FY 2014 HUD Low and Moderate Income Data

Since many of our users come to PolicyMap for eligibility data, we always strive to keep our Federal Guidelines tab as up-to-date as humanly possible. With the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) recent release of the FY2014 Low and Moderate Income Summary Data (LMISD), the underlying data used to determine Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) eligibility, we worked hard to make this update available on PolicyMap as soon as possible. We are pleased to announce that you can now find LMISD block group estimates of the number and percent of persons at three income levels: Low Income (up to 50% Area Median Income), Moderate Income (up to 80% Area Median Income), and Medium Income (up to 120% Area Median Income). These data are in the new “CDBG Eligibility FY2014” section of the Federal Guidelines tab.

So, what are the criteria to qualify for CDBG, you might ask? According to HUD, “the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program requires that each CDBG funded activity must either principally benefit low- and moderate-income persons, aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or meet a community development need having a particular urgency. With respect to activities that benefit all the residents of a given area, at least 51 percent of the area’s residents must be low and moderate income.”

The map below shows areas in and surrounding Denver, CO, where more at least 51% of the residents are below the area’s low and moderate income threshold:

It is worth noting that there were some changes in how the data were released this year. In previous years, HUD based the data on the decennial Census. For FY 2014, however, the data are based on the Census’ American Community Survey (ACS). Because ACS data are considered less precise than the decennial Census data at small geographies, HUD released the LMISD data at the block group level rather than the smaller split block group level that it had provided the data at in years previous. This does not impact what you see on PolicyMap, but just some background information to keep you informed. For further details on the LMISD data or CDBG eligibility, see HUD’s website.

And lastly, some of you may be aware that we at PolicyMap also make a block group CDBG eligibility layer available for our users. This data for FY2014 is in the works and will be available within a few weeks, so stay tuned for even more CDBG data to come soon!