Community Assistance

Michigan Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program

The State of Michigan, the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF), and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) envision a transformed Michigan economy; a state where 21st Century businesses will provide desirable jobs in emerging sectors of commerce; where Michigan’s tradition of manufacturing and automotive engineering generate new opportunities to participate in the global economy; where educational standards of excellence support a sophisticated workforce; and where travel and tourism thrive. Priority will be given to projects that focus on the emerging sector-initial target clusters which include: alternative energy & fuels, life sciences, advanced manufacturing/transportation, and defense/homeland securities industries.

If your community has an economic development project you believe may be eligible for CDBG funding, please contact Customer Assistance.

The Michigan CDBG Program for downtown development includes special funding initiatives in traditional downtowns for Downtown Infrastructure, Facade Improvement, and Signature Buildings. Communities may request grants for demolition of vacant, partially vacant or buildings that are functionally obsolete and/or blighted and are located within the traditional downtown setting. The demolition of the building will remove one of the significant impediments to the construction of a new commercial/mixed used building in the project location and is expected to result in job creation within the downtown.

• INFRASTRUCTURE
  The Downtown Infrastructure Program enables a community to improve the downtown’s infrastructure quality and reduce redevelopment costs to make a project feasible. This program is restricted to providing public downtown infrastructure improvements that are tied to new commercial/mixed-use development activities which require the additional infrastructure to create new economic opportunities and job creation activity within a downtown area.
• FACADE IMPROVEMENTS
  Grants are available for communities that seek to target areas of traditional downtowns for facade improvements which will have a significant impact on the downtown/community. The Downtown Façade Program is structured to provide commercial/mixed-use building façade improvements to sustain and minimize deterioration of the downtown area.
• SIGNATURE BUILDING
  The Downtown Signature Building Program enables a community to secure a building that is a focal point within the downtown for commercial rehabilitation purposes that will result in job creation, and once redeveloped, would become an asset and make a significant contribution to the overall downtown area.
  
  The CDBG funding allows the community to acquire property that a developer would not typically purchase and redevelop due to the substantial amount of money required, that its current owners are experiencing challenges with developing and/or maintaining, and is currently being . Therefore, this program gives the community availability/accessibility to funding to stimulate economic opportunity within a downtown. CDBG funding can only be utilized for property acquisition activities and the community must demonstrate the financial capacity to rehabilitate the building in order to qualify.
  

If your community has a downtown development project you believe may be eligible for CDBG funding, please contact Customer Assistance.

Communities may request grants to assist in the elimination of spot blight that is not located in a designated slum or blighted area. Eligible uses of funds include: property acquisition, clearance/demolition, historic preservation and building rehabilitation (only to the extent necessary to eliminate specific conditions detrimental to public health and safety).

If your community has a downtown planning or blight elimination project you believe may be eligible for CDBG funding, please contact Customer Assistance.

Economic and downtown development planning grants are available to help communities accomplish project specific public planning and design work which is likely to lead to an eligible economic development or downtown development implementation project

If your community has a downtown planning or blight elimination project you believe may be eligible for CDBG funding, please contact Customer Assistance.

COSTS OF PREPARING GRANT APPLICATIONS ARE NOT AN ALLOWABLE EXPENSE.

NATIONAL OBJECTIVES

In order to qualify for CDBG funding consideration, all economic and community development projects must meet one of three federally required national objectives, which include providing direct benefit to low and moderate-income people, elimination of slum and blight, or meet an urgent need.

Very low, low, and moderate-income limits are defined each year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and identify household income levels by household size. Jobs are defined as full time and full-time equivalent permanent positions, which do not include construction jobs, temporary jobs, or layoff recalls.

All grantees and sub recipients will be required to comply with all current and newly adopted reporting requirements, including all items necessary to meet Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS) project compliance and performance measurement data collection parameters.

ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES

Activities cited in Section 105(a) of Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended, are eligible for assistance. Generally, if an activity is not specified in the HCDA it is not considered eligible. The following activities are listed as eligible:

Acquisition of real property; Public facilities and improvements; Privately-owned utilities; Code enforcement; Clearance, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and construction of buildings; Architectural barrier removal; Loss of rental income; Disposition of real property; Public services; Payment of the non-federal share; relocation; planning and capacity building; Program administrative costs; Activities carried out through nonprofit development organizations; Economic development assistance to for-profit businesses; Technical assistance; Housing services; Assistance to institutions of higher education; Microenterprise assistance; Interim housing; and Homeownership assistance.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

Small cities, townships, and villages of less than 50,000 in population, and non-urban counties generally are eligible to apply for grants under the Michigan CDBG Program.

INELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

The following counties and their respective units of local governments are not eligible:

• Genesee County (The Cities of Flushing and Linden are the two communities in Genesee County eligible to apply for Michigan CDBG funds)
• Kent County (Cedar Springs is the one community within Kent County eligible to apply for Michigan CDBG funds)
• Macomb County
• Oakland County
• Wayne County
• Washtenaw County and the following units of government within the county are not eligible for Michigan CDBG funds

The following Michigan cities are not eligible to directly apply or directly receive Michigan CDBG Program:

Indian tribes eligible for assistance under Section 107(a)(7) of the Housing and Community Development Act are not eligible to directly apply for or directly receive Michigan CDBG funds, but an eligible county or township may apply for Michigan CDBG funds for projects located on Indian reservations if the unit of general local government has the legal authority to fund such projects on Indian reservations and Indian preference is not provided.