Programs & Applications

About the Program

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program works to ensure decent affordable housing, to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities, and to create jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. CDBG is an important tool for helping local governments like Lewiston tackle serious challenges facing their communities. For individual entitlement communities, HUD determines the amount of each grant by using a formula comprised of several measures of community need, including the extent of poverty, population, housing overcrowding, age of housing, and population growth lag in relationship to other metropolitan areas.

Federal Oversight

To achieve these goals, the CDBG statute and regulations set forth eligible activities and national objectives that each activity must meet. As recipients of CDBG funds, grantees or entitlement communities, such as the City of Lewiston, are charged with ensuring that these requirements are met.

Allocation of Funds

Proposed CDBG projects must be consistent with broad national priorities for CDBG. Activities that benefit low- and moderate-income (LMI) people, the prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or other community development activities to address an urgent threat to health or safety. A summary of the eligible uses and national objectives of the CDBG program can be found on HUD’s website. 

CDBG funds may be used for many different community development activities such as:

• Construction of public facilities and improvements such as:
  • Sidewalks
  • Street Paving
  • Water, Sewer, and Other Utilities
• Real estate 
  • Acquisition
  • Demolition
  • Rehabilitation of Housing and Commercial Buildings
  • Relocation
• Economic development activities

CDBG funds can also be used for the preservation and restoration of historic properties in low-income neighborhoods.

Allocated Funds

Typically, national CDBG funds are allocated as follows:

• Administrative and Planning (15%)
• Economic Development (7%)
• Housing (25%)
• Property Acquisition (5%)
• Public Infrastructure (33%)
• Public Services (11%)
• Other (4%)

Eligible Activities

At least 70% of CDBG funds must be used for activities that benefit low- to moderate-income persons. In addition, each activity must meet one of the following national objectives for the program benefit low- and moderate-income persons, prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or to address community development needs identified as having a particular urgency and which may pose a threat to the health or welfare of the community and for which other funding is not available.

HUD sets income limits that determine eligibility for the CDBG program. HUD develops income limits based on Median Family Income estimates and Fair Market Rent area definitions for each metropolitan area, parts of some metropolitan areas, and each non-metropolitan county. View the HUD Income Limits website.

Nez Perce County Fiscal Year 2018 Income Limits Summary

The City of Lewiston, Nez Perce County Fiscal Year 2018 Income Limits Summary is as follows (effective date April 1, 2018):

• Fiscal Year 2018 Income Limit Area: Lewiston, ID-WA MSA
• Median Income: $69,200

Fiscal Year 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act

The Fiscal Year 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act changed the definition of extremely low-income to be the greater of 30/50ths (60%) of the Section 8 very low-income limit or the poverty guideline as established by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), provided that his amount is not greater than the Section 8 50% very low-income limit. Consequently, the extremely low-income limits may equal the very low (50%) income limits.