquired with CDBG funds or its retention for public purposes, including reasonable costs of temporarily managing such property or property acquired under urban renewal, provided that the proceeds from any such disposition shall be program income subject to the requirements set forth in §570.504.

(c) Public facilities and improvements. Acquisition, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation or installation of public facilities and improvements, except as provided in §570.207(a), carried out by the recipient or other public or private nonprofit entities. (However, activities under this paragraph may be directed to the removal of material and architectural barriers that restrict the mobility and accessibility of elderly or severely disabled persons to public facilities and improvements, including those provided for in §570.207(a)(1).) In undertaking such activities, design features and improvements which promote energy efficiency may be included. Such activities may also include the execution of architectural design features, and similar treatments intended to enhance the aesthetic quality of facilities and improvements receiving CDBG assistance, such as decorative pavements, railings, sculptures, pools of water and fountains, and other works of art. Facilities designed for use in providing shelter for persons having special needs are considered public facilities and not subject to the prohibition of new housing construction described in §570.207(b)(3). Such facilities include shelters for the homeless; convalescent homes; hospitals, nursing homes; battered spouse shelters; halfway houses for run-away children, drug offenders or parolees; group homes for mentally retarded persons and temporary housing for disaster victims. In certain cases, nonprofit entities and subrecipients including those specified in §570.204 may acquire title to public facilities. When such facilities are owned by nonprofit entities or subrecipients, they shall be operated so as to be open for use by the general public during all normal hours of operation. Public facilities and improvements eligible for assistance under this paragraph are subject to the policies in §570.200(b).

(d) Clearance and remediation activities. Clearance, demolition, and removal of buildings and improvements, including movement of structures to other sites and remediation of known or suspected environmental contamination. Demolition of HUD-assisted or HUD-owned housing units may be undertaken only with the prior approval of HUD. Remediation may include project-specific environmental assessment costs not otherwise eligible under §570.205.

(e) Public services. Provision of public services (including labor, supplies, and materials) including but not limited to those concerned with employment, crime prevention, child care, health, drug abuse, education, fair housing counseling, energy conservation, welfare (but excluding the provision of income payments identified under §570.207(b)(4)), homebuyer downpayment assistance, or recreational needs. If housing counseling, as defined in 24 CFR 5.100, is provided, it must be carried out in accordance with 24 CFR 5.111. To be eligible for CDBG assistance, a public service must be either a new service or a quantifiable increase in the level of an existing service above that which has been provided by or on behalf of the unit of general local government (through funds raised by the unit or received by the unit from the State in which it is located) in the 12 calendar months before the submission of the action plan. (An exception to this requirement may be made if HUD determines that any decrease in the level of a service was the result of events not within the control of the unit of general local government.) The amount of CDBG funds used for public services shall not exceed paragraphs (e) (1) or (2) of this section, as applicable:

(1) The amount of CDBG funds used for public services shall not exceed 15 percent of each grant, except that for entitlement grants made under subpart D of this part, nonentitlement CDBG grants in Hawaii, and for recipients of insular area funds under section 106 of the Act, the amount shall not exceed 15 percent of the grant plus 15 percent of program income, as defined in §570.500(a). For entitlement grants under subpart D of this part, nonentitlement CDBG grants in Hawaii, and for recipients of insular area funds under section 106 of the Act, compliance is based on limiting the amount of CDBG funds obligated for public service activities in each program year to an amount no greater than 15 percent of the entitlement grant made for that program year plus 15 percent of the program income received during the grantee's immediately preceding program year.

(2) A recipient which obligated more CDBG funds for public services than 15 percent of its grant funded from origin year 1982 or 1983 appropriations (excluding program income and any assistance received under Public Law 98-8), may obligate more CDBG funds than allowable under paragraph (e)(1) of this section, so long as the total amount obligated in any program year does not exceed:

(i) For an entitlement grantee, 15% of the program income it received during the preceding program year; plus

(ii) A portion of the grant received for the program year which is the highest of the following amounts:

(A) The amount determined by applying the percentage of the grant it obligated for public services in the 1982 program year against the grant for its current program year;

(B) The amount determined by applying the percentage of the grant it obligated for public services in the 1983 program year against the grant for its current program year;

(C) The amount of funds it obligated for public services in the 1982 program year; or,

(D) The amount of funds it obligated for public services in the 1983 program year.

(f) Interim assistance.

(1) The following activities may be undertaken on an interim basis in areas exhibiting objectively determinable signs of physical deterioration where the recipient has determined that immediate action is necessary to arrest the deterioration and that permanent improvements will be carried out as soon as practicable:

(i) The repairing of streets, sidewalks, parks, playgrounds, publicly owned utilities, and public buildings; and

(ii) The execution of special garbage, trash, and debris removal, including neighborhood cleanup campaigns, but not the regular curbside collection of garbage or trash in an area.

