SOURCE: 40 FR 24693, June 9, 1975, unless otherwise noted.

Subpart A-General Provisions

AUTHORITY: Title I, Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.); Title I, Housing and Community Development Act of 1977 (Pub. L. 95128); and sec. 7(d), Department of Housing and Urban Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3535(d)).

SOURCE: 43 FR 4383, Feb. 1, 1978, unless otherwise noted.

§ 570.1 Applicability and scope.

(a) This Part covers policies and procedures applicable to community development block grants and loan guarentees on behalf of urban communities, authorized under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended. Included are provisions relating to the roles and responsibilities of HUD and general local government with regard to the allocation and distribution of funds; eligible activities; application requirements; review criteria; and administrative and other program requirements.

(b) The community development block grant program replaces the following programs consolidated by the Act:

(1) Urban renewal (and neighborhood development programs) under Title I of the Housing Act of 1949;

(2) Model Cities under Title I of the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966;

(3) Water and sewer facilities under section 702 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965;

(4) Neighborhood facilities under section 703 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965;

(5) Public facilities loans under Title II of the Housing Amendments of 1955;

(6) Open space land under Title VII of the Housing Act of 1961.

§ 570.2 Objective and purpose of program.

(a) The primary objective of the Community Development Program is the development of viable urban communities, including decent housing and a suitable living environment and

expanding

economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income. Consistent with this primary objective, the Federal assistance provided in this Part is for the support of community development activities which are directed toward the following specific objectives:

(1) The elimination of slums and blight and the prevention of blighting influences and the deterioration of property and neighborhood and community facilities of importance to the welfare of the community, principally persons of low and moderate income;

(2) The elimination of conditions which are detrimental to health, safety, and public welfare, through code enforcement, demolition, interim rehabilitation assistance, and related activities;

(3) The conservation and expansion of the Nation's housing stock in order to provide a decent home and a suitable living environment for all persons, but principally those of low and moderate income;

(4) The expansion and improvement of the quantity and quality of community services, principally for persons of low and moderate income, which are essential for sound community development and for the development of viable urban communities;

(5) A more rational utilization of land and other natural resources and the better arrangement of residential, commercial, industrial, recreational, and other needed activity centers;

(6) The reduction of the isolation of income groups within communities and geographical areas and the promotion of an increase in the diversity and vitality of neighborhoods through the spatial deconcentration of housing opportunities for persons of lower income and the revitalization of deteriorating or deteriorated neighborhoods to attract persons of higher income; and

(7) The restoration and preservation of properties of special value for historic, architectural or esthetic reasons.

(8) The alleviation of physical and economic distress through the stimulation of private investment and community revitalization in areas with popu

lation outmigration or stagnating or declining tax base.

(b) It is also the purpose of this Part to further the development of a national urban growth policy by consolidating a number of complex and overlapping programs of financial assistance to communities of varying sizes and needs into a consistent system of Federal aid which:

(1) Provides assistance on an annual basis, with maximum certainty and minimum delay, upon which communities can rely in their planning;

(2) Encourages community development activities which are consistent with comprehensive local and area wide development planning;

(3) Furthers achievement of the national housing goal of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family; and

(4) Fosters the undertaking of housing and community development activities in a coordinated and mutually supportive manner by Federal agencies and programs, as well as by communities.

(c) It is intended that the Federal assistance made available hereunder not be utilized to reduce substantially the amount of local financial support for community development activities below the level of such support prior to the availability of such assistance.

§ 570.3 Definitions.

(a) "Act" means Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, Pub. L. 93-383, as amended.

(b) "Applicant" means the State unit of general local government or Indian tribe which makes application pursuant to the provisions of this part.

(c) "Basic grant amount" means the amount of funds which a metropolitan city or urban county is entitled to receive under this Part as determined by a dual formula, set forth in Subpart B, based on factors pertaining to population, extent of poverty, and extent of housing overcrowding, extent of growth lag, and age of housing.

(d) "Chief executive officer" of a unit of local government means the elected official, or the legally designated official, who has the primary responsibility for the conduct of that

unit's governmental affairs. Examples of the "chief executive officer" of a unit of local government may be: The elected mayor of a municipality; the elected county executive of a county; the chairman of a county commission or board in a county that has no elected county executive; the official designated pursuant to law by the governing body of the unit of general local government; or the chairman, governor, chief, or president (as the case may be) of an Indian tribe or Alaskan native village.

(e) "City" means for purposes of basic grant and urban development action grant eligibility, (1) any unit of general local government which is classified as a municipality by the United States Bureau of the Census or (2) any other unit of general local government which is a town or township and which, in the determination of the Secretary, (i) possesses powers and performs functions comparable to those associated with municipalities, (ii) is closely settled and (iii) contains within its boundaries no incorporated places as defined by the United States Bureau of the Census, which have not entered into cooperation agreements with such town or township for a period covering at least 3 years to undertake or to assist in the undertaking of essential community development and housing assistance activities, except that in fiscal year 1978 only such cooperation agreements may cover 1 or more years.

(f) "Community Development Program" means the annual program of projects and activities to be carried out by the applicant with funds provided under this Part and other resources, as described in Subpart D.

(g) "Discretionary grant" means a grant made from the Secretary's fund, from the transition and categorical program settlement fund, from the urban development action grant fund, or from the general purpose funds for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas as described more fully in § 570.104 (a), (b), (e), (c)(1), and (c)(2), respectively.

(h) "Entitlement amount" means the amount to be received by a unit of general local government consisting of

its basic grant amount and/or holdharmless grant under § 570.102 and § 570.103.

