We have completed preliminary research on the Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) methods to allocate Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds appropriated under the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 (PL 113-2).  Our objectives were to review the methodology for (1) the seven formula-based allocations and (2) the two competition-based allocations of CDBG-DR funds.

We conducted this research to assess the feasibility of evaluating whether the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) transition from formula-based allocations to competition-based allocations improved its ability to address unmet need.  During our research, we reviewed Federal Register notices, notices of funding availability, and program documents.  We also interviewed managers and employees who designed and implemented the allocation methodologies.  After meeting our research objectives, we did not identify indications of systemic weaknesses in methodologies CPD used for formula-based or competition-based allocations.  As a result, we do not plan additional work at this time. This memorandum includes our research results.