Each year, the Bureau of Economic Development (BED) partners with the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) to solicit grant applications for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) through a competitive process.
Community Development Block Grants (CDBG): Cook County currently receives CDBG funds as an annual entitlement allocation on the basis of its qualification as an urban county. Cook County CDBG funds may only be utilized within the limits of the current effective Cook County Urban County area excluding other entitlement communities also receiving CDBG funding. Proposed funding applications must serve suburban Cook County—either in its entirety or within a specified location. Please see the National Objectives section and Resources section of the Appendix for more information about qualifying your project as eligible based on the geographic area or beneficiaries served. A broad range of programs and activities are eligible for funding under one of the following three categories:
Capital Improvement Projects:
- Infrastructure: Improvements including but not limited to construction or installation of streets, curbs, and water/sewer lines.
- Public Facilities: Improvements including but not limited to recreational facilities, parks, playgrounds, and facilities for persons with special needs. Examples of eligible costs include energy efficiency improvements, and disabled accessibility improvements.
- Demolition: Activities limited to demolition of vacant buildings including necessary removal of demolition debris.
Economic Development Projects: (part of the Capital Improvement application)
- Special Economic Development: CDBG funds may be used to undertake the following economic development activities, subject to the required public benefits standards being met regarding job creation/retention, or the provision of goods/services:
- Acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, rehabilitating, or installing commercial or industrial buildings, structures, and other eligible real property improvements. Please note that these capital-oriented special economic development activities will be restricted to projects undertaken and controlled by public or nonprofit entities.
- Providing economic development services in connection with otherwise eligible CDBG economic development activities. Please note that these special economic development service activities will be restricted to such services provided by nonprofit entities.
- Social Services and Capacity Building Assistance: This activity is targeted to increasing the capacity of entities to carry out eligible neighborhood revitalization or economic development activities. In order to use CDBG funds for this activity, prior to providing such assistance, it must be determined that the activity for which capacity is to be built is eligible and that there is a reasonable expectation that a national objective can be met once the entity has received the technical assistance and undertakes the activity. Please note that this activity will be restricted to such services provided by nonprofit entities.
- Microenterprise Development (Workforce Development): These are activities designed to foster the development, support, and expansion of microenterprise businesses which are commercial enterprises with five or fewer employees, one of whom owns the enterprise. CDBG support under this category will be limited to nonprofit entities providing eligible microenterprise activities. Eligible activities include the provision of:
- Financial support for the establishment, stabilization and expansion of microenterprises;
- Technical assistance, advice, and business services to owners of microenterprises and persons developing microenterprises;
- General support to owners of microenterprises and persons developing microenterprises, including child care, transportation, counseling and peer support groups.
Planning & Public Service Projects:
- Plans and Studies: Activities including but not limited to comprehensive community or economic development plans and project feasibility studies.
- Note: CDBG funds under this category are limited due to a regulatory cap on planning and administration. Specifically, Cook County may only utilize 20 percent of its annual entitlement allocation for these purposes including internal administrative operations.
- Public Services: Activities including but not limited to employment services (e.g., job training), substance abuse services (e.g., counseling and treatment), fair housing counseling, services for senior citizens, services for homeless persons, etc. CDBG funds may be used to pay for labor, supplies, and material as well as to operate and/or maintain the portion of a facility in which the public service is located (e.g., lease costs).
- Note: CDBG funds under this category are limited due to a regulatory cap on public services. Specifically, Cook County may only utilize 15 percent of its annual entitlement allocation for this purpose. In addition, public service eligibility is contingent upon the proposed project providing either a new service, or a quantifiable increase in the level of an existing service from those services offered in the preceding 12 months.
Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program: The Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) has now been amended by the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing” (HEARTH) Act of 2009 to become the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG). The HEARTH Act amends and reauthorizes the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. The primary changes include a greater emphasis on homelessness prevention, the addition of rapid re-housing, the regulatory requirements for Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) use, increased emphasis on performance, and a requirement for greater coordination and collaboration between the recipient and the Continuum of Care. Cook County currently receives ESG funds as an annual entitlement allocation on the basis of its qualification as an urban county. Cook County ESG funds may only be utilized within the limits of the current effective Cook County Urban County area excluding other entitlement communities also receiving ESG funding. A broad range of programs and activities are eligible for funding in five components as listed below. Each component includes several eligible activities. Applicants may apply for funding under one or multiple components.
Homeless Prevention: Assistance and services to prevent households from becoming homeless. To qualify as being at risk, households must be under 30% area median income and must also meet the criteria in the at risk of homelessness” definition in 24 CFR § 576.2. Any assistance a household receives must either be necessary to help the household regain stability in their current household or move elsewhere and achieve permanent stability there. Subrecipients must re-evaluate and re-certify program participants for Homeless Prevention eligibility no less than once every three months.
- Financial Assistance—cannot exceed 24 months during any 3 year period.
- Rental Application Fees
- Security Deposits
- Last Month's Rent
- Utility Deposits for standard utilities.
- Utility Payments (A partial payment for a month counts as one month's payment.)
- Moving costs
- Homeless Prevention Services—Staff salaries for assisting individuals and households with housing relocation and stabilization.
- Housing Search and Placement
- Housing Stability case management
- Mediation
- Legal Services
- Credit Repair
- Rental Assistance—except for rental arrears, this cannot be provided to individuals or households who are receiving other public rental subsidies. Assistance can be project based or tenant based. Rent cannot exceed Fair Market Rent. The subrecipient must have an agreement with the property owner and only make payments directly to the property owner. The program participant must have a legally binding lease with the property owner, other than in the case of rental assistance for rental arrears only. Other than for Rental Arrears, late fees are not an eligible cost.
- Rental Arrears
- Tenant-based rental assistance: The tenant chooses their own housing unit in which to live.
- Short Term—Up to three months of rental assistance.
- Medium Term—Four to 12 months of rental assistance.
Rapid Re-housing: Rapid Rehousing assistance can be used to help a homeless household move into permanent housing and achieve stability in that housing. Individuals and households must meet the homeless definition, as described in 24 CFR § 576.2, or must meet the criteria under paragraphs 1 or 4, generally be staying in a homeless shelter or other place not meant for human habitation.
- The same eligible activities that apply to Homelessness Prevention apply to Rapid Re-housing, so long as the program participant meets the definition of being homeless. Services are then Rapid Re-housing Services, instead of Homelessness Prevention Services. A household cannot be served with Rapid Re-housing and Homelessness Prevention funding simultaneously. A household must meet one definition or the other (homeless or at risk of homelessness).
HMIS: Cook County has required subrecipients to use HMIS (and for Domestic Violence services agencies to use a comparable data tracking program), and it is now required by HUD and also the first year it is an eligible component of ESG.
- Costs Connected to HMIS lead agency
- Costs of maintaining, upgrading, and warehousing data.
- Conducting HMIS training, including travel costs.
- Salaries for those operating HMIS
- Travel and attendance costs for HMIS training.
- Costs for Victims' Services Providers/Domestic Violence Agencies
- Costs of Comparable Tracking Database (for victims' services providers only)
Emergency Shelter
- Essential Services: Includes staff salaries and related costs as indicated below.
- Case management
- includes costs of coordinated intake and assessment system
- Counseling services
- Connecting clients with mainstream services
- Developing plan and monitoring progress of participants
- Child care costs for children under 13 (or for disabled children under 18)
- Basic educational skills
- Employment assistance and job training
- Life skills training
- Transportation
- Program participant's travel on public transportation
- Mileage or gas costs or public transportation costs for staff to directly serve participants
- Services to Special Needs Populations
- Shelter Operations: Includes costs of maintenance/repairs, rent, security, utilities, equipment, insurance, food, furnishings, and supplies necessary for the operation of the shelter, and hotel/motel vouchers, for use only when no emergency shelter spots are available.
Street Outreach
- Engagement
- Case Management
- Transportation
- Services to Special Needs Populations