Community Development Block Grant funds have been targeted by the Bush Administration to be cut. The problem is that block grant funding was the choice over specific forms of aid years ago to give states and localities more flexibility–now the Bush Administration wants to simply end them.
CDBG funds often are used for gap financing for affordable housing. When a project is under development and the numbers can’t quite make it a profitable without a boost, wise development officials apply CDBG funds to make up the difference (horribly simplified, but most should get the point). If these funds disappear, cities across America will see a significant decrease in production of affordable housing units by private developers.
On top of that, HOPE VI housing which is mixed income and provides significant support to families residing in them is being cut, because it hit the 100,000 unit mark. Kit Bond of Missouri is attacking these cuts because as one of the movers behind the movement towards HOPE VI programs to help the working poor, the original goal was to see how the program worked–and now that is has been largely successful in providing a more humane and integrated on class at least setting for families, the program is being pulled.
Richard Daley is protesting the cuts to CDBG, but to go further, the two most successful programs in providing livable and decent housing to low-income families are on the chopping block.
Especially in the case of CDBG funding, the disconnect between the President’s babbling about faith based initiatives and reality comes home:
The city’s block grant money goes for such things as “affordable housing, youth programming, health clinics, job training and support services for seniors, domestic violence victims and others with special needs,” Daley said at a news conference at Neighborhood Housing Services, 1279 N. Milwaukee Ave.
That not-for-profit group is one of 350 local organizations, from the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago to Hull House Association, that receive federal grant monies funneled through the city.
Officials in Washington talk about using faith-based organizations to help people, said Rev. Richard Tolliver, president of St. Edmund’s Redevelopment Corp., which has built eight housing developments with more than 500 living units with the help of $3.6 million in grants.
“Unfortunately, we can’t do it based on faith alone,” he said.
Funding over the years has declined. Chicago received $95.5 million in 2005, nearly $14 million less than the city received in 2002. If Bush’s proposal for next year is approved by Congress, it could mean a loss of almost $48 million, according to the mayor.
CDBG funding isn’t only for housing, but is the primary issue for which I have some understanding of the impact in terms of these funds.
Cities have largely been expected to warehouse the poorest amongst us for some time. Mayors like Daley, despite all of his faults, have done an admirable job getting the most out of these funds and effectively utilized the funds to help revitalize slums, the overall level of funding for these programs isn’t that high and for the dollar most cities use them very effectively.
ArchPundit