Town of Flower Mound, Texas - Community Development

2121 Cross Timbers Road
Flower Mound, Texas 75028
972.874.6000

For service requests or questions, email
townhall@flower-mound.com
or call 972.539.SERV. After hours, please call 972.539.0525.

Community Development Block Grant

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Fair Housing

About the Community Development Block Grant

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is a federal program that began operation in 1975. It is formally known as “Title I” of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended. CDBG is run by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Primary Objective

Congress’ primary objective for CDBG has always been, and still is to improve communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment and expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income. The law defines “low and moderate income” individuals and families as those with incomes below 80% of the median income for the entire metropolitan area (the Metropolitan Statistical Area). The law allows the meaning of the term to be adjusted for the size of the household; “lower income” is less for a two-person household and greater for a seven-person household. The term “low income” means individuals and households with incomes below 50% of the median income for the entire metropolitan area. The term “moderate income” means those with incomes above 50% but below 80%.

Funding

Every year, each city with more than 50,00 people, and each county over 200,000 in population, get CDBG funds automatically. These cities and counties are called “entitlement jurisdictions.” They are “entitled” to CDBG by virtue of their size. Entitlement jurisdictions get 70% of the money and states get the other 30%. Each state gets CDBG to pass along to its smaller towns and rural counties, which compete with one another for the funds. Every state has its own procedures for operating the “Small Cities” CDBG program.

The amount of CDBG funding each of these jurisdictions gets is set by one of two formulas. A jurisdiction gets funding from the formula that gives it the most CDBG. Formula A has three “factors” related to the jurisdiction: population, number of people with incomes below the poverty level, and housing overcrowding (meaning that there is more than one person per room in a housing unit). For the states, the formulas only look at the population, etc., for the parts of the state which are not in entitlement cities or counties. The law applies mathematical “weights” to these three factors, reflecting Congress’ belief that some factors are more important than others. In Formula A, the poverty factor is multiplied by a weight of 2; population and housing overcrowding only have weights of 1. Formula B also has three factors: the number of people with incomes below the poverty level, the age of housing, and population. For entitlement jurisdictions, the formula looks at the degree to which the jurisdiction’s population has not grown as fast as the population of the other communities. The law puts different weights on Formula B’s factors too - “age of housing” is multiplied by 2.5, “poverty” is multiplied by 1.5, and population “growth lag” is only multiplied by 1.0.

Consolidated Plan

In order to get CDBG funding, the law requires the Town of Flower Mound to prepare and maintain a formal document declaring how CDBG will be used. A proposed version of this document (a Consolidated Plan) must be presented to the Town Citizens so that affected residents have a chance to study the document and to give the Town their comments. The Consolidated Plan includes both a long-term Strategic Plan and a short-term annual Action Plan. The Consolidated Plan requires the Town to identify all of its housing and community development needs, and then come up with a long-term strategy for meeting those needs. A key part of the strategy is setting priorities. The Consolidated Plan must identify what programs and resources will be used over the course of the long-term strategy. Then each year, the Town must spell out in detail which activities it will carry out and how much money (including CDBG) will be spent on them, in order to work toward reaching its program goals. At the end of each Program Year, the Town must submit to HUD an Annual Performance Report which gives a detailed description of the activities funded with CDBG money during that program year. Each activity must be identified, as well as how much money was budgeted for it; how much was actually spent; the specific location of the activity; how much was accomplished (such as the number of houses rehabbed or the number of jobs created); and how many people or households benefited - by race and by income category.

Citizen Participation

From the beginning of the CDBG program in 1974, Congress has intended that the public be involved in the planning and decision-making around the use of federal dollars returned to localities and states for housing and community development activities The law requires the Town to have and follow a formal and detailed Citizen Participation Plan before it can get CDBG funding. The Town’s Citizen Participation Plan describes the policies and procedures for Citizen participation when we, as a community, are deciding how the funds we receive from HUD will be spent, within the limits set by the federal government. The Town encourages the Citizens of Flower Mound to participate in the Community Development Block Grant process and to make their views known.

Resource: U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development