Benefits of the Consolidated Plan template in IDIS OnLine to grantees include:

• The Consolidated Plan template provides a uniform, web-based format to help grantees ensure that their Consolidated Plan includes all required elements per HUD regulations. A Quality Check allows a grantee to review the plan for missing elements before submitting the final version to HUD. In addition to completing the minimum required elements, the template allows grantees to customize their plans by adding maps, text, tables, and JPEG images throughout.


• With the incorporation of the Consolidated Plan and Annual Action Plan into IDIS OnLine, all key elements of the grants management cycle are integrated into a single system. This will ensure consistency among the goals described in the Consolidated Plan and Action Plan and the outcomes tracked in IDIS and reported in the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), making the Consolidated Plan a more useful management tool.


• Many of the data tables within the Consolidated Plan template are pre-populated with the most up-to-date housing and economic data available. The data is provided to help grantees develop their funding priorities in the Strategic Plan and save time in searching out, entering and compiling the data


• The Consolidated Plan template is integrated with the CPD Maps tool. Together, the maps and data can help grantees to assess market conditions in many different ways, and to present this information in a clear and compelling fashion.


• The data that pre-populates tables in the template comes from the CPD Maps database, ensuring consistency between the data grantees use to make planning decisions and data that is available to the public;


• Grantees can also insert maps and data tables from CPD Maps throughout the document.

Citizen Participation

CPD Maps and the Consolidated Plan template provide grantees with new tools to explain their analyses and priorities to community members and stakeholder organizations, and a new platform to enlist broad input, involvement and partnership. By graphically displaying housing and community development conditions throughout the jurisdiction, CDP Maps helps grantees identify needs, set goals, and explain priorities to the community as a whole. Draft Consolidated Plans can be printed from IDIS for grantees to use to meet public comment requirements.

Annual Action Plan

In the Annual Action Plan, the grantee provides a concise summary of specific actions, activities, and programs that will take place during each program year to address the priority needs and goals identified by the Consolidated Plan. The Annual Action Plan must identify the link between the use of federal resources and the goals developed to address the jurisdiction’s priority needs, as identified in the Strategic Plan.

States

State governments must also submit a 3-5 year Consolidated Plan and Annual Action Plans. However, rather than describing specific projects to be funded, a State’s Annual Action Plan must specify its method of distributing funds to eligible units of local government in the coming year. The Consolidated Plan template provides appropriate menus for the submission of this method of distribution by States. See 24 CFR Part 91, Subpart D.

Consortia

Units of local government that participate in a HOME Consortium must participate in submission of a Consolidated Plan for the consortium, which addresses the housing elements of the Consolidated Plan. The plan must also describe the non-housing community development plans of all CDBG entitlement communities that are members of a consortium. The Consolidated Plan template provides appropriate menus for members of consortia. See 24 CFR Part 91, Subpart E

Colonias

A colonia is defined as any identifiable community in the United States–Mexico border regions of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas characterized by inadequate sewage systems, no potable water supply, and a shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary housing. Texas, Arizona, California, and New Mexico must set aside up to 10 percent of their state CDBG funds for use in colonias. The set-aside funds are used for all CDBG-eligible activities that meet the needs of colonias. Common uses of funds include water and sewer improvements and housing assistance. The Consolidated Plan template provides special data entry fields to describe the needs of colonias and how these needs impact the use of the CDBG set-aside for colonias.

Consolidated Plan access privileges for grantee users include:

• Create/edit/submit – Allows the user to create a new Consolidated Plan or a new version of a Plan and submit a completed plan to HUD for review.
• View/Edit – Allows the user to view and edit an existing plan in the system, but not to create a new one or submit a completed plan to HUD.
• View – User can only view an existing plan in the system, but cannot make changes or submit to HUD.

The same three types of privileges are necessary for grantee users to access the Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER), but these privileges are separate from the Consolidated Plan privileges described above and apply only to the CAPER.