(2) In order to alleviate emergency conditions threatening the public health and safety in areas where the chief executive officer of the recipient determines that such an emergency condition exists and requires immediate resolution, CDBG funds may be used for:

(i) The activities specified in paragraph (f)(1) of this section, except for the repair of parks and playgrounds;

(ii) The clearance of streets, including snow removal and similar activities, and

(iii) The improvement of private properties.

(3) All activities authorized under paragraph (f)(2) of this section are limited to the extent necessary to alleviate emergency conditions.

(g) Payment of non-Federal share. Payment of the non-Federal share required in connection with a Federal grant-in-aid program undertaken as part of CDBG activities, provided, that such payment shall be limited to activities otherwise eligible and in compliance with applicable requirements under this subpart.

(h) Urban renewal completion. Payment of the cost of completing an urban renewal project funded under title I of the Housing Act of 1949 as amended. Further information regarding the eligibility of such costs is set forth in §570.801.

(i) Relocation. Relocation payments and other assistance for permanently and temporarily relocated individuals families, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and farm operations where the assistance is (1) required under the provisions of §570.606 (b) or (c); or (2) determined by the grantee to be appropriate under the provisions of §570.606(d).

(j) Loss of rental income. Payments to housing owners for losses of rental income incurred in holding, for temporary periods, housing units to be used for the relocation of individuals and families displaced by program activities assisted under this part.

(k) Housing services. Housing services, as provided in section 105(a)(21) of the Act (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)(21)). If housing counseling, as defined in 24 CFR 5.100, is provided, it must be carried out in accordance with 24 CFR 5.111.

(l) Privately owned utilities. CDBG funds may be used to acquire, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, or install the distribution lines and facilities of privately owned utilities, including the placing underground of new or existing distribution facilities and lines.

(m) Construction of housing. CDBG funds may be used for the construction of housing assisted under section 17 of the United States Housing Act of 1937.

(n) Homeownership assistance. CDBG funds may be used to provide direct homeownership assistance to low- or moderate-income households in accordance with section 105(a) of the Act.

(o)

(1) The provision of assistance either through the recipient directly or through public and private organizations, agencies, and other subrecipients (including nonprofit and for-profit subrecipients) to facilitate economic development by:

(i) Providing credit, including, but not limited to, grants, loans, loan guarantees, and other forms of financial support, for the establishment, stabilization, and expansion of microenterprises;

(ii) Providing technical assistance, advice, and business support services to owners of microenterprises and persons developing microenterprises; and

(iii) Providing general support, including, but not limited to, peer support programs, counseling, child care, transportation, and other similar services, to owners of microenterprises and persons developing microenterprises.

(2) Services provided this paragraph (o) shall not be subject to the restrictions on public services contained in paragraph (e) of this section.

(3) For purposes of this paragraph (o), “persons developing microenterprises” means such persons who have expressed interest and who are, or after an initial screening process are expected to be, actively working toward developing businesses, each of which is expected to be a microenterprise at the time it is formed.

(4) Assistance under this paragraph (o) may also include training, technical assistance, or other support services to increase the capacity of the recipient or subrecipient to carry out the activities under this paragraph (o).

(p) Technical assistance. Provision of technical assistance to public or nonprofit entities to increase the capacity of such entities to carry out eligible neighborhood revitalization or economic development activities. (The recipient must determine, prior to the provision of the assistance, that the activity for which it is attempting to build capacity would be eligible for assistance under this subpart C, and that the national objective claimed by the grantee for this assistance can reasonably be expected to be met once the entity has received the technical assistance and undertakes the activity.) Capacity building for private or public entities (including grantees) for other purposes may be eligible under §570.205.

(q) Assistance to institutions of higher education. Provision of assistance by the recipient to institutions of higher education when the grantee determines that such an institution has demonstrated a capacity to carry out eligible activities under this subpart C.

[53 FR 34439, Sept. 6, 1988, as amended at 53 FR 31239, Aug. 17, 1988; 55 FR 29308, July 18, 1990; 57 FR 27119, June 17, 1992; 60 FR 1943, Jan. 5, 1995; 60 FR 56911, Nov. 9, 1995; 61 FR 18674, Apr. 29, 1996; 65 FR 70215, Nov. 21, 2000; 67 FR 47213, July 17, 2002; 71 FR 30034, May 24, 2006; 80 FR 69870, Nov. 12, 2015; 81 FR 90659, Dec. 14, 2016]