2026 Community Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) Guidelines [ pdf , 219KB]

2026 Community Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) Guidelines [ pdf , 219KB] is sponsored by Kentucky Dept. for Local Government. 2026 DLG CDBG Proposed Guidelines Changes [ pdf , 61KB] < Category: Community Development.

COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND (CERF) Department for Local Government Matt Sawyers, Commissioner www. dlg. ky.

gov Please refer to the 2026 Guidelines for more information COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND (CERF) All CERF requests must meet the following criteria: 1. The proposed project must alleviate existing conditions which pose a serious and immediate threat to the health and welfare of the community; 2.

The threat must be supported by a current declaration of an emergency by the Governor relative to a flood, a tornado, an earthquake or other disaster event; 3. The conditions are of recent origin (within 18 months of the Governor’s Emergency Declaration); and 4.

The applicant is unable to finance the project on its own, no other funding is available to address the problem and CDBG funding will be directly targeted towards alleviation of the threatening conditions. CERF assistance will generally not be made available to projects with public facility failures resulting from neglected maintenance by a locality.

Complete original applications for CERF projects will be accepted from April 1, 2026, through February 1, 2027. B. Acceptance of Applications 1.

An original standard CERF Project Application must be submitted. 2. Activities described in the application will be checked to determine if they meet the fundability criteria as established in the Housing and Community Development Act, including that an emergency exists that meets the National Objective as prescribed in 24 CFR 570.

483(d). 3. Project activities must meet one of the three National Objectives as referenced in Section II.

4. The following requirements must be met, documented and submitted with the application: a. The CERF Reimbursement Spreadsheet and evidence of payment, including invoices, cancelled checks, and force account labor records and equipment records if applicant is seeking reimbursement.

b. Documentation of the citizen participation requirements must be met as referenced in Section III. c.

Authorizing Resolution to submit the project must be included. The Resolution must be signed by the applicant’s CEO, dated and attested. d.

The Certification of Community Needs Having a Particular Urgency form. e. A copy of the Declaration of Emergency signed by the Governor.

f. All funding Commitment letters; if cash, please attach a bank statement; if loan, please attach proof of commitment from a lending institution. (if applicable) g.

The State eClearinghouse request for review must be submitted as referenced in Section III and the applicant must assure that it will comply with all environmental requirements promulgated in 24 CFR Part 58. h. Letter of determination of eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places from the Kentucky Heritage Council, and clearance from the State Historic Preservation Officer.

(if applicable) i. The HUD-2880 , Applicant/Recipient Disclosure/Update Report. j.

Projects containing water and sewer activities must meet all Kentucky Division of Water (DOW) planning requirements. Proposed projects must be included in facility planning documents required by DOW such as: Kentucky Water Management Plans (KWMP), Wastewater Facilities Plans (WWFP) or Asset Inventory. A letter from the Municipal Planning Section of DOW approving the relevant plan is required, if applicable.

Said approval letter must be dated within one (1) year of application submission. For information on these plans, contact: Municipal Planning Section For water projects applicant must provide a letter from the distribution system and/or water treatment plant stating they have sufficient capacity to address the demand. k.

For wastewater projects applicant must provide a letter from the collection system and/or wastewater treatment plant stating they have sufficient capacity to receive and treat the sewage. l. Projects containing water and sewer activities are encouraged to submit a letter from the Division of Water (DOW) approving plans and specifications (plans and specification approvals are good for a period of two (2) years).

For information on these plans, contact: Terry Humphries, Supervisor m. Copy of approval letter from Housing Building and Construction (HBC), if applicable. C.

CERF Project Review Criteria For a project to obtain funding, a determination must be made regarding project need, reasonability of costs and overall project effectiveness. To make this determination the following considerations will be applied to each project: The project must substantiate and address a need that is significant to the community. 2.

Necessary and Reasonable Expenditure of CDBG Funds The project must substantiate that CDBG funding is necessary to meet the identified need(s), the impact of the CDBG dollars is maximized and the use of CDBG funds is reasonable. The state will determine whether all other feasible public and private funding sources have been analyzed and applied to the project.

The project must substantiate that the project accomplishments would be significant given the need, amount of funds requested, local effort and program design. D. Project Review Committee The findings will be submitted to the review committee designated by the Commissioner.

The committee will meet to evaluate projects based on the review criteria and staff comments. The committee will make a determination of: approval, modification, rejection or deferral. Projects that do not meet all three (3) review criteria will not be funded.

The committee shall have the authority to determine funding. In the event the local unit of government maintains a budgetary surplus to adequately fund the project, the review committee reserves the right to reject the project. If more than one application is submitted and there are insufficient funds to address all funding requests, the committee shall prioritize the applications for funding distribution.

Threshold Requirements Community Emergency Relief Fund CERF applicants must have a current and approved program income report if applicable and audit requirements met to date. CERF applications remain active and roll to the year following submission without formal approval. An application is no longer valid after the one rollover.