Lesson 16: Sitting the TxCDBG Administrator Certification Test

1. Who is required to pass the TxCDBG Administrator Certification Test?

1. Only HUD field office staff
2. Only elected officials of the grantee jurisdiction
3. Only engineers working on TxCDBG-funded construction
4. Anyone administering a TxCDBG grant contract, including third-party administrators, Council of Governments staff, and self-administering community staff

2. How many questions are on the TxCDBG Administrator Certification Test, and what is the passing score?

1. 50 questions, 70 percent passing
2. 100 questions, 80 percent passing
3. 150 questions, 75 percent passing
4. 100 questions, 70 percent passing

3. What is the time allowance for the exam, and what format is it given in?

1. Two hours, closed book, in person
2. 4 hours, open book, online
3. 24 hours, open book, online
4. One week, closed book, online

4. Which three references are permitted during the exam?

1. The TxCDBG Implementation Manual and its forms, the Survey Methodology Guide, and the TxCDBG Guide to Meeting a National Program Objective
2. The full Code of Federal Regulations, any HUD handbook, and personal notes
3. Any resource at all, since the exam is fully open internet
4. Only the Implementation Manual; no other reference is permitted

5. Why does this lesson describe the 24-hour open book format as testing something different from a typical timed closed-book exam?

1. Because it has fewer questions than a typical certification exam
2. Because it measures whether a candidate can find and apply the governing rule quickly under a real deadline, not memorization
3. Because open book exams never have a passing score requirement
4. Because the exam can be retaken an unlimited number of times with no waiting period between any two attempts by the same candidate

6. What is the waiting period before a candidate may retake the exam after a failure?

1. No waiting period; a candidate may retake it as soon as the results are posted
2. 90 days
3. 7 days
4. 30 days, with repeated failures possibly extending it

7. TDA announced that every certification held before January 1, 2026 had expired. What should a certified administrator take from that?

1. Certification is not permanent; check TDA's current list and recertify when a new cycle opens
2. Nothing, because a certification earned once stays valid for the rest of an administrator's career
3. Only Council of Governments staff lose certification, since self-administering city staff are exempt
4. Only administrators who failed an earlier sitting are affected, since passing results carry forward automatically

8. Where does a passing candidate's name appear after certification?

1. Nowhere; results are kept entirely confidential
2. Only in the candidate's personnel file at their own organization
3. The published TxCDBG Certified Administrators list
4. The federal Section 3 business concern registry

9. According to this lesson's suggested exam strategy, how should a candidate treat a question naming a specific dollar figure or percentage, even one they feel confident they remember?

1. Answer immediately from memory to save time, since the exam rewards speed above accuracy and the clock still runs out
2. Treat it as a lookup question by default, since open book access means there is no need to guess
3. Skip it entirely, since numeric questions are typically weighted less
4. Answer it last, after every other question type has been completed

10. Which topic from earlier in this course maps most directly onto the Implementation Manual's labor standards (Davis-Bacon) chapter?

1. Environmental review under Part 58
2. The national objectives at 570.208
3. Section 504 accessibility standards
4. Labor standards, including the residential rehabilitation exemption and the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act

11. Under Texas Government Code 487.351(a), which state agency administers TxCDBG, and under which federal regulation?

1. The Texas Department of Agriculture, under 24 CFR Part 570, Subpart I
2. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, under the HOME program rules in 24 CFR Part 92
3. The Texas Department of Agriculture, under the Entitlement rules in 24 CFR Part 570, Subpart D
4. The Texas General Land Office, under 24 CFR Part 570, Subpart I

12. An Entitlement recipient wants to measure its 70 percent low and moderate income primary objective under 24 CFR 570.200(a)(3) over the longest period the regulation allows. What is that maximum period?

