No CDBG funds - and no non-HUD funds on a choice-limiting action - may be committed until HUD or the State approves the Request for Release of Funds and the responsible entity's certification

cdbg.property_standards.environmental_review_gates_commitment_of_funds · v1.0.0

This is the hardest gate in CDBG and the one that most often invalidates an otherwise complete housing deal, because it reaches PRIVATE money as well as public. Neither a recipient nor ANY PARTICIPANT IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS - public or private, nonprofit or for-profit, or any of their contractors - may commit HUD assistance on an activity or project until HUD or the State has approved the recipient's Request for Release of Funds (RROF) and the related certification from the responsible entity. And until that approval, no such participant may commit NON-HUD FUNDS on, or undertake, the activity if it WOULD HAVE AN ADVERSE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OR LIMIT THE CHOICE OF REASONABLE ALTERNATIVES. Acquisition, demolition and the start of construction are the classic choice-limiting actions. Three carve-outs exist and are narrow. An activity that is EXEMPT under 24 CFR 58.34, or CATEGORICALLY EXCLUDED under 58.35(b) absent extraordinary circumstances, needs no RROF and may proceed once the responsible entity documents its determination, but 58.6 requirements still apply. An OPTION AGREEMENT is allowable before the review is complete if it is subject to a determination on the desirability of the property made as a result of the completed review and the option cost is a NOMINAL portion of the purchase price. And relocation assistance required by 24 CFR part 42 may be committed before RROF approval. The responsible entity assumes HUD's environmental responsibilities by grant agreement or by certifying on HUD Form 7015.15, and the certification is executed by its Certifying Officer.

Confidence

high

Effective from

2003-09-29

Consequence model

agency finding with cure

Last reviewed

2026-08-22