General Purpose Grants

Community Development Block Grant invests $11.4 million for vital infrastructure projects in 20 rural communities

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program has awarded 22 projects impacting 20 rural Washington communities this year. These projects were selected from 37 grant applications requesting approximately $19.4 million. They will improve rural water, sewer, streets, community facilities and fire protection systems; support affordable housing and economic development; and complete community planning throughout the state. Click here to see the list of awards.

Funds Available
We estimate $11 million will be available for CDBG General Purpose Grants in 2022. The maximum amount is $900,000 for construction and $30,000 for planning.

Material for the next Application Cycle will be available in March 2022 with applications due June 1, 2022. 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.

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

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.