HUD Awards $73 Million to Support Grantees with Vital Technical Assistance

November 19, 2024 / Source: HUD

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will award $73 million in cooperative agreements under the Community Compass Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Program (Community Compass) to 34 non-profit and for-profit organizations, including 6 new organizations to help HUD grantees, such as local governments and housing agencies, effectively use HUD resources to expand access to quality, affordable housing nationwide.

“Under this Administration, we are focused on ensuring our local and state partners can deliver outcomes for the American people,” said HUD Agency Head Adrianne Todman. “Today, we announce $73 million to empower our stakeholders by providing tailored support to improve program effectiveness.”

The Community Compass program brings together a new group of organizations with deep expertise in specialized areas to provide tailored technical assistance (TA) that strengthens the capacity of HUD grantees, local governments, and community stakeholders in rural, urban, and suburban areas nationwide. This support empowers municipalities across the country by equipping them with the essential tools to build long-term capacity.

“HUD’s TA helps empower local communities and support them in developing innovative, equitable, evidence-based, and data-driven solutions to their housing and economic development challenges,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, Solomon Greene. “TA funds have been used by communities across the country to maximize the impact of HUD funding, policies and programs and make sure they respond to the needs of people who face the greatest barriers to housing stability, affordability and opportunity.”

The awards announced today will provide funding to qualified organizations to offer technical assistance and capacity-building support to HUD’s grantees, Indian tribes, multifamily housing owners and managers, public housing authorities, and other stakeholders. Through two rounds of funding, HUD is awarding $73,704,426 to nonprofit and for-profit organizations that will provide assistance to eligible HUD customers. The goal is to help communities effectively implement HUD programs in the long term. Community Compass brings together investments from several HUD offices, including Community Planning and Development (CPD), Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO), Public and Indian Housing (PIH), and Policy Development and Research (PD&R).

Some examples of innovative tools and resources developed with CCTA support include:

• The Community Resiliency Toolkit offers a resource for states and their partners, local governments, and low- and moderate-income communities to enhance their resilience to climate-related natural hazard risks.
• Build for the Future Navigator, a user-friendly, searchable database to identify funding opportunities across federal agencies to support climate resiliency, energy efficiency, renewable energy integration, healthy housing, workforce development and environmental justice in HUD supported communities, programs, and properties.
• The Client-Centered Data Collection Approach: Virtual Reality Series is an immersive training series that provides a unique learning experience for organizations and individuals collecting data for the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), including Coordinated Entry (CE) assessors, homeless shelter intake staff, street outreach workers, and case managers.

Community Compass also provides assistance directly to communities to solve critical problems and deliver impact. For example, in McKean County, Pennsylvania, CCTA supported the development and implementation of fair housing training focused on equal access to address the need to create a reasonable accommodation request process for McKean County Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s programs and services for persons with disabilities. For other examples of CCTA’s impact in communities, refer to this recent article in the PD&R Edge from Stephanie Stone, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technical Assistance in HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research.

The following organizations received Community Compass TA funds:

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