(i) "Extent of housing overcrowding" means the number of housing units with 1.01 or more persons per room based on data compiled and published by the United States Bureau of the Census for 1970.

(j) "Extent of poverty" means the number of persons whose incomes are below the poverty level based on data compiled and published by the United States Bureau of the Census for 1970 and the latest reports of the Office of Management and Budget. For the purposes of this Part, the Secretary has determined that it is neither feasible nor appropriate to make adjustments at this time in the computations of "extent of poverty" for regional or area variations in income and cost of living.

(k) "Hold-Harmless amount" means the amount which represents the average past level of funds received by a unit of general local government under the consolidated programs cited in § 570.1(b) and under section 312 of the Housing Act of 1964 and which is used to determine the amount of the Hold-Harmless grant.

(1) "Hold-Harmless grant" means that amount of funds which a unit of general local government is entitled to receive in excess of its basic grant amount under § 570.103.

(m) "HUD" means the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

(n) "Identifiable segment of the total group of lower-income persons in the community" means female-headed households, and members of a minority group which includes Negroes, Spanish-Americans, Orientals, American Indians and other groups normally identified by race, color, or national origin.

(o) "Low and moderate income families" or "lower income families" means families whose incomes do not exceed 80 percent of the median family income of the metropolitan area, or in the case of families residing in nonmetropolitan areas, of all non-metropolitan areas of the State. (In determining the income eligibility of individual low- and moderate-income or lower

income families to receive assistance through direct benefit activities under the block grant program, applicant may use the applicable income limits published by HUD for lower-income housing assistance under Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f).)

(p) "Low- and moderate-income persons" or "lower-income persons" means members of families whose incomes are within the income limits of lower-income families as defined in § 570.3(0). This term may, where appropriate, also include unrelated individuals, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, whose incomes do not exceed 80 percent of the median income of all unrelated individuals residing in the metropolitan area, or in the case of unrelated individuals residing in nonmetropolitan areas, of all nonmetropolitan areas of the State.

(q) "Metropolitan area" means standard metropolitan statistical area, as established by the Office of Management and Budget.

(r) "Metropolitan city" means (1) a city, within a metropolitan area, which is a central city of such area, as defined and used by the Office of Management and Budget, or (2) any other city, within a metropolitan area, which has a population of fifty thousand or more. Any city which has been classified as a metropolitan city because it has a population of at least fifty thousand will continue to be so classified until the next ensuing decennial census indicates that the population of such city is below fifty thousand.

(s) "Population" means the total resident population based on data compiled and published by the United States Bureau of the Census for 1970, which has been upgraded by the Bureau to reflect the changes resulting from Boundary and Annexation Survey, new incorporations, and consolidations of governments, pursuant to § 570.100, and which reflects changes resulting from the Bureau's latest population determination through its estimating technique using natural changes (birth and death) and net migration, and is referable to the same point or period in time.

(t) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

(u) "State" means any State of the United States, or any instrumentality thereof approved by the Governor; and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

(v) "Unit of general local government" means any city, county, town, township, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State; Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, or a general purpose political subdivision thereof; a combination of such political subdivisions recognized by the Secretary; the District of Columbia; and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Such term also includes a State or a local public body or agency (as defined in section 711 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970), a community association, or other entity, which is approved by the Secretary for the purpose of providing public facilities or services to a new community as part of a program meeting the eligibility standards of section 712 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970 or Title IV of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968.

(w) "Urban county" means any county within a metropolitan area which, pursuant to § 570.105, is authorized under State law to undertake essential community and housing assistance activities in its unincorporated areas, if any, which are not units of general local government, and (1) has a combined population of two hundred thousand or more (excluding the population of metropolitan cities and Indian tribes therein) in such unincorporated areas and in its included units of general local government (i) in which it has authority to undertake essential community development and housing assistance activities and which do not elect to have their population excluded or (ii) with which it has entered into cooperation agreements to undertake or to assist in the undertaking of essential community development and housing assistance activities, or (2) has a population in excess of one hundred thousand, a population density of five thousand persons per square mile, and contains

within its boundaries no incorporated places as defined by the United States Bureau of the Census.

(x) "Age of housing" means the number of existing year-round housing units constructed in 1939 or earlier, based on data compiled by the United States Bureau of the Census and referable to the same point or period of time.

(y) "Extent of growth lag" means the number of persons who would have been residents in a metropolitan city or urban county, in excess of the current population of such metropolitan city or urban county, if such metropolitan city or urban county had a population growth rate, between 1960 and the date of the most recent population count referable to the same point of period in time, equal to the population growth rate for such period of all metropolitan cities.

(z) "Indian tribe" means any Indian tribe, band, group, and nation, including Alaska Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos, and any Alaska Native Village, of the United States, which is considered an eligible recipient under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (Pub. L. 93-638) or under the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act of 1972 (Pub. L. 92–512).

(aa) "Urban development action grant" (UDAG) means a grant made from those funds specifically appropriated under § 570.104(f) for the support of severely distressed cities and urban counties, to help alleviate physical and economic deterioration through reclamation and through revitalization of communities, where such cities and urban counties require increased public and private assistance in addition to assistance otherwise made available under this title and other Federal assistance.

(bb) "Low-income persons" means members of families whose incomes do not exceed 50 percent of the median family income of the metropolitan area, or in the case of families residing in nonmetropolitan areas, of all nonmetropolitan areas of the State. This term may, where appropriate, also include unrelated individuals, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, whose incomes do not exceed 50 percent of the