HUD’s Consolidated Plan is a planning mechanism designed to help States and local governments to assess their affordable housing and community development needs and to make data-driven, place-based investment decisions. The consolidated planning process serves as the framework for a community-wide dialogue to identify housing and community development priorities that align and focus funding from HUD’s formula block grant programs. This rule amends HUD’s Consolidated Plan regulations to require that jurisdictions consider two additional concepts in their planning efforts.

 The first concept is how to address the need of broadband access for low-income residents in the communities they serve. Broadband is the common term used to refer to a very fast connection to the Internet. Such connection is also referred to as high-speed broadband or high-speed Internet. Specifically, the rule requires that States and localities that submit a consolidated plan describe the broadband needs of housing occupied by low- and moderate-income households. If low-income residents in the communities do not have such access, States and jurisdictions must consider providing broadband access to these residents in their decisions on how to invest HUD funds. The second concept to be added to the Consolidated Plan process requires jurisdictions to consider incorporating disaster resilience and climate change needs into development of the Plan in order to begin addressing impacts of climate change on low-and moderate-income residents.