Department of Housing and Urban Development January 2025 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This Allocation Announcement Notice announces $12,070,701,000 of Community Development Block GrantDisaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds made available by the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2025, for major disasters occurring in 2023 or 2024. This Allocation Announcement Notice identifies grant requirements for these funds, including requirements in HUD's CDBG-DR Universal Notice ("Universal Notice") published in the Federal Register. The Universal Notice includes waivers and alternative requirements, relevant regulatory requirements, the grant award process, criteria for action plan approval, and eligible disaster recovery activities.

This document informs the public that HUD has determined not to pursue the proposed rule previously published in the Federal Register on April 10, 2024, entitled "Reducing Barriers to HUD- Assisted Housing". HUD will proceed to formally withdraw the rule from HUD's Spring 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.

This notice contains a preamble and the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Universal Notice: Waivers and Alternative Requirements (the "Universal Notice"). The Universal Notice describes the processes, procedures, timelines, waivers, and alternative requirements that U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) intends to implement with each allocation of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding after a qualifying presidential disaster declaration. Specifically, following the appropriation of CDBG-DR funds for qualifying disasters, HUD will publish an Allocation Announcement Notice in the Federal Register that incorporates, via cross-reference, the waivers and alternative requirements provided in the Universal Notice, as appropriate, along with any other new requirements imposed by the specific appropriation. This notice also describes the grant award process, pre-award certification submissions, criteria for Action Plan approval, and eligible disaster recovery activities to streamline post-disaster processes for future grantees. By publishing the Universal Notice, HUD intends to provide grantees and the public with increased transparency, consistency, and more timely access to CDBG-DR funds, helping to minimize program delays and accelerate recovery.

HUD is seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the information collection described below. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, HUD is requesting comment from all interested parties on the proposed collection of information. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment.

HUD's HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME program or HOME) provides formula grants to States and units of general local government to fund a wide range of activities to produce and maintain affordable rental and homeownership housing and provides tenant-based rental assistance for low-income and very low-income households. This final rule revises the current HOME regulations to update, simplify, or streamline requirements, better align the program with other Federal housing programs, and implement recent amendments to the HOME statute. This final rule also includes minor revisions to the regulations for the Community Development Block Grant and Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Programs consistent with the implementation of the changes to the HOME program. This final rule follows the publication of a proposed rule on May 29, 2024, and takes into consideration the comments received in response to that proposed rule.