SCDP Background & Information
Program Goal
The goal of the SCDP is to develop viable, eligible communities and provide a suitable living environments by expanding economic opportunities that principally benefit low to moderate income households. This is accomplished by providing financial assistance to address the need for decent, safe, affordable housing, economic development and adequate public facilities.
Background
The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program is a federal program that provides funding for housing, community and economic development. In 1974, Congress passed the Housing and Community Development Act, Title I, which authorized the development of the CDBG Program. The Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), consists of two components, an entitlement program that provides funding directly to urban (entitlement) areas and a Small Cities Development Program (SCDP) which provides funding to non-entitlement communities.
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is responsible for state administration of the CDBG program for non-entitlement communities statewide, per Minnesota Administrative Rules, Chapter 4300, Community Development Block Grants. This Program Concept is based on the rules outlined in Chapter 4300.
Program Objective
All SCDP funded activities are intended to support community development activities that:
Encourage and assist local governments to develop comprehensive economic development strategies which promote viable communities by providing economic opportunities for Low-to-Moderate Income Households;
Encourage and assist local governments to develop comprehensive public facility improvement strategies in conjunction with Rural Development (RD), the Public Facility Authority (PFA), MN Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), etc., to make rural communities more viable. These actions must also primarily benefit Low-to-Moderate Income Households;
Develop and implement strategies, which facilitate the coordination of CDBG Small Cities funding with other federal/state/local community development resources.
These community development activities must meet one of the following Federal Objectives:
Benefit to low and moderate income (LMI) persons/households. LMI is defined as households whose total income from all members does not exceed 80% of the County Median Income, adjusted for household size as determined by HUD annually. The general SCDP activities that use the LMI federal objective are owner-occupied and rental housing rehabilitation, public facilities, assessment abatement, and homeownership assistance.
Prevent or eliminate slum and blight conditions; generally the SCDP activity associated with this national objective is commercial rehabilitation.
Alleviate urgent community development needs caused by conditions which pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community and where other financial resources are not available. The activities that meet this federal objective are generally associated with disaster recovery where an LMI federal objective cannot be satisfied.
For more information, go to the “Federal Objectives for Applicants” section of the SCDP A-Z Guide, found on our website.
Eligible Applicants/Multi-Community Applications
Eligible Applicants are cities with a populations under 50,000 and counties and townships with an unincorporated population under 200,000. In order to be considered eligible, an applicant must be in substantial compliance with all applicable state and federal laws, regulations and executive orders that pertain to the CDBG Small Cities Development Program.
Applications submitted jointly by communities must be approved by the governing bodies of all communities in the application. All communities must meet citizen participation requirements of the program and a cooperative agreement must be attached as an appendix to any Full Application. All participating communities must also meet all DEED contractual requirements. No more than three total communities can comprise one application. Eligible applicants must adhere to the application process instituted by DEED for the Program.
Applicant Eligibility Requirements/Restrictions
Eligible Applicants may receive only one competitive award per grant year and no Eligible Applicant shall be included in more than one competitive application, whether as a primary applicant or as a secondary applicant within a multi-city application. An Eligible Applicant may receive one federal Economic Development Grant (ED) from the Minnesota Investment Fund (MIF) in addition to a SCDP competitive grant each application year.
Eligible Applicants who received previous SCDP funding and/or administering entities managing SCDP projects are subject to a capacity and performance evaluation. Communities with past due monetary obligations, communities not current on all SCDP reporting, or communities with any federal audit findings, or findings from SCDP monitoring reports where findings are not being responded to in a timely manner, are not eligible to submit a preliminary proposal or application. Any administrative entity that is involved with a current SCDP project with SCDP findings that are not being responded to in an effective, timely manner are not eligible to be named as an administrator in a preliminary proposal or application.