In May 2012, HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) introduced the eCon Planning Suite, including the Consolidated Plan template in IDIS OnLine and the CPD Maps website. The eCon Planning Suite is designed to support grantees and the public to assess their needs and make strategic investment decisions by providing better data and tools and by creating a seamless planning and grants management framework.
HUD grantees are now required to submit their Consolidated Plan and year one Annual Action Plan using the Consolidated Plan template in IDIS OnLine. If grantees have an approved multi-year Consolidated Plan, they are not required to use IDIS to submit their Annual Action Plan until the next multi-year strategy is due. CPD Notice 12-009: Use of IDIS to Submit the Consolidated Plan provides an overview of the requirement for HUD grantees to submit these reports in IDIS.
Grantees have the option to use IDIS to submit a standalone Annual Action Plan for an existing Consolidated Plan until their next Consolidated Plan is due to HUD. If grantees choose this option, they will need to complete the screens for the Action Plan as well as enter information about Geographic Priorities, Priority Needs, and Goals from their previously approved Consolidated Plan. Once grantees submit an Annual Action Plan in the system, they are required to submit all subsequent Annual Action Plans and Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Reports (CAPER) in the IDIS. Grantees are not able to use IDIS to submit a CAPER until an Annual Action Plan (or multi-year Consolidated Plan) accompanied by an Annual Action Plan has been submitted in the system.
Benefits of the Consolidated Plan template in IDIS OnLine to grantees include:
The new Consolidated Plan and Annual Action Plan templates are created and accessed by approved grantee users via IDIS. The local (grantee) IDIS Administrator, or local HUD Field Office IDIS Administrator, can provide existing IDIS users with privileges to access the new Consolidated Plan module. The Log On screen contains instructions to request an IDIS ID through the IDIS OnLine Access Request form for new users.
Consolidated Plan access privileges for grantee users include:
The same three types of privileges are necessary for grantee users to access the CAPER module in IDIS, but these privileges are separate from the Consolidated Plan privileges described above and apply only to the CAPER.
CPD Maps offers extensive place-based data in a user-friendly online mapping application. Users can search, query, and display information by census tract or larger geographies to better understand their affordable housing and community development needs. Because CPD Maps is accessible to grantee users and the public alike, it will help to facilitate fruitful dialogue about priority setting, and targeting limited resources to accomplish community development and affordable housing goals. CPD Maps includes data on the locations of existing CDBG, HOME, public housing and other HUD-funded community assets, so that users can view past investments geographically when considering various strategies for future funding. For grantee users, CPD Maps is integrated into the Consolidated Plan template in IDIS, so that maps and data tables from CPD Maps can be inserted with ease, throughout the plan.
Consolidated Plan Updates to Reflect Disaster Recovery Needs and Associated Priorities
eCon Planning Suite Desk Guide
Troubleshooting Guide: Consolidated Plan Template in IDIS
Maximizing Investments Toolkit
Guide to the Data-Driven Planning Toolkit in CPD Maps
Citizen Participation and Consultation Toolkit