Alicia Lewis, Housing Planner
I know The Yardstick has urged Congress to take a long-term perspective when it comes to proposed spending cuts on key sectors like transportation and the environment. Correctly, it has been argued that investment now will prevent stagnation and decline in the future. The same can be said for community development programs, which can have a huge economic impact on neighborhoods. I fear that Congress may be about to make a very big mistake by putting short-term deficit concerns ahead of long-term returns on investment.
Congress is proposing to cut funding to one of the country’s largest federal housing programs. The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program began in 1974 and has provided billions of dollars for projects across the country. The program benefits low and moderate income households, domestic violence victims, formerly homeless persons, and youth across metropolitan Washington.
Earlier this week, MWCOG hosted an event to showcase the region’s successful and impactful grant projects in the shadow of the proposed Congressional cuts – which may be upwards of 60 percent – to the 45 year old program. As the event – The Role of CDBG in community Development – indicated, CDBG provides funds to address the critical social, economic, and environmental problems in our nation’s and our region’s cities, counties and rural areas.
Such projects include affordable housing development and rehabilitation for seniors and formerly homeless persons, job training programs for domestic violence sufferers and ex-offenders, support services for developmentally and physically disabled persons, and educational/recreational programs for youth. These aren’t just feel good projects – they turn lives around and make society more productive.
Affordable housing is a particular concern in a high-cost region like metro Washington, as Christopher Fay, Executive Director of Homestretch Inc. noted, “Affordable housing, and the lack thereof, is the most cataclysmic issue of our time. To lose that funding – responsible for all our supportive, affordable housing – would be devastating.” And the lack of affordable housing is no longer a concern only for parts of the region – it’s a problem everywhere and for everyone. “The issue of affordable housing is creeping up the socioeconomic ladder. We all know people regardless of their race, age, educational attainment or religion that have recently been foreclosed upon and/or have lost their job all across this region from Loudoun County to Gaithersburg to the District of Columbia. Adversity falls on everyone,” said Pamela Jones, Executive Director of New Columbia Community Land Trust.
In fiscal year 2010 alone, metropolitan Washington received $82 million in CDBG funding. That’s a big hole to fill. Other recent examples of this program at work include CDBG funding supporting building of a medical facility for 9,000 residents in Prince George’s County and training nearly 1,000 people in Arlington County.
Approximately 100 of the region’s community development practitioners, local government staff and residents left the event ready to employ “a call to action” issued by National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials CEO Saul Ramirez to both save the program and continue serving the region’s vulnerable subpopulations. Please contact your Congressmen and Senators and urge them to save CDBG. The remainder of the federal FY 2011 budget has been decided, but the fight over the larger, long-term federal budget is just heating up.