General Purpose Grants

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) General Purpose Grants are made available annually through a competitive application process to assist Washington State small cities, towns and counties in carrying out significant community and economic development projects that principally benefit low- and moderate-income persons. The Washington State CDBG Program is funded by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Examples of eligible General Purpose Grant activities include:

Public facilities, such as water, wastewater and streets
Community facilities, such as community centers, fire stations, homeless shelters and child care facilities
Economic development, such as microenterprise assistance and public infrastructure
Affordable housing and housing rehabilitation

2021 CDBG General Purpose Grant Application Period Closed

The 2021 CDBG General Purpose application period closed on June 2, 2021. Click here to see a summary of the 38 applications requesting over $20.3 million. The total amount of General Purpose funding available in 2021 is approximately $11 million. CDBG staff are currently reviewing the applications and will announce awards by early-September.

The next application will be available by March 2022. We anticipate a June 1, 2022 submittal date. Guidance from the 2021 grant cycle is available for reference only at the bottom of this page.

Additional resources are available under Technical Assistance Resources/Guidance Materials.

Eligibility Guidelines

Eligible applicants are Washington State cities and towns with less than 50,000 in population or counties with less than 200,000 population not participating in a CDBG Entitlement Urban County Consortium.

Special purpose districts, public housing authorities, port districts, community action agencies, economic development councils, other non-profit organizations, and Indian tribes are not eligible to apply directly to the state CDBG Program for funding, but may be a partner in projects and sub-recipient of funding through eligible jurisdictions.

Projects must principally benefit low- and moderate-income persons, or aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight.

Under limited circumstances, a local government could submit up to four unrelated General Purpose Grant applications each annual funding cycle. One for construction/acquisition, one for microenterprise assistance, one for housing rehabilitation, and one for planning-only activities.