CPD Publishes Updated Guidance for Submitting Consolidated Plans and Annual Action Plans
By: Steven Molinari, Policy Analyst
April 8, 2026 — Last week HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) published a notice that provides guidance for grantees of CPD formula programs on submitting consolidated and annual action plans.
The notice is applicable to grantees of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) Program, HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program, Housing Trust Fund (HTF) Program, and Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program.
In the notice, HUD provides a list of new updates to this version of the guidance. The major updates include:
- Guidance will now be a standing notice: HUD will no longer annually publish guidance for plans, but instead keep this notice as a standing notice that will remain in effect until amended.
- Clarification of submission requirements: Grantees must submit SF-424, HUD-424-B, various certifications, and a brief executive summary of your jurisdiction’s community and economic development objectives and projected use of funds by August 16 each year.
- CDBG/HOME pre-award costs waiver not included: Due to changes in the 2025 HOME final rule (24 CFR Part 570 and 24 CFR Part 92), HUD believes that the pre-award costs waiver is no longer necessary. Therefore the waiver has not been included in this notice compared to previous years.
- Format changes: To make the document more readable and further align with their goal of writing in plain language, HUD has made changes to how language is written and the structure of it as well. According to the notice, HUD has included more headings, subheadings, and a detailed table of contents.
- Various mention of applicability of Opportunity Zones: The notice provides information regarding Opportunity Zones and how developing plans can incorporate them.
The full notice can be found here.