Kentucky’s 2026 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Housing Program is administered by the Kentucky Department for Local Government (DLG) using federal HUD CDBG funds. The program supports projects designed to develop decent, safe, sanitary and affordable housing for eligible Kentucky communities.
Funding
The 2026 CDBG guidelines allocate an estimated $4,570,502 to the Housing program and establish a maximum individual Housing grant of $1,000,000.
Eligibility
Eligible direct applicants are Kentucky cities and counties other than HUD entitlement jurisdictions. The 2026 guidelines exclude Ashland, Bowling Green, Covington, Elizabethtown, Henderson, Hopkinsville, Owensboro, Lexington/Fayette Urban County Government, Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government and Paducah. A project must directly benefit a non-entitlement area.
Every activity must meet at least one CDBG national objective: benefit low- and moderate-income persons, prevent or eliminate slums or blight, or meet a qualifying urgent community-development need.
Housing Activities and Project Readiness
Housing priorities include rehabilitation and creation of housing, including qualifying adaptive reuse, site purchase or preparation for new low- and moderate-income housing, and residential blight elimination through eligible demolition or code-enforcement activity. The application must document serious housing need, necessary and reasonable use of CDBG funds, and project effectiveness.
Match and Priority
The Housing section does not impose one universal match percentage as an absolute eligibility threshold, but match materially affects project priority. Priority I projects have a minimum match equal to 25% of CDBG funds requested; Priority II projects have a minimum 10% match; Priority III projects may have less than 10%. Only firmly committed supplemental financing such as loans, cash or other grant funds counts toward these stated priority match levels; in-kind donations and contributed property do not.
Deadline and Submission
DLG currently publishes conflicting official deadlines for Housing. The Housing program page and the 2026 CDBG Guidelines state applications are accepted from April 1, 2026 through February 1, 2027, while DLG’s current Federal Grant Application Deadlines page lists Housing only through January 30, 2027. None of those current sources publishes an exact cutoff clock time or time zone. Atlas therefore uses January 30, 2027 as the conservative operational deadline pending DLG clarification and keeps deadline-dependent applicant action fail-closed. Applications are submitted to the DLG Office of Federal Grants at DLG.OFG@ky.gov; if an application exceeds 50 pages, DLG requires a hard copy in addition to the email version.
Required Materials
Current requirements include the 2026 Housing Application, Housing Detailed Cost Estimate, Homeowners List, citizen-participation documentation, signed and attested authorizing resolution, applicable funding commitment letters and financial proof, completed eClearinghouse review and endorsement, Kentucky Heritage Council/National Register eligibility determination and State Historic Preservation Officer approval, a CEO threshold-compliance letter, HUD-2880 disclosure, and project-specific materials for septic, relocation, water, sewer and other applicable activities. DLG’s current Guidelines and Applications page also posts the 2026 Housing application, Detailed Housing Cost Estimate and Homeowners List.
Atlas Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 82/100. This is a current Kentucky-administered federal pass-through opportunity with meaningful capital value and a long application runway for eligible non-entitlement communities. N9+ Fit Score: 0/100. QC Healthcare Fit: 0/100. The controlling Housing materials do not establish a defensible telehealth, remote physical examination or clinical-device procurement pathway, so N9+ should not be introduced or forced into this opportunity.