1. One program year, since the test is applied annually
2. Five years, matching the real property use period in 570.505
3. Three years
4. Ten years, matching the Section 104(d) replacement period

13. GCHS runs an accessibility modification program for owner-occupied single family homes of elderly and severely disabled homeowners. Those groups are presumed principally low and moderate income for some activities. Which national objective provision must this housing rehabilitation use?

1. Area benefit under 570.208(a)(1)
2. Low and moderate income housing under 570.208(a)(3), documenting each household's income
3. Limited clientele's presumed group provision for elderly and severely disabled persons under 570.208(a)(2)(i)(A)
4. Urgent need under 570.208(c)

14. A small Texas city grantee wants to certify urgent need under 570.208(c) for a bridge that has been gradually deteriorating for four years and is now dangerous. Can urgent need carry this activity?

1. Yes, because the bridge now poses a serious and immediate threat
2. Yes, if the city also certifies it cannot afford the repair itself
3. Yes, provided the city also cites slum and blight on an area basis
4. No, because the condition must generally have developed or become critical within 18 months preceding the certification

15. An Entitlement grantee funds microenterprise services under 570.201(o) in the same program year it also funds a public services activity. How does the microenterprise spending interact with the 15 percent public services cap under 570.201(e)?

1. It is exempt from the public services cap entirely
2. It counts fully against the 15 percent cap
3. It counts at half value against the cap
4. It converts the public services cap to 20 percent for that year

16. A homeowner pays a contractor with personal, non-CDBG funds to begin demolition on a disaster recovery rehabilitation project before the environmental review under 24 CFR Part 58 has cleared. What is the effect under the choice-limiting action rule?

1. No effect, since no CDBG dollars were spent on the demolition and the homeowner acted on the homeowner's own property
2. The rule only applies once a Request for Release of Funds has been submitted to HUD, so any earlier work by anyone is outside its reach and cannot affect eligibility
3. The project can be disqualified from CDBG assistance, because the rule also reaches non-CDBG funds when work could limit the choice of alternatives
4. The homeowner simply owes GCHS reimbursement for the review delay

17. GCHS rehabilitates a single owner-occupied home for $60,000 in construction costs. Under the residential rehabilitation exemption covered in the labor standards lesson, does Davis-Bacon apply?

1. Yes, because the cost exceeds the $2,000 Davis-Bacon trigger
2. Yes, because all CDBG-funded housing rehabilitation is covered by Davis-Bacon regardless of unit count, contract size or how many owners are involved
3. No, but only because the cost is under $100,000
4. No, because the structure has fewer than eight units, and the residential rehabilitation exemption applies regardless of the dollar amount

18. A jurisdiction demolishes an occupied lower-income dwelling unit and builds a replacement unit to satisfy Section 104(d)'s one-for-one replacement rule. For how long after initial occupancy must that replacement unit be kept as a lower-income unit?

1. 3 years, matching the deadline for making the replacement unit available
2. 10 years from initial occupancy
3. 5 years, matching the real property use restriction under 570.505
4. There is no minimum period once the unit is first occupied by a lower-income household

19. GCHS is rehabilitating a pre-1978 unit in a property designated exclusively for persons with disabilities, which would normally be exempt from 24 CFR Part 35. During intake, staff learn a grandchild under 6 is expected to move in. What happens to the exemption?

1. No effect, because the property's designation for persons with disabilities controls regardless of who else lives there
2. No effect, unless the child is under 3 rather than under 6
3. The exemption no longer applies, because a child under 6 lives there or is expected to live there
4. The exemption is only suspended until the child turns 6, then automatically resumes without any new determination

20. An Entitlement grantee's unspent program income balance grows well beyond one-twelfth of its most recent CDBG grant at the end of the program year. Under 24 CFR 570.504, what happens to the excess?

1. The excess above one-twelfth of the most recent grant is returned to HUD annually
2. The excess may be retained indefinitely as long as it is disclosed in the CAPER and identified in the Action Plan
3. The excess becomes unrestricted local funds once it crosses that threshold
4. The excess must be spent within 30 days or it is permanently forfeited