Capacity building (CB) funds are funds that HUD may provide to an agency with interim certification.

CB funds will be provided in a fixed annual amount to be utilized for the eligible activities established pursuant to § 115.303. When the fixed annual amount will not adequately compensate an agency in its first year of participation in the FHAP due to the large number of fair housing complaints that the agency reasonably anticipates processing, HUD may provide the agency with additional funds.

HUD may provide CB funds during an agency's first three years of participation in the FHAP. However, in the second and third year of the agency's participation in the FHAP, HUD has the option to permit the agency to receive contribution funds under § 115.304, instead of CB funds.

In order to receive CB funding, agencies must submit a statement of work prior to the signing of the cooperative agreement. The statement of work must identify:

The objectives and activities to be carried out with the CB funds received;

A plan for training all of the agency's employees involved in the administration of the agency's fair housing law;

A statement of the agency's intention to participate in HUD-sponsored training in accordance with the training requirements set out in the cooperative agreement;

A description of the agency's complaint processing data and information system, or, alternatively, whether the agency plans to use CB funds to purchase and install a data system;

A description of any other fair housing activities that the agency will undertake with its CB funds. All such activities must address matters affecting fair housing enforcement that are cognizable under the Fair Housing Act. Any activities that do not address the implementation of the agency's fair housing law, and that are therefore not cognizable under the Fair Housing Act, will be disapproved.