Section 4 Capacity Building for Community Development and Affordable Housing

Purpose. The program enhances the capacity and ability of Community Development Corporations (CDCs) and Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs) to carry out community development and affordable housing activities that benefit low-income persons, homeless, physically disabled persons, first responders and veterans. Additionally, this program provides a set-aside for rural capacity building activities and a set aside to benefit Native Hawaiian, American Indian, and Alaska Native communities and populations in areas including, but not limited to, rural areas. Eligible Activities and Priorities. Funds may only be used to conduct the following activities:* Eligible Activities and Priorities. Funds may only be used to conduct the following activities: 1. Training, education, support, and advice to enhance the technical and administrative capabilities of CDCs and CHDOs. This may include building the capacity of CDCs and CHDOs to:• Navigate the housing and community development resources provided by the Federal Government and assist in directing Federal investments to areas with high needs specific to low income persons, homeless, physically disabled persons, first responders and veterans;• Provide training best practices for utilizing Opportunity Zones as incentives for community investment;• Cooperatively plan for the use of available resources in a comprehensive and holistic manner; more specifically in accordance with EO 14296, providing direct technical assistance to beneficiaries that can provide services to the National Center for Warrior Independence to help veterans earn back their self-sufficiency. and• Assist in evaluating performance under these community planning and coordination efforts and in linking plans with neighboring communities to foster regional planning.2. Pass-through grants, housing financing, loans, predevelopment assistance, or other financial assistance to CDCs and CHDOs to increase their capacity to carry out community development and affordable housing activities that benefit low-income persons, including low-income families that include homeless persons, physically disabled persons, first responders and veterans.3. Such other activities as may be determined by the grantees in consultation with the Secretary or his or her designee.At this time, eligible program activities allowed under the third listed eligible activity only include HUD reviewed and approved reasonable administrative activities directly related to the grantee's management of its Section 4 program. Some examples of reasonable administrative activities specific to the management of the Section 4 program include the preparation of Section 4 action plans and activities, preparation of Section 4 program reports, and management of the implementation of the first and second eligible activities.Any Section 4 funded activity that results in the creation of intangible property, including but not limited to the creation of curriculum, trainings, data or research findings is subject to the rules at 2 CFR 200.315. In accordance with 2 CFR 200.315, the Federal awarding agency reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work for Federal purposes, and to authorize others to do so.Program Priorities. Activities undertaken as part of, or as a result of, capacity building efforts described in this section should build pipelines and support the implementation of other HUD housing and community development programs such as Opportunity Zones, Promise Zones, the National Center for Warrior Independence facilities, voucher programs to support homeless veterans specifically in Los Angeles Metropolitan and around the Nation, in addition to issues related to comprehensive neighborhood revitalization activities.Through these activities, grantees are encouraged to align with and support projects that create opportunities for investments focused on job growth, economic recovery, and neighborhood revitalization. Additionally, grantees are encouraged to consider how CDCs and CHDOs may align investments with regional planning for sustainable economic development if such efforts are underway in the jurisdiction.